What begins as a bad night for Riley Strain turns worse when the news hit today. He had been missing for two weeks but the search is now over as it has been confirmed it is his body that was found in the Cumberland River.
Riley Strain was a college student attending the University of Missouri. He was actually about to graduate and move on with his life into a very bright future. But he thought a trip to Nashville before graduation might be a good change of pace. It was actually for a conference so technically, it was official student business. However, why not have a little fun while he’s there? It is Nashville after all and that’s a town that knows how to have fun.
Skip ahead to about 10 pm on March 8. By that time, he had been kicked out of a bar, and a friend he was with had no idea where he had gone according to a report from WZTV Nashville. According to Riley Strain’s father, Ryan Gilbert, “He was put out of the bar by himself, and there was a time that went by that his friend wasn’t able to get out. We believe they were taking care of the bar tab or whatnot. By the time they got outside, he just wasn’t there any longer.”
According to the bar where he was last served, “He was followed down the stairs with one member of his party. The individual with Riley did not exit and returned upstairs.”
What Happened To Riley Strain?
Video surveillance from bars and other businesses along Strain’s path keeps track of his every movement. From falling in parking lots to crashing into poles, it’s clear he was quite intoxicated. But Luke’s 32 Bridge owned by Luke Bryan, the last bar Strain was served, reports that he was only served one drink and two waters before he was asked to leave.
The thing is, he was in Nashville and he had been in several bars before that one. So, who knows what was going through his mind when an anonymous witness reported that he was seen at a homeless encampment where he made a scene, the kind of situation where everyone remembers his face after the incident. Then, footage catches him jogging or walking fast toward the Cumberland River in the opposite direction of his hotel. Investigators think that he got his hotel mixed up with another one and he was heading in the wrong direction.
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When a body was found a few days ago in the Cumberland River, everyone jumped to conclusions. But those conclusions have finally been confirmed that it was in fact the body of Riley Strain. What casts suspicions for me is that a homeless man was seen in a shirt that they think might have belonged to Strain. He did have an altercation with a person or several of them at a homeless encampment. But the police have put out reports that the body pulled out of the river shows no signs of foul play.
The Shirt of Riley Strain
Obviously, he was a bright young man with a bright future. But that’s all gone now. As a veteran drinker and nightlife extraordinaire, the buddy system is no joke. If your friend is highly intoxicated, you may not feel responsible for him if he gets kicked out of the bar, but think about the person who was with Strain that night. What he’s going through right now won’t go away anytime soon if it ever does. That will put scars on him for life.
