Riley Strain‘s family is still playing a waiting game, but with each day they have new questions they’d like answered.
The 22-year-old’s stepfather says that they haven’t totally dismissed the idea that foul play was involved.
- Riley Strain’s body was found on March 22, two weeks after he went missing in downtown Nashville.
- Police say there was no evidence of foul play, but two autopsies have been completed, with family awaiting results.
- At least one forensic expert has said it’s unusual that a river would rip the pants and boots off a body, as police have suggested.
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Strait’s stepfather Chris Whiteid tells Nashville’s News Channel 5 that they’re hoping the toxicology report answers burning questions.
“We are just looking for that next little clue that gives us an idea of what happened when he went missing,” he said in an article published on Monday (April 8).
Map showing where Riley Strain’s body was found
He, too, is wondering how Strain’s pants came off. The family is all but certain he was wearing a belt.
“If he wasn’t wearing a belt, his pants would have been down around his knees when he was shown running,” Whiteid says.
Separately, family friend Chris Dingman says the last person believed to have spoken to Strain has been reached and interviewed, but he didn’t share details of who that was (it was long believed to be a man experiencing homelessness) or what was said.
Whiteid wants to talk to another group of witnesses. Strain’s fraternity brothers have had little contact with the family.
“They were the last ones to actually see Riley, and we’d love to have pictures or anything like that they’d be willing to share,” he tells the TV station.
The University of Missouri student was in Nashville for a fraternity event. His last stop was Luke Bryan’s bar, Luke’s 32 Bridge. After being kicked out, he started to walk north and east toward the Cumberland River, instead of west toward his hotel.
Several cameras caught him walking unevenly at times. He shared pleasantries with a police officer at one point, just moments before he disappeared. His bank card was found on an embankment of the river.
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Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes