TikTokers find ‘great lead’ in Riley Strain’s Nashville vanishing as city hunts for missing student: friend

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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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Two TikTok users assisting with the search for missing college student Riley Strain found his credit card near the Cumberland River in Nashville while they were livestreaming, according to a spokesperson for the Strain family.

TikTok users @nobodyleftbehind13 and @annaclendening were filming their search live from Nashville on TikTok along with a third user who helped organize the stream, @rileylively, when they came across the missing 22-year-old man’s credit card.

“S—. I found his credit card,” one user can be heard saying in the video that was later posted to @livelyriley’s account. 

“You found his credit card?” the other user, who is filming from the scene, says. “We found his credit card. We gotta go. We gotta hang up the phone.”

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Authorities released surveillance video showing Strain walking across 1st Avenue North to Gay Street at 9:47 p.m. Friday, March 8. (A Voice for the Voiceless/Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)

TikTokers @nobodyleftbehind13 and @annaclendening were searching for possible evidence of Strain’s disappearance along the banks of the Cumberland River on Sunday.

Chris Dingman, a close friend and spokesperson for the Strain family, confirmed to Fox News Digital that the college senior’s card was located Sunday in the area between Gay Street and the Cumberland River, where Strain was last seen when he disappeared on the evening of March 8, a Friday.

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“We did get a great lead yesterday from a TikTok dynamic duo that we are sincerely appreciative of,” Dingman told Fox News Digital in a Monday phone call. 
“And we’re appreciative of everybody that’s been out there searching and trying to bring Riley home. They did find this credit card. It was in a location extremely close to where the last ping of his phone was from. It is verified.”

Nashville police have been searching for Riley Strain since he was reported missing on the evening of March 8. (MNPD)

Dingman noted that the TikTok users were “doing a live broadcast” when they found the card partially buried under some leaves.

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“Immediately, they took the broadcast down and reached out and, luckily, we had some other TikTokers and some friends and family that were in that area that were watching them… because they’re all watching each other, seeing what they can find. Found them. Actually, found some police that were walking some canines in that area about 100 yards away from there.”

“Immediately, they took the broadcast down and reached out.”

— Chris Dingman, family friend

They also found a second card that looked like some kind of common access card (CAC) with the name Caden on it. Dingman said as of now, it’s unclear whether there is any kind of connection between that card and Strain’s disappearance. 

Police say Riley Strain was kicked out of Luke Bryan’s Nashville bar on March 8 and no one has been able to locate or get in touch with him since. (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)

“These young ladies literally went out and made sure that the family was OK with what was going on beforehand,” Dingman said. “Hats off to those young ladies for what they did and what they’re doing and how they approached this situation with kindness. We sincerely appreciate it.”

Dingman added that the discovery of Strain’s card has given his family “a thousand more questions than answers,” but they are glad they “have a lead.”

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The family friend also described Strain’s disappearance as “the perfect crime,” if a crime was, in fact, committed.

“How does a 6-foot-5, blond-haired, blue-eyed guy vanish? I mean, he literally vanished,” Dingman said.

Riley Strain’s mother, Michelle Whiteid, and stepdad, Chris Whiteid, speak during a Tuesday afternoon press conference. (FOX 17 Nashville)

On Tuesday afternoon, Strain’s family spoke at a press conference and requested more resources for the search for their son. David Flagg, national director of operations for the United Cajun Navy — which formed after Hurricane Katrina to assist with disaster response — also announced Tuesday that the organization has been assisting with the search for Strain and will be providing a hovercraft and a pilot to run it on the Cumberland River.

“With everything that’s gone on in the past few days…we feel that we need the extra resources to come in and help us as we try to get more organized for our family and see if we can bring some more clues to light,” Strain’s stepfather, Chris Whiteid, said during the press conference. He thanked volunteers and authorities for their help in searching for his stepson.

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

Strain, a student at the University of Missouri who was studying finance, was visiting Nashville for his faternity’s spring formal trip. 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.

On Monday, 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.”

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

Luke’s 32 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.”

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.”

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“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.

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

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.

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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.

“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.