Missing student Riley Strain’s mysterious last text revealed as new evidence leads to ‘100 more questions’
Missing University of Missouri senior Riley Strain sent a confusing, final text message before he vanished from a Nashville bar, according to a family friend — who says each piece of new evidence only leads to “100 more questions.”
Strain’s new love interest had texted him the night of March 8 “to see how he was doing” while on a trip to Nashville, Tenn., with his Delta Chi fraternity brothers, Chris Dingman told NewsNation.
“He sent kind of a scripted text back to her, saying ‘Good lops,’” he revealed.
Dingman said the girl had trouble understanding what Strain could have meant by the text, and even resorted to Googling its meaning.
But Dingman says it likely reflected Strain’s mental state that night, after he was allegedly kicked out of country star Luke Bryan’s honky-tonk bar, Luke’s 32 Bridge, for being too drunk.
Metro Nashville Police are trying to retrace Strain’s footsteps from the bar, as an extensive search of the Cumberland River and its surrounding areas continues.
So far, though, Dingman said, “every piece of the puzzle we’ve been recovering, it leads us down 100 more questions.”
“We’re no closer to finding Riley,” he claimed.
The 22-year-old finance major was last seen walking along Gay Street around 10 p.m. toward First Avenue, which faces the Cumberland River.
An apparent break in the case came over the weekend, when two TikTokers found Strain’s bank card on the embankment of the river.
It was half covered in leaves and is being analyzed for fingerprints, Dingman told WZTV.
The card has not been used since Strain went missing, he added.
Then on Monday, police released body camera footage showing Strain’s brief interaction with a Nashville cop on the night of his disappearance.
Dingman told Vargas he was grateful that police released the footage, noting how polite Strain was in the video.
“It was very warm, heartfelt for the family to hear his voice,” he said.
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.”
But he also expressed concerns about the police’s delay in releasing the footage — which marked Strain’s last known sighting.
Dingman said it took police more than a week to make the footage available — and he blasted the Metro Nashville Police Department for not assigning a detective to the case until two days after Strain was reported missing.
“I wish something would have been done sooner,” he told WZTV.
“The first 48 [hours] is so crucial.”
Dingman also claimed officers have not yet spoken to a shop owner whose video surveillance allegedly caught Strain visibly intoxicated and running into a pole.
“People that owned the business were not talked to,” Dingman said.
“That unfortunately is what’s going on in this situation,” he said, adding: “With today’s technology and the resources the departments have to find things, it just amazes us that we don’t have more than what we currently have.”
Dingman is planning to work with police to track down a homeless man who said he saw Strain fall into the bushes.
The Post has reached out to the Metro Nashville Police for comment.
The department has previously said it does not suspect foul play was involved in Strain’s disappearance.
