Missing student's dad on haunting few seconds between leaving bar & pals leaving

15 March 2024 , 21:31

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Strain's father revealed the college student was separated from his friends when he was asked to leave (Image: Metro Nashville PD)

The parents of a missing college student have revealed his last minutes and steps before he vanished on a trip in a bid to get the public to help find him.

Riley Strain, a 22 year old student at the University of Missouri, has now been missing for five days. He was last seen leaving Luke Bryan's bar, Luke's 32 Bridge, around 9.40pm, in Tennessee, after being booted for drinking too much.

His family is in Nashville, working tirelessly with the Metro Police to find him. Riley's father, Ryan Gilbert, was told by his son's friends that he got separated from the group while getting kicked out of the bar.

Mr Gilbert told local media: "He was put out of the bar by himself, and there was a time that went by that his friend wasn’t able to get out. We believe they were taking care of the bar tab or whatnot. By the time they got outside, he just wasn’t there any longer." He added: "There’s been no activity on his banking accounts."

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According to the Metro Police, the bar gave the surveillance footage of Riley to the police but the authorities have not released it to the public. The family has also come up with a map of the path he took after he left the bar.

Riley Strain, 22, left Luke Bryan’s bar before 10pm and CCTV footage from surrounding businesses shows him walking off (WZTV)

Strain's father revealed that he was seperated from his friends when asked to leave the bar (WZTV)

Since asking for the public's help, at least one unhoused individual came forward to describe a run-in with Riley. Police are trying to pinpoint the moment he disappeared and find him, despite the long absence.

At 9.45pm on Friday, March 8, he was asked to leave a bar owned by country star . The 22-year-old told his Delta Chi friends that he was heading back to their hotel but he never made it. His friends called the police the next day to report him missing.

Authorities have created a map of Strain's last known-whereabouts five days ago (KellyAvellino/Twitter)

At 9.46pm, just a minute after being kicked out of the bar, the 6ft5, slight student was spotted on CCTV outside the Downtown Smoke Shop, on Church Street. He was sporting a two-tone black and brown shirt, jeans and boots as he stumbled down the road.

At points, he could be seen hunched over on the pavement with a few cars and a cyclist driving past. One minute later at 9.47pm, footage caught him on 1st Avenue North to Gay Street which ran near the Cumberland River.

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An unhoused person has told authorities they ran into Strain after he left the bar

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department and the Office of Emergency Management have been searching near riverbanks for the missing young man. They've scoured for clues and used boats and sonar equipment. On Tuesday a nonprofit called the United Cajun Navy assisted in the search.

A spokesperson at Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency highlighted the dangers of the river, telling The Tennessean that “the river is narrow, and the river current is the greater danger."

Riley’s family said that he was spotted by someone in person near a homeless camp adjacent to the Cumberland River.

Blurry footage shows the 22-year-old in a two-toned shirt

"I was talking to family members currently in downtown Nashville searching, and we have found another homeless person that had acknowledged that Riley had been in that area,” family friend Chris Dingman said.

Mum appeared 'completely normal' moments before vanishing while walking dog

Separately, Riley’s phone reportedly pinged on Life360 and Snapchat near two homeless camps also near the river. It also pinged near a Verizon tower near Public Square Park between 30 to 45 minutes after leaving the bar. It hasn’t been active since.

Police have been requesting data from his phone and Apple Watch, which they're hoping may help lead them to the college senior by tracking down more precise locations of the devices before they switched off.

Yelena Mandenberg