Riley Strain, student who disappeared in Nashville, was extremely intoxicated when he died — and other startling revelations from autopsy
The Missouri college student who went missing in downtown Nashville in March was extremely drunk and also had THC in his system when he drowned, according to a newly released medical examiner’s report.
Riley Strain, 22, had a blood alcohol content of 0.228 on the night of March 8.
His cause of death was “drowning and ethanol intoxication,” according to the report.
He also had Delta 9 in his system, a compound commonly found in THC.
Strain was booted from a bar, and was later caught on camera staggering down a Nashville street before vanishing.
Strain was found two weeks later about eight miles downstream in the Cumberland River.
Though speculation initially ran rampant that foul play had been involved in Strain’s death, the new report confirmed he died from drowning and intoxication, and was ruled accidental.
Strain had been visiting Nashville on a trip with his fraternity when he disappeared.
He’d been kicked out of the bar Luke’s 32 Bridge on Broadway – where management said he’d been served just one drink – around 9:35 p.m.
He told his friends he’d meet them at their hotel about five blocks away.
His pals called police the next morning when they failed to hear from him.
An extensive search effort uncovered a trail of pings from Strain’s cellphone, security footage retracing his final moments, and later a bankcard with his name on it that was discovered on a riverbank.
A local homeless man told investigators he’d seen a man resembling Strain “very, very intoxicated,” and almost fall over a railing into the Cumberland River.
The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission is still investigating where else Strain was served alcohol on that fatal night, and whether anybody overserved him.
