Nashville, TN (WOKI) Officials with the Metro Nashville Police Department have confirmed that a body found Friday in the Cumberland River is that of missing University of Missouri student, 22-year-old Riley Strain.
Metro Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake addressed media from the Cumberland River in West Nashville where Strain’s body was recovered Friday morning.
Drake said Strain’s body being found was first reported to authorities by barge operators near the river at 61st Avenue North. He said workers were working to remove an object from the river when they spotted the body.
“They noticed what appeared to be Riley Strain pop up,” Drake said, adding the Nashville Fire Department responded and pulled the body from the river. “The medical examiner’s office reviewed the body, and we’ve confirmed that it is Riley Strain.”
According to Drake, Strain still had on the shirt he was wearing when he went missing on March 8 after getting kicked out of Luke’s 32 Bridge in Downtown Nashville; his body was found eight miles down river from where he was last seen.
Drake said authorities do not suspect foul play in Strain’s disappearance nor his death.
Strain’s body was found after two weeks of extensive search by air, boat and on foot that included the Metro Nashville Police Department, Nashville Fire Department, Nashville’s Office of Emergency Management, Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office, and the United Cajun Navy as well as countless volunteers.
Now that Strain has been found, the search will turn more to the investigative side. The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has been conducting a separate investigation to determine whether Strain was overserved the night he disappeared.
Drake said Strain’s family has been notified of his recovery.
