Riley Strain found: Nashville police locate body of college student who went missing after night out

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Cajun Navy joining search for missing college student Riley Strain

Fox News’ Madison Scarpino reports on the desperate search for missing college student Riley Strain.

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Nashville, Tennessee, police said on Friday they found the body of Riley Strain, a University of Missouri senior who went missing on March 8 after going out downtown.

Authorities said Strain’s body was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville on Friday morning, about 8 miles from downtown. Police said on X that no foul play-related trauma was observed, and an autopsy is pending.

The 22-year-old finance student was visiting Nashville for his fraternity’s spring formal trip when he vanished. 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.

Police say his phone pinged for the last time around Gay Street, part of which borders the Cumberland River.

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Riley Strain disappeared after he went out with friends on Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee, on the evening of March 8. (Family handout)

Nashville police released a video of Strain greeting a police officer on Gay Street while the officer was checking parked vehicles for signs of a reported vehicle burglary just before the college student disappeared.

“Shown was Riley’s brief exchange of greetings w/ Officer Reginald Young on Gay St., south of the Woodland St. Bridge, on the night of 3/8. Riley did not appear distressed. Officer Young was there on a vehicle burglary call & remained on that portion of Gay St. for 45 min,” police said on X. “No video has been discovered that shows Riley away from Gay St after the 9:52 p.m. timeframe.”

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

Luke’s 32 said in a statement that bartenders 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.”

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Authorities released surveillance video showing Riley Strain walking across 1st Avenue North to Gay Street at 9:47 p.m. on March 8, when he was seen wearing the same black and brown shirt his friends last saw him.  (A Voice for the Voiceless/Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)

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TC Restaurant Group indicated that they were 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.

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

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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.

Strain’s family flew to Nashville and became involved in the search immediately after his friends reported him missing.

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.