Found Deceased TN - Riley Strain, 22, missing after leaving bar, Nashville, 8 March 2024 #2

[NCWatcher]

Do they have the shirt ?
I mean I cannot tell you how many drunken confrontations I have seen where one drunk person or his cousin ,takes their shirt off before an all out brawl. I hope it isnt the case but I will admit to wondering if they should have used luminous agents on the ,he fell in a brush witnesses , shoes and clothes.

According to the Banfield link posted above,
Banfield
the shirt story has been told to several members of LE. There have been no reports I know of saying LE has the shirt but they know who has been identified as having it and they are familiar with him. ("Ross") So we don't know for sure it's RS's shirt although Banfield kept saying things in her broadcast like "so the man seen wearing Riley's shirt with vomit on it. . " The place the shirt was allegedly found (per Ross's story) is a railing at Fort Nashborough on the Riverfront. The streets Gay and Broadway were mentioned. Per Banfield, RS was not known to be anywhere near there based on videos/phone pings and the vomiting episode apparently wasn't near there.
MOO

 

[MassGuy]

According to the Banfield link posted above,
Banfield
the shirt story has been told to several members of LE. There have been no reports I know of saying LE has the shirt but they know who has been identified as having it and they are familiar with him. ("Ross") So we don't know for sure it's RS's shirt although Banfield kept saying things in her broadcast like "so the man seen wearing Riley's shirt with vomit on it. . " The place the shirt was allegedly found (per Ross's story) is a railing at Fort Nashborough on the Riverfront. The streets Gay and Broadway were mentioned. Per Banfield, RS was not known to be anywhere near there based on videos/phone pings and the vomiting episode apparently wasn't near there.
MOO

With limited new information, it’s just something for the media to latch on to. They’re always searching for angles to keep people interested.

Law enforcement and United Cajun Rescue has maintained there are no signs of foul play. If someone was out there wearing his shirt, it would certainly open the door to that.

This thing has always sounded dubious, and I don’t buy it. If it is Riley’s shirt, I’ll eat my hat.

 

[December]

I have been somewhat following this case, and I hope i am not going over well-tread ground...

What if the bank card was stolen, but not used (for whatever reason) and then dropped because this case quickly got publicity? So, not dropped by Riley but dropped a day or so later?

I just remember a crime in Nashville years ago where someone walking found first a Blockbuster card (which okay), but then things people who own these things don't throw away (bank cards, drivers license). At which point, he called the police. The perpetrator had the wallet and just threw out everything that wasn't money. (This is a solved crime, perpetrator deceased.)

 

[gitana1]

Even if he was just lost and intoxicated, does no one think it's strange that he would leave the sidewalk and venture down under the bridge? That seems like a very risky thing to do, especially when your unfamiliar with the area and that area in the dark would give off major creepy vibes. If he was lost, it's really unfortunate he didn't ask the officer for directions to his hotel. That was a missed opportunity that could have saved his life.

Drunk young men do risky things constantly. Do you know who is most often the victim of snakebites?

Alcohol And Snake Bites - Reptiles Magazine

Boozing can lead to snake bites.

reptilesmagazine.com

 

[gitana1]

But there can never be a plan to eliminate every risk.

This group did take measures, it would seem.

Hotel within walking distance. No party bus, no cars, no DUIs.

We don't know what his friends did next either. Perhaps they settled up and moved across the street to the other bar. Expecting to meet up with him there. Not alarmed he wasn't, figured he'd opted for the hotel. By the time they themselves got to the hotel, I'm guessing they were feeling no pain. Could well have passed out and realized only upon waking up/coming to that he hadn't returned.

There are always so many things that could go wrong. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. High stakes.

JMO

Yes. And considering that, thank God this is news instead of a daily occurrence.

 

[December]

Looking at the map, he probably wasn't trying to get to his hotel. He was probably trying to get to 2nd Avenue because the Wildhorse Saloon (etc) is there. But, he got distracted by Riverfront Park and wound up on Gay Street.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Since then, the 22-year-old’s stepfather has revealed that Mr Strain FaceTimed his mother on the night of his disappearance and revealed that he had gone to two more bars the same night before he was kicked out of a third. However, Mr Strain’s stepfather insisted that “he didn’t even sound like he had been drinking a lot,” according to NBC News.

“She texted him to see how he was doing, if he was having fun. He sent kind of a scripted text back to her saying ‘Good lops,’” Mr Dingman told News Nation.

Confusing last text message sent by missing student Riley Strain revealed

The 22-year-old vanished on 8 March after being kicked out of a bar and becoming separated from his friends

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Msl1966]

I’m going to assume the fraternity brothers have remained in Nashville and are actively helping search for him.

 

[Trebor5591]

...But in this case, the bar didn't "separate Riley from his friends." The bar didn't keep the friends from leaving when RS was told to leave. The friends chose to stay...

This is not what I understand. One of the group left with Riley but was made to return to pay his bar tab. When he returned, Riley was no longer in sight.

<modsnip: off topic>

 

[NCWatcher]

This is not what I understand. One of the group left with Riley but was made to return to pay his bar tab. When he returned, Riley was no longer in sight.

<modsnip>

Well, that's your opinion. Do you have a link saying the bar made the friend return? That's not what the bar says

Riley Strain’s friends not stopped from leaving, bar tells KOLR 10 Investigates

The bar says nobody was stopped from leaving or had to clear a tab. One friend walked out with RS but then returned. And all the friends apparently decided to stay at the bar and not leave with RS. RS may very well have asked them to do that, IMO rather than end the evening at 9:30. And even if a member of the group did have to clear a tab, so what? RS and the others could have waited outside for the 5 minutes that would take. That didn't happen. But if the group was worried about RS being on his own, did they all try to call or text him after according to your post, Riley was "no longer in sight?" Maybe they did but I've not seen a report of that. And why did it take until midday the next day for his friends to report him missing? That delay suggests to me they really weren't worried about him. I just don't see it as the bar's fault a group of adults came to Nashville and went out partying & drinking.

<modsnip: quoted post was snipped>
MOO

 

[imstilla.grandma]

On Wednesday, Strain's stepfather, Chris Whiteid, spoke to ABC News about the student's disappearance, sharing of conversations they wish they didn't have to have, "Put yourself in our shoes. Your family, your brother, your sister — they've been missing for almost two weeks."

"Everybody knows it, everybody's thinking it — those conversations are starting to happen," he continued. "It's not what we want. And I understand that people want to know what we're feeling — we're feeling frustrated, we're feeling hurt, we're feeling depressed."

"Nobody knows what happened to Riley," he added.

Riley Strain’s Stepfather Says Family Are Holding Difficult ‘Conversations’ About Fate of Missing Student: ‘Everybody’s Thinking It’

Riley Strain's family have been having difficult 'conversations' about the fate of the missing 22-year-old student after he was last seen leaving a Nashville bar on March 8.

people.com

 

[Megnut]

It's really hard in cases like this, where the worst case scenario occurred, because peeling back hindsight is nearly impossible.

The facts, it doesn't appear he was cut off, doesn't appear that he was sixed for intoxication necessarily. It was conduct. Got involved in a situation with staff. If they've got a zero tolerance policy, you get invited out. We don't know if it was mild or egregious... but he left, escorted by a friend. Friend's judgment, perhaps not great. But I suspect they had an agreement that seemed reasonable at least to their pickled brains. Maybe meet up at the other bar. Maybe meet up at the hotel.

Had he turned in the right direction, he very likely would have made it back to the hotel, maybe his room. But the lobby for sure IMO. Staff at the hotel could have helped him from there. Or called 911 if they thought it warranted. He'd have made it to bed, slept it off. No story. How many times is that exact story told on spring breaks in Daytona?

Who coukd have predicted he'd turn the wrong way? The bar? How could they be responsible for that? They don't provide crossing guards!! It is the responsibility of the patron! Know the law. Give yourself a way to get home.

Yes, the second bar turned him away. Maybe he was slurring. Maybe they were at capacity. Maybe they don't love singletons because they show a higher rate of disruption. But if his friend thought he was sober enough to go to that bar or find his way home, that's really a problem of how they structured the night.

I used to tell my teenage daughter that, say if she wanted to buy a car, to bring along someone who knows cars. And the important part, isn't her age. Similarly, when making a plan for drinking, don't ask a drunk person for advice!

It really can't be that a bar should have to evaluate partiers and decide who to send home and how! Talk about a potential violation of civil rights! Unless they have a POLICY and a measure of degree of intoxication, how could they decide another person is so impaired that they can't go across the street for some chicken wings, water and sobering up?

Of course we wish anything could have been done differently so he'd be alive. Safe and sound. But it's not possible to police every risk! Barriers on every bridge.

I'm all for change though. Friends reconsidering how they do bar hops. Establishments adding breathalyzers. Education on designated drivers, designated walkers.

Wishing we could go back in time and simply point him in the right direction.

JMO

 

[GatorFL]

Drunk young men do risky things constantly. Do you know who is most often the victim of snakebites?

Alcohol And Snake Bites - Reptiles Magazine

Boozing can lead to snake bites.

reptilesmagazine.com

Too cold for snakes to be out in the Nashville area and being familiar with the area, I can say there aren't many around downtown.

 

[Hanoi2009]

not convinced that a body travels 4 ft per second (approx speed of the current). It is probably pretty complicated- his weight, eddies in the river, submerged stuff to go around. I do wonder if the damn is a usual "stopping spot" for bodies or whatever might travel.... am also suspecting that the LE has some experience with this and maybe waited awhile because they thought that would be wise. IMO. This is making me think of Nicola Bulley.

I am not suggesting that his body went full speed ahead – just that the river did – so checking the dam 40-some-odd miles downstream wasn’t as far-fetched as some seemed to think per their initial reactions when the search was announced. It seems there is lots of debris along the shoreline, so he could easily be tangled up. JMO

 

[Pali8RN]

Please forgive me if this has been asked already but I haven’t been able to find it. Do we know if Riley could swim? I know the area closest to the banks was shallow but if the water levels were on the higher end, this could’ve changed things a bit even for a 6’7” tall young man.

 

[Megnut]

Please forgive me if this has been asked already but I haven’t been able to find it. Do we know if Riley could swim? I know the area closest to the banks was shallow but if the water levels were on the higher end, this could’ve changed things a bit even for a 6’7” tall young man.

Sadly, it wouldn't much matter if he were an Olympic swimmer if he inhaled water on intake.

Not practical but just to stop these periodic drinking drownings, maybe we out to recommend sharp, Eddie Bauer life vests for anyone in that age bracket. Never happen because most drinkers make it home.

We know that boating and drinking can be deadly. Where do we put the billboards for Drinking and Shorelines don't go together. Stay away from the water.

People gonna do what people gonna do.

I just wish everyone could have a 15-second rewind in life.

JMO

 

[skylaker]

a Livestream from 3/8 of downtown Nashville nightlife (from 8:35pm to around 2am), towards the end (around the 5:35:00 mark) the guy walks down where Riley was last seen but its 3/9 early morning hours, it rained and you can see how everything looks slippery and there's homeless people sleeping under the bridge

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

Please forgive me if this has been asked already but I haven’t been able to find it. Do we know if Riley could swim? I know the area closest to the banks was shallow but if the water levels were on the higher end, this could’ve changed things a bit even for a 6’7” tall young man.

His swimming abilities or height are not relevent as they do not give him protection from the shock of suddenly entering cold water. Swimming abilities and height don't negate intoxication which makes it more likely that he "inhaled" when his head first went under which usually happens with an accidental plunge. I've never heard of someone claiming that a victim was experienced with falling unexpectedly into cold moving water in the dark, while drunk, so he should have survived. The myth of being a strong swimmer is protection from drowning is deadly.

"Cold Water Immersion can trigger involuntary gasping, rapid breathing or hyperventilating due to the “shock” of sudden immersion"

Cold Water Hazards and Safety

 

[jollymon1701]

Looking at the map, he probably wasn't trying to get to his hotel. He was probably trying to get to 2nd Avenue because the Wildhorse Saloon (etc) is there. But, he got distracted by Riverfront Park and wound up on Gay Street.

The Wildhorse is closed, that is the location of the bar he was asked to leave from

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 20, 2024

United Cajun Navy goes full force in search for Riley Strain

A coalition of out-of-state volunteers is now joining the search for Riley Strain, as his family urged for more resources.

fox17.com

[...]

“This hovercraft can negotiate any kind of terrain,” said Flagg, also traveling to Nashville. “The hovercraft is able to get to the shallowest parts of this river, up against the banks and see things from there that you might not be able to see from the airboat.”

The United Cajun Navy also brought in several volunteers with K-9 tracking dogs, all in an effort to recanvass the water near where Strain was last seen, as well as up and down the river. Both boats deployed Wednesday, with Strain’s father, Ryan Gilbert aboard. Gilbert watched tirelessly from the airboat for any sign of his son.

[...]

An issue for the crews- water visibility. The Cumberland River is murky, with visibility only reaching about two-feet deep. But the airboat's specialized LED lights will increase that range at night.

“Tonight, we’ll have five to six-foot visibility with those lights on the air boat,” said Butler.

[...]

The Sheriff’s Department in Cheatham County “burped” the Cumberland River by the dam, Wednesday, temporarily stopping the flow of water. This would hopefully let anything stuck deeper down, rise to the surface. Metro Detectives said they are continuing to filter through all tips and leads and surveillance video, recanvassing the immediate area where Strain went missing, and also homeless camps.