Nashville police continue to investigate the disappearance of a 22-year-old Riley Strain, who was last seen at about 9:30 p.m. Friday, March 8.
Strain was reportedly told to leave country music star Luke Bryan's bar because he apparently had had too much to drink.
“He's an outgoing, energetic young man,” said Christopher Whiteid, his step-father. “He is 6-foot-7, about 160 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes and he doesn't know a stranger. He has a fun-loving personality. People gravitate to him. He's just easy going.”
Christopher Whiteid said Tuesday afternoon that Riley Strain was a graduate of Kickapoo High School in Springfield and was still missing.
Whiteid was in Nashville when contacted by the Hauxeda Tuesday, March 12. He was there with Strain's mother, Michelle Whiteid, as well as Riley Strain's father and his wife. They all arrived in Nashville on Saturday, March 9.
The bar — called Luke's 32 Bridge — is at the center of Nashville's downtown entertainment district. Strain was in the Music City for a fraternity conference with other Delta Chi fraternity members when he went missing.
Where Riley Strain was last spotted
Strain is a student at the University of Missouri. His Facebook page states he started at Kickapoo in the late summer of 2015, which should make him a 2019 graduate.
According to a story in News Nation, a subscription television network owned by the Nexstar Media Group, Strain was asked to leave the bar at about 9:30 p.m. Friday.
A friend reportedly tried to leave with Strain, but for an unexplained reason, the bar's security personnel did not allow him to do so.
Riley Strain was contacted via a friend a short time later and Strain said he was going back to the hotel.
He never arrived at the hotel. In fact, a security camera shows him at 9:47 p.m. crossing a Nashville street at a location in the opposite direction of the hotel.
Strain's friend discovered he was not at their hotel on Saturday morning and alerted his family.
According to the News Nation story, hours earlier Strain had called his mother on Facetime.
His mother said they were close and he often messaged her during the day. She said her son said he was having a good time in Nashville and sent photos of some of the bars where he had been.
He also told her he loved her.
