College student Riley Strain has been missing for 11 days now, after vanishing during a night out with friends.
Police have released body-camera and CCTV footage of Strain walking around Nashville, Tenn., alone on the night he disappeared, but so far, there has been no sign of the missing 22-year-old since the evening of March 8.
He is described by police as standing six-feet-five-inches tall, with a thin build, blue eyes and light brown hair. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.
Timeline of events
Strain, a student at the University of Missouri, travelled to Nashville on March 8 to attend a private event with his fraternity brothers. While in the city, Strain and his friends visited Luke’s 32 Bridge, a bar owned by country singer Luke Bryan.
Strain was kicked out of the bar on the night he went missing and left the establishment alone, according to a statement from Luke’s 32 Bridge and its owner, TC Restaurant Group.
“At 9:35 p.m., our security team made a decision based on our conduct standards to escort him from the venue through our Broadway exit at the front of our building,” the statement reads. “He was followed down the stairs by one member of his party. The individual with Riley did not exit and returned upstairs.”
Strain was served one alcoholic drink and two waters while at the bar, the statement adds.
According to Strain’s stepfather, Chris Whiteid, this is where his step-son became separated from the larger group.
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“The boys called him, and he said, ‘I’m walking back to my hotel,’” Whiteid said. “They didn’t think anything about it.”
From there, police have traced Strain’s movement via video footage until just before 10 p.m. on March 8. After that, Strain vanished.
On March 9, Strain’s friend reported him missing to Nashville police.
“I just need to know where my son is,” Strain’s mother, Michelle, said. “We talk every day, multiple times a day. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without talking to him. It’s devastating. I just want to find him and hug him.”
A CCTV camera captured Strain crossing Nashville’s 1st Ave. North to Gay Street (he passes right to left on screen) on the night he disappeared. The video shows Strain wearing a two-tone button-up shirt as he crosses the street while checking his phone. He stops and changes directions briefly before proceeding down the road behind a group of people.
Body-camera footage taken around 9:52 p.m. shows Strain had a brief interaction with Officer Reginald Young of the Metro Nashville Police Department. This is Strain’s last known location. He was walking along Gay Street, south of the Woodland Street Bridge. This street runs directly beside the Cumberland River that cuts through downtown Nashville.
The footage shows Strain walking down the road alone, heading in the opposite direction as the police officer. The officer asks him how he’s doing and Strain responds, “I’m good, how are you?” before walking out of sight.
Police noted that Strain “did not appear distressed” in the video and stated Monday that no evidence of foul play in Strain’s disappearance has emerged thus far.
Family frustrations with police investigation
Police have searched the area where Strain went missing, including the banks of the Cumberland River, by helicopter and on the ground, but still no one has found him. Nashville’s Emergency Operations Center has also stepped in with sonar equipment to search the river.
The latest piece of evidence in the case came Sunday, when two volunteer searchers found Strain’s bank card on the embankment between Gay Street and the Cumberland River.
Strain’s father Ryan Gilbert said police should have been the ones to find Strain’s bank card, not volunteers, since police had extensively canvassed that area, in a recent TV interview with News Nation.
In the same interview, Strain’s mother and stepfather also expressed frustration with the handling of their missing son’s case.
Whiteid claimed that the family had to request a meeting with police in order to see the available video footage, and added that he’d heard reports from people who tried to call the Nashville Crime Stoppers hotline only to be told that they didn’t know anything about Strain’s case.
“So, lots of confusion. We’re struggling. We’re 10 days in, you know? It’s disheartening,” Whiteid said.
The Tennessee Alcohol and Beverage Commission stated that it is investigating whether Strain was over-served alcohol on the night he disappeared, but Whiteid has questioned if alcohol is behind his stepson’s disappearance.
Whiteid told NBC that Strain and his mother FaceTimed between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on the night he went missing and had appeared coherent and alert. Strain allegedly said on the call, however, that he and his friends had been to multiple bars that night.
Whiteid added that since Strain went missing, he has received messages from up to 10 people who said they were drugged while visiting bars in Nashville.
“We’re hearing the horror stories,” Whiteid said. “I hope that this helps bring it to light for people that are coming to town so they’re aware, so they watch and pay more attention, but I definitely feel that there is a very good possibility that this is a common problem in this town.”
A number of male tourists in Nashville have reported being drugged and robbed after talking to women in bars, according to local media. Detectives have said that there’s no way of knowing the true number of people who have been victimized in similar circumstances, though police are investigating numerous cases.
The search is ongoing.
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