Nobody helped Riley Strain

Riley Strain disappears after he was asked to leave Luke Bryan’s bar.

Strain was going out with his friends to multiple bars before he went missing. He FaceTime his mom sometime before 8 p.m. “He was inside with his friends,” Whiteid said, adding that the group was playfully “giving her a hard time because she was already in bed.”

Eventually, the group ended up at Luke Bryan’s bar before Strain was escorted out of the establishment. “During Riley’s visit to Luke’s Bar, he was served one alcoholic drink and two waters.” The security team made a decision based on their conduct standards to escort him from the bar through the Broadway exit, at the front of our building.”

“He was followed down the stairs with one member of his party. The individual with Riley did not exit and returned upstairs.” Nice friends there ! Just leave your drunk friend by himself. By all means, don’t escort him out and find him a Taxi, an Uber, to make sure he gets back home safe, no ! That would be too much asked from your so called friends. Drinking and partying is way more important. Gotta get back to them “friends and party upstairs !”

Strain’s fraternity brothers said they attempted to leave with Strain, but “the bouncers wouldn’t let them out with him, that they were trying to get their bill paid.” Yeahhh right ! You’re going to tell me that the bouncer held up ALL of them, and would not let even one of them escort a drunk person out of the bar, are you kidding me ?

Strain’s family said that their son’s last cellphone location was less than a mile from the bar, between Gay Street and James Robertson Parkway. Twelve minutes after he left the bar, surveillance video saw the business student crossing the street at 1st Ave N and Gay Street. Strain was last seen on video five minutes later, at 9:52 p.m.

Whiteid told the Dispatch that after Strain left the bar, he texted his friends to tell them he was going to the hotel. However, his friends were unable to find his location using Snapchat and their phone calls went directly to voicemail, when they tried to reach him. Nothing to worry about here !

On Saturday, March 9, one of the brothers ultimately reported Strain missing to authorities, and told them of his attempts to reach him. Police also attempted to reach Strain’s phone but to no availability. They also checked local hospitals and jails, but he wasn’t there.

The Delta Chi brothers phoned Whiteid and Strain’s mother, Michelle Whiteid, in the morning to let them know their son was missing. The Whiteids hit the road within 30 minutes. “I was literally getting ready to tee off on the golf course when my wife called me, and I turned around, went and loaded all my stuff off the golf cart, and told my friend that I was sorry I had to leave,” he said.

The same day, later in the evening, the Nashville Police Department released surveillance footage of Strain stumbling while crossing the street. In the video, Strain crosses the street with a group of people and steps in the direction he originally came from before continuing on down the street.

A local business, Downtown Smoke & Vape Shop, also provided surveillance footage of Strain stumbling and falling around 9:46 p.m. The police confirmed on X that they had a helicopter and detectives search the area.

Take note in this video, of how many people come in contact with Riley, sees him, struggling, falling and stumbling. Yet, nobody got out of their way, to help this poor young man, get back home safe. It is disgusting to say the least, that as a society, we love to watch, but not help people, as if they had the plague. If i had seen this guy struggle like that, I would have helped him, in a heartbeat. People now, are just too self centered, to even think about helping someone in a situation like this. It very sad that this young man could of been helped by one of his friends, or one of the multiple people that saw him drunk..

After they arrived in Nashville, Whiteid and his wife drove around to “every emergency room” in the area, but didn’t find their son or anyone who matched his description there. On March 10, they visited where Strain’s cellphone had last been located and were joined by other family members to look around the area. However, nothing came up.

“It’s killing us,” Whiteid said. “Because we don’t know what’s going on. We can’t find him.” A detective assigned to the case told Whiteid that no one matching Strain’s description was found in the morgue or was picked up by an ambulance, or taken to the emergency room. “It wasn’t good news, but it wasn’t bad news,” Whiteid said. “It was news that we still have opportunities to find him.”

The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) launched an investigation into whether Strain was served alcohol despite being visibly intoxicated. “There are no specific rules or statutes that governs escorting out intoxicated patrons from their businesses or providing assistance in getting someone home,” TABC communication director Aaron Rummage said in a statement. “However, state law prohibits serving alcoholic beverages to someone who is visibly intoxicated. A violation is a class A misdemeanor. The TABC has opened an investigation into this matter to see if any violations have occurred.”

TC Restaurant Group added in a statement that they were cooperating with the police by providing any information necessary. “This information included all security camera footage, photos of Riley at our establishment with detailed time stamps, transaction records, and staff accounts,” per the statement. “Additionally, we proactively engaged in communication with the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission and will continue to communicate and provide any records needed to aid their ongoing investigation.”

Ten days after he went missing, two women, Anna Clemdening and Brandy Baenen, found Strain’s bank card along a riverbank “on the embankment between Gay St. and the Cumberland River,” per a post from the MNPD on X. “I don’t really know how we found it,” Clemdening told NBC. “I would love to say just dumb luck divine intervention, it was just sitting there.” Baenen added, “Something needed to be found. We found something. I don’t know if that’s something enough.”

While the outlet reported that a body was found in the Cumberland River the same day, the Nashville Fire Department confirmed the individual did not match Strain’s body description. The police confirmed foul play was not suspected in Strain’s disappearance.

The MNPD released body camera footage of one of their officers, Reginald Young, running into Strain on the night he disappeared. They included in their post on X that Young and Strain had a “brief exchange of greetings” and the college student did not seem “distressed.” Hah yeah because he was just stumbling and falling all over the place. Im suuuuure he did not reek of alcohol either. Funny how many videos of drunk people being arrested on Youtube, and the first thing an officer mention when coming close to the offender, is how they reek of alcohol. Seems like nobody wants to take any responsibility here.

Young was posted on Gay Street in response to a “vehicle burglary call” when Strain seemingly initiated a conversation with him as he walked down the sidewalk.“How are you doing, sir?” Young asked Strain, who replied, “I’m good, how are you?” Strain then walked away, while Young remained on the street for another 45 minutes, per the police.

Though the MNPD didn’t say what time the footage was taken, they reiterated that “no video has been discovered that shows Riley away from Gay St after the 9:52 p.m. timeframe.”

Strain’s family friend Chris Dingman told NewsNation that the last text message Strain sent was to a woman he was seeing who asked how he was doing, the night he disappeared. “Good lops,” Strain replied”, per Dingman”. The woman didn’t know what the message meant and even turned to the Internet. Strain’s mom, Michelle, said she was “not sure” who the woman was in a separate interview with the outlet.

“He’s got several friends that are female, male. I don’t know the individual he talked to at that time,” she added. However, in a press conference the following day, the family said they didn’t know for certain who Strain’s last text message was to. “We know that Riley was possibly texting and communicating with multiple people … we don’t know the exact timeline or who the last person was,” they said. Michelle said the last time she talked to Strain, how he had FaceTime her. from what she thought was Garth Brooks’ bar. “We FaceTime for a while, he wanted me to see around, and he was so excited,” she said. “Then we hung up and he texted me and he was, ‘It was kind of hard to hear you, but I wanted you to see what was happening.’ “

“I said, ‘Well, you boys be safe. Make good choices. I love you guys.’ And he said, “I love you, too,’ ” she added. “And that’s it, that’s the last I have heard from him.”

What are your thought on what happened to this young man? Do you think it could have been avoided ?