Missing student Riley Strain found dead as preliminary autopsy results revealed – latest updates

At one point, a debit card on a river embankment was the only major clue in the disappearance of University of Missouri student Riley Strain – and it was discovered by two TikTokers.

Read more from The Independent’s Andrea Cavallier:

Police told Nashville, Tennessee outlet WKRN that a preliminary autopsy had been completed on Riley Strain’s body.

As police initially said when they recovered Strain’s body, the preliminary findings continue to support that there was no foul play involved in the 22-year-old’s death.

“I want to reiterate how thankful we are for everyone and how much we appreciate everyone’s support, love and prayers,” Riley Strain’s mother, Michelle Whiteid, said.

“I just ask that you mamas out there hug your babies tight tonight, please, for me,” she continued.

Their words came at Friday evening press conference, just hours after authorities recovered 22-year-old Strain’s body from the Cumberland River.

“We are quite thankful for everything you’ve done — the grace you’ve given us,” Chris Whiteid, Strain’s stepfather, said. “We have learned through this ordeal that everybody has brought all the good to us. We’ve had a little bad, but it has given us faith in people that sometimes gets clouded by what we are constantly hearing.”

Riley Strain was thrown out of a restaurant and bar owned by musician Luke Bryan just minutes before surveillance footage captured him alive for the last time.

Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink, owned by Mr Bryan, issued a statement to CNN explaining why staff removed Strain from the premises.

“At 9:38 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.” The restaurant also told the outlet staff served Strain two waters and one alcoholic drink before he left.

In a press briefing, Nashville police said that a worker spotted a body in the river around 7.28am that morning. The worker was removing an object from the river, when the body surfaced.

The Nashville Fire Department was called in to the scene and recovered the body from the water.

Musician Carly Pearce dedicated a song to Riley Strain while performing in Missouri, the state where the 22-year-old attended school.

“I do not feel like I can live in Nashville and be in the state of Missouri tonight and not say that we love you Riley Strain,” Ms Pearce said from the stage Friday night. “I just want to say that I’m thinking of his family and I’m thinking of his friends and anybody that knows him in this room that knows him. And I want to dedicate this to them.”

Ms Pearce posted about Strain earlier this week, just two days before his body was found.

The United Cajun Navy, which helped authorities find and recover Riley Strain’s body on Friday, is now diverting resources to a missing child case, the organization said in a statement.

The non-profit dedicated to finding missing children will now assist in the case of 15-year-old Sebastian Rogers, who has been missing for five weeks, according to their statement.

Riley Strain was still wearing his distinctive shirt when his body was pulled from the river, police said.

On the night he was last seen in downtown Nashville, Strain was sporting a monochrome shirt.

Since his disappearance, reports have emerged that a homeless man had found a shirt matching the description close to the river bank and was later seen wearing it.

But, in the press conference on Friday morning, police said that Strain was still wearing his shirt and watch – and that these items helped to identify him.

Mr Strain’s body was discovered approximately 8 miles from downtown Nashville in the Cumberland River. Workers were removing an object from the river when they stumbled upon Mr Strain’s body.

According to police, Mr Strain was wearing his distinctive black and white shirt when he was found, contradicting earlier claims by that the shirt had been taken and worn by a man named Ross.

Police said an initial analysis of Mr Strain’s body showed no evidence that of foul play, and that an autopsy is pending.