Riley Strain’s family fear foul play after autopsies on the University of Missouri student’s body suggest he did not drown after going missing on night out and being pulled from river
A second autopsy on Riley Strains has confirmed there was no water in his lungs, the family has revealed, raising fears he was dead when he went into the water.
The 22-year-old student’s half-naked body was recovered from the Cumberland River in Tennessee on Friday, fourteen days after he disappeared during a night out in Nashville.
An initial police autopsy found no signs of foul play, but also no signs that he drowned after leaving Luke’s Bridge Food and Drink at 9:30 p.m. on March 22.
Now, a second autopsy ordered by his family has added to the mystery as investigators await toxicology results.
“You know, I just hope this doesn’t get swept under the rug because the family deserves more answers than we do,” said family friend Chris Dingman. from NewsNation Elizabeth Vargas reports.
Mother Michelle Strain Whiteid with her son Riley Strain before his disappearance on March 8
Riley, 22, was wearing this distinctive black and white shirt when he disappeared after being kicked out of a bar in downtown Nashville during a night out with friends
“I’m definitely not a crime drama person. But usually water in the lungs means they were alive when they went into the water.
“So more questions, we hope to get answers with toxicology.”
The family also wants answers about why he was missing his pants, boots and wallet when his body was finally spotted under a rock eight miles downstream at 7:28 a.m. Friday.
“One more question,” Dingman said. “But unfortunately, as the police stated in the report, the only thing found on him was the watch and the shirt.
“Everything else was not with him when he was found.”
The University of Missouri student was in town with members of the Delta Chi fraternity for their annual spring dance when he was kicked out of the bar just after 9:30 p.m.
Strain told his friends he would meet them again at their hotel, but he was nowhere to be seen when the group returned from their night out.
His friends tried to contact him but received no response and they reported Strain as missing because they could not locate him through his Snapchat location.
Strain, 22, was seen leaving Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink on Broadway on March 8, according to Metropolitan Nashville police.
Nashville police released this terrifying image of Strain walking down the sidewalk after leaving the bar, asking an officer how he was before telling him he was “doing fine.”
Michelle Strain Whiteid, left, and her husband, Chris Whiteid, speak to the media during a press conference to inform the public about the disappearance of Riley Strain
Anna Clendening, a musician, and Brandy Baenen, an artist, are both true crime enthusiasts who are passionate about bringing Strain home. The live stream aired just as they found Strain’s map along the riverbank
The pair found the map while searching the steep Cumberland River embankment and the James Robertson Parkway bridge
Nashville police searched a homeless encampment on the waterfront after people living there reported seeing the missing student the night of his disappearance
Surveillance footage collected by police from Downtown Smoke & Vape Shop on Church Street showed Strain near the intersection of 2nd Avenue and Church Street.
The apparently drunk student, wearing a two-tone black and brown shirt and blue jeans, fell into the trap, then quickly got back up and continued walking down the street.
Another was captured near the intersection of Gay Street and 1st Avenue North just before 10 p.m. taking long strides with his head down as he stumbled through the streets.
The student reportedly FaceTimed his mother Michelle Whiteid that evening and she said nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
The police previously shared images on
Homeless people living in an encampment on the nearby riverbank reported seeing a man matching Stains’ description stagger into their camp.
“We heard a commotion. We looked up again. He almost fell over. The last bush there caught him,” an unidentified man living in the camp told WZTV.
‘He was very drunk. “I’ve never seen anyone trip so hard,” the man said. ‘I shouted: get up. They said, ‘He’s just drunk. He is doing well’.’
Concerns about the police investigation increased when two amateur sleuths on TikTok discovered Strains’ bank card in the rubble outside the camp, and a social worker reported seeing a homeless man wearing an identical shirt a day after the disappearance to Strain’s signature black and white.
His involvement appears to have been ruled out after Strain was found still wearing the shirt he disappeared in, but his family in Missouri is concerned that investigators are not focusing on the people who may have been the last to see their son alive.
“One of the people of interest, an hour after Riley was found, I was back at that location and I happened to see that person,” Dingman said.
“And so we had a group of volunteers who kind of followed the gentleman.
‘We called the police to let them know we had found him as we had not yet been informed who they had spoken to and we were told by the police you know it was no longer a Person of Interest .
Authorities said no trauma related to foul play was observed on Strain, who was last seen on March 8
He was found by a worker from a local building materials company that unloads ships on the river
“They had someone else who was interested,” he added.
“But we know from the homeless people who live there that this was the person who was supposedly on the road when Riley fell into the bushes or whatever happened, and he shouted back that this was just someone who had been drinking, it was okay.
“So again, a little more confusion. I just hope the ball hasn’t been dropped here.
‘I think there is someone out there who knows what really happened that night. And we would love for him to come forward. You know, and we need some more information.”