‘Overserved’ college student Riley Strain missing after being kicked out of Luke Bryan’s Nashville bar
A 22-year-old college student has vanished after being “overserved” and kicked out from a Nashville bar owned by country artist Luke Bryan Friday, his family and police said.
Riley Strain was last seen by his University of Missouri fraternity brothers at Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink on Broadway in the Tennessee city’s touristy honky-tonk district, according to police and The St. Louis Dispatch.
Strain was tossed from the bar and then told his friends he was going back to their hotel, his stepfather Christopher Whiteid told the newspaper.
However, the 6-foot-5 student never arrived or further contacted his friends, who filed a missing persons report with the cops the next day, the newspaper reported.
His phone last pinged between Gay Street and James Robertson Parkway, which is less than a mile from the bar and just yards from the Cumberland River and the Woodland Street Bridge.
Surveillance footage reportedly showed that Stain was headed back to his hotel on foot but apparently made a wrong turn.
The university confirmed in a statement Monday that Strain was still missing and said it was “in touch with the family and authorities in Nashville” as the search continued.
As the search dragged on, the family of the Delta Chi frat member had gone to Nashville to search for him and was in “pure hell,” Whiteid told The Dispatch.
The student had reportedly been kicked out of the bar because he was drunk.
“The bartender said he had been overserved,” Whiteid told WZTV-Nashville. “He was trying to pay his tab.”
What to know about the mysterious disappearance and death of Riley Strain
- College student Riley Strain, 22, went missing after being kicked out of Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink in Nashville on March 8, 2024. Strain told his University of Missouri fraternity brothers that he was going back to his hotel room, but never arrived or contacted his friends.
- Surveillance footage shows him walking toward the hotel before making a wrong turn. His cellphone last pinged about a mile from the bar. A video saw Strain jogging away from his hotel before his disappearance.
- According to the Luke Bryan-owned bar, Strain only purchased one alcoholic drink and two waters the night he went missing. The 22-year-old’s parents have claimed he was “overserved.”
- The student’s bank card was found days later on an embankment of the Cumberland River by two TikTokkers searching the area.
- A local homeless man allegedly saw a “very, very intoxicated” Strain almost fall over the edge of a trail into the river. Strain was also spotted by a police officer near the river, according to body camera footage.
- Strain’s body was found in the river on Saturday by workers clearing the river of debris. According to a preliminary autopsy, Strain’s death was “accidental.”
“This is definitely the worst nightmare,” the stepdad added. “He talks to his mom three or four times a day. For him to go this long without talking is not normal by any means.”
