Nashville police say Riley Strain’s death was accidental with ‘no foul play-related trauma’

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Body of missing student Riley Strain found in Nashville after two-week search

Fox News’ Steve Harrigan provides the latest updates on discovery of 22-year-old college student Riley Strain’s body, which was recovered from the Cumberland River. Police have emphasized there are no signs of trauma or foul play.

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Nashville authorities say Riley Strain’s death was likely “accidental” and not the result of foul play, according to local news.

Workers along the Cumberland River in West Nashville found Strain, a 22-year-old University of Missouri senior who went missing on March 8 after going out downtown, in the water on the morning of March 22.

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) told Fox News Digital that a detective attended Strain’s autopsy examination, and preliminary results show that his death “continues to appear accidental,” with “no foul play-related trauma.”

Toxicology results are pending. The Davidson County Medical Examiner said Strain’s autopsy is still pending and will take approximately 12 weeks to conclude.

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Riley Strain was found dead after he went out with friends on Broadway in Nashville on the evening of March 8. (Family handout)

Authorities said the student’s body was recovered about 8 miles from downtown. Strain’s parents spoke during a Friday press conference after the 22-year-old’s body was found.

“I just ask that you mamas out there hug your babies tight tonight, please,” Michelle Whiteid, Strain’s mother, told reporters, according to WKRN.

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Michelle Strain Whiteid and her husband, Chris Whiteid, speak to the media during a press conference to update the public about the disappearance of University of Missouri student Riley Strain in Nashville, Tennessee, March 19, 2024. (Denny Simmons/The Tennessean via USA Today)

Strain’s father, Ryan Gilbert, said he “captured the hearts of people across the country,” and he thanked “everybody for their thoughts and prayers and their efforts on trying to find him.”

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The college student’s disappearance garnered national attention. Strain was visiting Nashville for his fraternity’s spring formal trip when he vanished on the evening of March 8. He had been out on Broadway drinking with friends at Luke Bryan’s downtown bar, called Luke’s 32, when staff asked him to leave.

Riley Strain’s body was found in the Cumberland River about 8 miles from where he was last seen by friends downtown on March 8. (Fox News)

“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.”

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Riley Strain was last seen at Luke Bryan’s bar in downtown Nashville just before 10 p.m. on March 8. His body was found two weeks later in the Cumberland River. (Google Maps/A Voice for the Voiceless)

Strain was supposed to walk to his hotel but never made it back, according to friends, who filed a missing persons report that evening. 

Police are still working to determine exactly how Strain ended up walking in the opposite direction of his hotel. It is possible that he could have entered the wrong destination into a map on his phone, according to family spokesperson Chris Dingman, but authorities continue to investigate all possibilities.

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.