Missing Riley Strain: Nashville officer encountered college student just before disappearance

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Missing Riley Strain: Nashville officer encountered college student just before disappearance

New police body-worn camera footage shows a Nashville officer’s encounter with Riley Strain just before he disappeared on March 8.

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New police body camera footage released by the Metro Nashville Police Department on Monday shows an officer greeting Riley Strain on the evening of March 8 just before he disappeared.

Strain, a 22-year-old senior at the University of Missouri, vanished that Friday evening after a night out drinking with friends during his fraternity’s spring formal trip to Nashville. 

“No evidence of foul play has surfaced as work continues to locate Riley Strain,” MNPD said in a Monday tweet. “On Sunday evening, Riley’s parents met with some of the detective team and received a full briefing on the work being done. They were also shown available video.”

MNPD posted the video to X. In it, an MNPD officer appears to be looking at parked vehicles following reports of a vehicle burglary when Strain walks by. The pair exchange a friendly greeting, and Strain keeps walking in the opposite direction of the officer.

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Recently released police bodycam footage shows Riley Strain greeting an officer on March 8, just before he was reported missing. (MNPD)

“Shown was Riley’s brief exchange of greetings [with] Officer Reginald Young on Gay St., south of the Woodland St. Bridge, on the night of 3/8,” police said on X. “Riley did not appear distressed. Officer Young was there on a vehicle burglary call [and] remained on that portion of Gay St. for 45 min.”

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Chris Dingman, a close friend and spokesperson for the Strain family, confirmed to Fox News Digital that family reviewed the video on Sunday after the 22-year-old’s bank card was located Sunday in the same area between Gay Street and the Cumberland River.

Authorities released surveillance video showing Strain walking across First Avenue north to Gay Street at 9:47 p.m.c, Friday, March 8, where he was seen wearing the same black and brown shirt his friends last saw him in.  (A Voice for the Voiceless/The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)

Authorities previously said Strain’s phone pinged for the last time on Gay Street on the evening of March 8.

“It was in a location extremely close to where the last ping of his phone was from,” Dingman said. 

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Police K-9s and a detective arrived at the scene shortly after Strain’s card was found to search the area, he added.

Missouri student Riley Strain, 22, has been missing since March 8 after he disappeared in downtown Nashville. (The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)

Prior to his phone pinging on Gay Street, Strain was last seen by friends at Luke Bryan’s bar, Luke’s 32, on Broadway in downtown Nashville. The bar said in a statement that it served Strain one drink before staff asked him to leave.

“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 bar said in a March 15 statement. “He was followed down the stairs with one member of his party. The individual with Riley did not exit and returned upstairs.”

Riley Strain was last seen at Luke Bryan’s bar in downtown Nashville just before 10 p.m. Friday, March 8. (Google Maps)

Police also showed the family a video of Strain at Luke’s 32, Dingman said, adding that there was no “physical altercation with anybody in the bar, male or female.”

“That’s what really surprised the family – when we found out that he was asked to leave in the first place because Riley’s not very confrontational and very courteous and a gentleman,” Dingman said.

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TC Restaurant Group indicated that they are working closely with authorities in the search for the missing college student.

After leaving the bar, Strain told his friends that he would head back to their accommodations at Tempo by Hilton, which is about five blocks away from Luke’s 32, as FOX 17 first reported.

When his friends did not see him again at their hotel later that evening, they filed a missing persons report, Strain’s cousin, Chelsea Strain, previously told Fox News Digital.

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“My family left as soon as they heard the news, along with his dad and stepmom. He is not one to leave and not call anyone,” she said. “I talked to him every week, if not every other day, to check on him. He talks to his mom more than once a day. All of us are worried. My family, along with his dad, stepmom and step-siblings, all just want him home. We want to hold him and love him. We want to watch him graduate in May at Mizzou. He has a bright future ahead of him.”

Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business. Email tips to audrey.conklin@fox.com or on Twitter at @audpants.