The family of missing University of Missouri student Riley Strain is adamant that he’s still alive, and are reportedly frustrated by the search effort being conducted by police.
Strain, 22, disappeared on March 8 after getting kicked out of Luke’s 32 Bridge in Nashville, a bar where he’d been drinking with his fraternity brothers. He was seen on security video just before 10 p.m. but has not been located since.
When a bank card belonging to Strain was found on Sunday by two women near the Cumberland River — a location extensively searched days before — his family became especially upset.
“We’ve heard multiple people that have tried to call crime-stoppers and leave tips and been told they don’t know anything about a Riley Strain case,” said Chris Whiteid, Strain’s stepdad. “So, lots of confusion. We’re struggling. We’re 10 days in, you know? It’s disheartening.”
Whiteid added that the family only received surveillance footage from the night of the disappearance on Friday afternoon, after requesting it during a meeting with local authorities.
“We had not seen anything or really heard from them too much throughout the previous week,” he said. “So we were getting frustrated. We wanted to see what they had.”
Family spokesperson Chris Dingman told TMZ on Tuesday that Strain’s parents are convinced he’s still alive, in part because they believe there’s more surveillance footage from other businesses along the route where he disappeared, which they feel the police are not investigating thoroughly.
Dingman also revealed that Strain’s last text message had been sent to a woman he’d been seeing, who asked how he was doing.
“Good lops,” Strain reportedly typed in response, leaving the woman confused by the apparent typo.
Late last week, Luke’s 32 Bridge, a bar owned by country singer Luke Bryan, denied claims they overserved Strain, saying he only purchased one alcoholic beverage while he was there. They have not said what led to him getting kicked out of the bar, other than the “security team made a decision based on our conduct standards to escort him from the venue.”
According to Strain’s friends, he told them he planned to walk back to their hotel. But surveillance cameras in the city last captured Strain walking in the opposite direction, about one mile from the bar.
Cops said Monday that there was no evidence of foul play in Strain’s disappearance.
