NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Loved ones continue to search for University of Missouri student Riley Strain one week after he was reported missing while on a fraternity trip in downtown Nashville.
On Friday, March 8, the Mizzou senior was asked to leave Luke’s 32 Bridge, Luke Bryan’s bar on Broadway, after only being served one alcoholic drink and two waters, according to 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. He was followed down the stairs with one member of his party. The individual with Riley did not exit and returned upstairs,” the company said in a statement released one week after the incident.
A friend of Strain called 911 on Saturday, March 9, after saying he went to the Central Police Precinct and called the sheriff’s office to file a missing person’s report.
Strain’s family, from Springfield, Missouri, said they drove down as soon as they got a call from his fraternity brothers last weekend about his disappearance. They have remained in Nashville all week, searching for the 22-year-old.
“It’s been a week, we haven’t heard his voice, we haven’t gotten a text from him. We’re ready…[In the] middle of the night, you hear that ping, you’re jumping up, you’re like, ‘Is it Riley? Is it somebody that knows something about Riley?’ So, yeah, it’s time, it’s time to bring him home,” Strain’s stepfather, Chris Whiteid, told Nexstar’s WKRN on Saturday, March 16.
Although some cameras captured the soon-to-be graduate making his way through downtown, heading toward the Metro Courthouse, his family explained there are gaps and cameras pointed in the wrong direction that make it hard to know exactly where to look for Strain.
On Saturday, Strain’s father, Ryan Gilbert, told WKRN the family has learned Strain’s Apple Watch location services had never been set up, ruining a lead they were hoping would bring them answers.
“We’re ready to get this over with. We want some answers,” Gilbert said. “We’re a week in, it’s not getting any easier. Time seems like it’s really to the critical point, and we want to ask anybody, if they know anything, to please share it.”
The Nashville Office of Emergency Management told WKRN that drones, canines, boats, and divers were used to search in and around the Cumberland River Saturday, although Strain’s family doesn’t believe he’s in the water.
“As much searching as we’ve done along the river, along the hillside, talking to people, we don’t believe that that’s where he’s at. We feel like either he slept for a few hours and got up and started wandering again, or was picked up by a car. We don’t know,” Chris said.
As his family works through a grim milestone they hoped to never reach, they said the kindness of others is keeping them going. Friends and family have taken turns coming down to Tennessee to help search. In addition, complete strangers have spent hours driving to Nashville, offering their time to hand out flyers, and asking questions throughout the investigation.
“We just can’t thank them enough. I mean, it’s so amazing,” Strain’s mom, Michelle Whiteid, said.
“It restores your faith in the American people. You know, you hear so much negativity and darkness, but I can tell you it’s definitely changed how I see and how I feel just by the way people are reaching out to us,” Chris added.
Strain is 6′ 5″ with a slender build, blonde hair, and blue eyes. If you see Strain or have any information about where he may be, you are asked to call the Metro Nashville Police Department at 615-862-8600.
