The last known person who spoke to Riley Strain on the night he mysteriously disappeared gave a statement to police, and the young man’s family hailed it as a “major” breakthrough in the case.
The body of a 22-year-old University of Missouri student, who disappeared in downtown Nashville on March 8 after a night of partying with his fraternity brothers, was found nearly two weeks after he disappeared.
Riley was found without pants when he was discovered in the Cumberland River in Tennessee. His wallet and cowboy boots were also missing. Riley’s family says they have conflicting reports from police and do not believe his son fell into the river.
The last person who spoke to Riley was not named, but family friend Chris Dingman said Elizabeth Vargas of NewsNation this week that the witness ‘told the detective his account of what happened to Riley.’
Dingman called it a “huge” breakthrough in the case and said, “that was something we were looking for.”
Chris Dingman (pictured), a friend of the Riley family, appeared on NewsNation’s ‘Elizabeth Vargas Reports’ this week and said the new development in the case was ‘huge.’
University of Missouri student Riley Strain disappeared on March 8 after being kicked out of Luke’s 32 Bridge Bar in downtown Nashville.
Dingman said last weekend we discovered the detention center has three cameras that they are waiting to view in hopes of finding more answers.
Video surveillance from a nearby detention center may be the key to Riley’s final moments.
Dingman said one of the videos from one of the cameras was made public, but the others were not available to the family.
‘The detention center is just north of the last ping on Riley’s phone. It was the only video released to the public.
Dingman said last weekend we discovered the detention center has three cameras they are waiting to see to find more answers.
“We’d love to see the footage even if it’s from the sheriff’s department,” he said.
“We now have confirmation that there were cameras pointed towards the bridge where Riley disappeared.”
Dingman also revealed another surprising development during his interview.
“The reason the footage is so incredibly important to the family, the person of interest, who the family wanted to see, the homeless person, who we knew spoke to Riley at the top of the road, we’re going to talk to the family,’ he said.
“He came up on Saturday afternoon and actually gave a statement: him and another person Riley had run into. They asked him if he was okay and they saw him walk through the detention center. That was huge. Something we had been searching.
Video footage showed Riley stumbling in a different direction to the hotel the night she disappeared.
An autopsy found no obvious signs of foul play and his death was ruled an accident pending toxicology results.
Mom Michelle Strain Whiteid with her son Riley Strain before her disappearance on March 8
Nashville police searched a homeless encampment at the water’s edge after people living there reported seeing the missing student the night he disappeared.
Michelle Strain Whiteid, left, and her husband, Chris Whiteid, speak to the media during a press conference to inform the public about the disappearance of Riley Strain.
Nashville police released this disturbing image of Strain walking down the sidewalk after leaving the bar, asking an officer how he was doing before telling him he was “okay.”
It was found by a worker from a local construction materials company unloading barges into the river.
Riley, 22, was wearing this distinctive black and white T-shirt when he disappeared after being kicked out of a bar in downtown Nashville during a night out with friends.
Strain’s family ordered a second autopsy as they seek additional information about their son’s death.
The University of Missouri student was in town with members of the Delta Chi fraternity for their annual spring party when he was kicked out of the bar shortly after 9:30 p.m.
Riley told his friends he would meet them at their hotel, but he was nowhere to be found when the group returned from their night out.
His friends tried to contact him, but received no response and reported Riley missing because they couldn’t locate him via his Snapchat location.
Surveillance footage collected by police from Downtown Smoke & Vape Shop on Church Street showed Strain near the intersection of 2nd Avenue and Church Street.
The apparently intoxicated student was wearing a black and brown two-tone shirt and blue jeans and fell, then quickly got up and continued down the street.
Another camera captured him near the intersection of Gay Street and 1st Avenue North just before 10 pm taking long strides with his head down as he stumbled through the streets.
The student had reportedly FaceTimed with his mother Michelle that night and she said nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Police previously shared footage from X showing Riley walking on the sidewalk alongside an officer, who appeared to be inspecting a car with a broken window.
Homeless people living in a camp on the nearby riverbank reported seeing a man matching Riley’s description enter their camp.
‘We heard a commotion. We looked up again. He almost fell. The last bush got him,” an unidentified man who lives in the camp told WZTV.
“He was very, very, very drunk. I had never seen anyone stumble so much before,” the man said.
Concerns about the police investigation increased when two amateur sleuths on TikTok discovered Riley’s bank card in the rubble outside the camp.
A social worker reported seeing a homeless man wearing a shirt identical to Riley’s distinctive black and white one a day after he disappeared.
His involvement appears to have been ruled out after Riley was found still wearing the shirt he disappeared in.
But his family has expressed concern that investigators were not focusing on those who may have been the last to see their son alive.
Riley Strain’s father, Ryan Gilbert, also said Reporting by News Nation’s Elizabeth Vargas‘You haven’t heard much from your son’s fraternity brothers.
“We haven’t really heard much from them,” he said. ‘There are many things we would like to know about them.
He added: “If I were in their situation, I would be knocking down those parents’ doors to tell them everything I could and help them in any way I could.”