The body of Riley Strain — the Missouri college student who went missing in Nashville 2 weeks ago — has finally been found … and it was recovered from a river in the area.
His corpse was discovered Friday in the Cumberland River, reportedly 8 miles away from the metropolitan downtown area … where Riley had last been seen after getting separated from his group during a night of bar hopping on March 8.
Cops say there is no foul play suspected at this point, and no trauma observed either. An autopsy to determine a cause of death is pending. Unclear where exactly in the river Strain’s body was found or under what circumstances … but this marks the end of a tragic saga.
Strain first disappeared on a Friday night — this after getting kicked out of Luke Bryan’s 32 Bridge bar along Broadway … at which point he wandered off on his own.
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Surveillance footage released to the public showed Strain aimlessly wandering the streets of Nashville — at times looking out of sorts and stumbling over. At other points in since-released footage of him from that night — including bodycam video — Strain looked fairly coherent.
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Metro Nashville PD
The bar says they asked Riley to leave after he started violating their conduct policies — suggesting he was heavily intoxicated — but also insist they did not overserve him.
There were claims the bar had given a lot of booze that night — but 32 Bridge says their records show he was only given one drink and two waters before he was booted … at which point, the bar says his friends did not leave with him. The Tennessee ABC is investigating the overserving allegation.
Strain’s friends, meanwhile, say he told them he’d meet them back at their hotel, just a few blocks away, but he never turned up later on.
Instead, it appears Strain got lost and made his way over toward the river — where different eyewitnesses say they saw him that night … confirmed by the fact his bank card was recently discovered along near that area as well. Search crews have been scouring the river for days now and hadn’t found anything … that is, until today. No word on who found him.
Strain’s family have been in Nashville since the beginning … calling on the public’s help, and putting pressure on police to bring in more resources to track him down. We’d even been told by a family spokesperson that his mother and father believed he might still be alive.
Strain was only 22.
RIP
