Family of missing student kicked out of Luke Bryan's bar open up about difficult conversations as search continues
Riley Strain's family say they are preparing for the worst.
Strain, a student at the University of Missouri, has been missing since March 8.
The 22-year-old went missing in Nashville after allegedly being kicked out of 32 Bridge bar, which is owned by Luke Bryan.
Following the incident, Strain said he'd meet his college friends - whom he was on the trip with - back at the hotel, but he never showed up.
Advert
He's said to have left the bar around 9:45pm and almost two weeks on from his disappearance, there's still no sign of the him.
With this in mind, his family are starting to have difficult conversations.
Strain's stepfather, Chris Whiteid, said: "Put yourself in our shoes. Your family, your brother, your sister - they've been missing for almost two weeks."
He continued to tell ABC News: "Everybody knows it, everybody's thinking it - those conversations are starting to happen.
"It's not what we want. And I understand that people want to know what we're feeling - we're feeling frustrated, we're feeling hurt, we're feeling depressed."
On Monday (March 18), Metro Nashville PD released a video taken on an officer's bodycam where Strain could be seen having a brief interaction with the policeman.
"How you doing, sir?" the officer asks as Strain walks past.
The 22-year-old politely replied: "I'm good, how are you?"
"Good," the officer responded.
Police wrote alongside the video, which was posted on X: "Shown was Riley's brief exchange of greetings w/ Officer Reginald Young on Gay St., south of the Woodland St. Bridge, on the night of 3/8.
"Riley did not appear distressed.
"Officer Young was there on a vehicle burglary call & remained on that portion of Gay St. for 45 min."
The bodycam footage comes after police released CCTV where Strain could be seen shortly after leaving 32 Bridge bar.
Bar addresses Strain being kicked out
Following reports of the student being kicked out of Luke Bryan's 32 Bridge bar for being 'over served', the establishment issued a statement insisting that Strain had only had one drink.
"During Riley’s visit to Luke’s 32 Bridge, our records show he purchased and was served one alcoholic drink and two waters," they said.
"At 9:35 p.m., our security team made a decision based on our conduct standards to escort him from the venue through our Broadway exit at the front of our building.
"He was followed down the stairs with one member of his party. The individual with Riley did not exit and returned upstairs."
Strain's bank card is found
On March 17, police revealed that Strain's bankcard had been found 'on the embankment between Gay St. And the Cumberland River'.
It was discovered by Anna Clemdening and Brandy Baenen, two good samaritans who were sifting through trash alongside the riverbank in a bid to aid the ongoing search for Strain.
Strain's final text is revealed
A text sent by Strain to a friend was revealed by a family friend Chris Dingham on March 19, who told NewsNation: "He sent kind of a scripted text back to her, saying ‘Good lops'."
The girl was also confused and had apparently attempted to decipher what he meant on Google.
Dingham said: "Every time we get a little bit of evidence, there’s 100 more questions."
Niamh Shackleton