‘Still hopeful’: Family of Riley Strain reacts to last-known footage

Editor’s note: The latest update on Riley Strain.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (NewsNation) — The family of missing college student Riley Strain tells NewsNation that they’re not ready to give up on hopes that he’ll return safely.

“We are we’re still hopeful. We can’t give up hope” until there’s some solid reason not to be hopeful, said Chris Whiteid, Riley’s stepfather.

The new footage shows Strain walking toward the James Robertson Parkway Bridge, which is in the opposite direction of the hotel where he was staying.

“We got to see him walking,” Whiteid said. “We got to see him kind of at a fast pace walk, almost a jog. And it just shortened the last known window” of sightings.

The 22-year-old University of Missouri student was in Nashville for a conference with his Delta Chi fraternity brothers March 8 when he went missing after he was asked to leave Luke Bryan’s bar Luke 32 Bridge in Nashville.

Initially, reports said he was removed for being overserved, but the bar said he only had one drink and was removed based on their conduct standards. A friend of Strain’s said he attempted to leave with him but was prevented from doing so by security.

Surveillance video shows Strain on the streets of Nashville. He appears intoxicated, stumbling and falling at one point. His phone later pinged, indicating he was headed in the opposite direction from the group’s hotel.

Police checked jails and hospitals for Strain with no luck and have been searching the area and the Cumberland River. Strain’s bank card was found on an embankment near the river several days into the search.

Strain’s family has maintained they do not believe he is in the river.

His family said they were shown the video of Strain’s last known appearance Sunday.

“The video was shown to us on Sunday after they found the debit card,” Whiteid said. “It was the last known video of Riley. Basically from where the body camera footage was with the officer to just right before the James Robertson Bridge.”

The search for Strain has still not produced any evidence of a “criminal element” to his disappearance, Nashville police said in a statement Thursday.

NewsNation’s Devan Markham contributed to this report.