OAN’s Brooke Mallory
5:01 PM – Thursday, March 14, 2024
Riley Strain, 22, a student at the University of Missouri, has now been missing for nearly a week. On Wednesday night, family and friends came together for a vigil where they prayed for Riley’s safe return.
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After spending the night out in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was attending a fraternity convention, the 22-year-old vanished on Friday after he and other frat members went out to the bars.
The vigil was held on Wednesday in his hometown of Springfield, Missouri.
This week, surveillance footage that was made public revealed the final moments before Strain went missing.
He is seen getting kicked out of country music star Luke Bryan’s bar “Luke 32 Bridge.” Bartenders reportedly felt that Strain was too drunk, so they asked him to leave promptly. The now-missing student is seen stumbling and looking lost in the recorded security footage.
Although Strain told his friends that he would be heading back to their hotel, his phone’s GPS indicated that he had walked the opposite way.
“We’re here on a fraternity trip; it’s one of my good buddies,” an unidentified friend of Strain told police after calling 911.
In an attempt to locate him, investigators requested a search warrant for his digital footprint, utilizing information from his Apple Watch and cell phone in order to see his last location.
Police and a private investigation team, personally hired by Strain’s family, have continued to search for him all across Nashville, Tennessee.
His parents said on “Morning in America” on Thursday that there are still a lot of unresolved concerns and that time is of the essence. Ryan Gilbert, Strain’s father, also mentioned that the process is taking much longer than anticipated because there is still a lot of security footage to examine.
Meanwhile, Strain’s college classmates and fraternity brothers expressed that they are frightened and feel uneasy about his disappearance.
“Everyone right now is just holding their breath, hoping that we will find him safely, hoping that we will find him without injury,” said University of Missouri spokesperson Christian Basi.
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