Riley Strain’s mom is sharing new alarming details about the final conversation they had before his sudden death.
As we reported, the 22-year-old college student went missing on March 8 during a night out with his Delta Chi fraternity brothers in downtown Nashville. The group visited multiple bars that night, including Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa, Garth Brooks’ Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk, and Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse. Eventually, they ended up at Luke Bryan’s establishment, Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink. It was there Riley got kicked out for having one too many. Afterward, a couple of people ran into him outside. But after that night no one saw the University of Missouri student again. Two weeks later, Riley’s body was discovered in the Cumberland River.
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The initial autopsy found no foul play was involved in his death, and the coroner ruled it as “accidental.” However, the toxicology results are pending at this time. Riley’s family doubted the results from the autopsy, so much so that they hired a private company to perform another autopsy. And what did the coroner find? Family friend Chris Dingman revealed to NewsNation that Riley had no water in his lungs. Of course, this raised a lot of questions for the family.
Now, his loved ones are exploring every single possibility about what happened to him. At one point, someone claimed they were the last person to see and talk to Riley on the night he disappeared. However, that lead turned out to be a dead end. During a police interrogation, the witness recanted their statement. They said they saw someone else — not Riley. Oof.
But the family aren’t giving up their search for the truth. Now they wonder if the answer lies in one of the final text messages he sent to his mother. Michelle Whiteid recalled to NewsNation this week what her son texted her earlier that night — he said a rum and coke he ordered tasted odd:
“He had sent me a text and said he was drinking a rum and coke, and it didn’t taste good. And I said, ‘Well, you probably shouldn’t drink it then.’ And he goes, ‘It tastes like barbecue,’ and I go, ‘Well, that sounds awful,’ and he said, ‘Well, it sounds good, but it’s not.”
Whoa. Could Riley have been drugged at one of the bars? That’s what his mom wonders, too. She added:
“Maybe there was something in it that shouldn’t have been.”
So scary. This could also explain Riley’s bizarre text to a woman he was seeing at the time, one of the oddest clues in this whole case. It read simpy,
“Good lops.”
We questioned if he was too drunk to fix a typo. But was there more going on with him than just being intoxicated? As for which country singer’s place Riley got that rum and coke? That’s not clear. However, NewsNation reported Michelle’s conversation with her son definitely didn’t happen while he was at Luke’s place but at one of the other bars. Watch the interview (below):
In addition to the concerning text, Riley FaceTimed Michelle at one point. She told People last month:
“We FaceTimed for a while, he wanted me to see around, and he was so excited. Then we hung up, and he texted me and he was like, ‘It was kind of hard to hear you, but I wanted you to see what was happening.’ I said, ‘Well, you boys be safe. Make good choices. I love you guys.’ And he said, ‘I love you, too.’ And that’s it, that’s the last I have heard from him.”
Heartbreaking. We can’t imagine what Riley’s family is going through, especially since there are still many unanswered questions. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via Metro Nashville Police Department, NewsNation/YouTube]
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