OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:05 AM – Monday, August 12, 2024
Police have revealed that Riley Strain, the college student that was found in a Nashville river, had consumed 12 to 15 drinks before he died.
According to a report by WSMV, police said that the 22-year-old, whose body was found in the Cumberland River on March 22nd, had been heavily drinking before he went missing.
Police also told the news station that based on interviews they had with his fraternity brothers, they determined that Strain had 12 to 15 drinks before he died.
The Delta Chi brothers also told officers that the group had traveled up to Nashville on four buses for a fraternity formal. The bus driver had enforced a “no alcohol on the bus” rule, but they still drank anyway.
One fraternity brother recalled that Strain had at least five drinks, plus two vodka shots and three IPAs.
David Easlick, an attorney who sues fraternities for student deaths or injuries, said the amount of alcohol in those drinks violates Delta Chi’s own rules. This comes as a webinar for parents on the Delta Chi national fraternity’s website stated that no drink with more than 15% alcohol content can be served at a fraternity function unless a licensed third party serves it.
On March 8th, the group arrived in Nashville around 4:30 p.m. and less than 30 minutes later, Strain was seen on surveillance footage sipping a margarita.
Investigators discovered that despite his multiple bar visits that evening, he was served alcohol three times without any obvious signs of intoxication.
He was then seen stumbling several times by 8:40 p.m.
At approximately 9:38 p.m., he was last seen being led out of Luke Bryan’s bar following a fight with staff. Strain was seen laughing as he stumbled down the stairs in video footage taken of him leaving the bar.
“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,” the bar said in a March 15th statement. “He was followed down the stairs with one member of his party. The individual with Riley did not exit and returned upstairs.”
A fraternity brother reported to the police that he called Strain at 9:47 p.m. in which he sounded slurred and said he was heading to their hotel.
A homeless man later told police that he saw a “very, very intoxicated” young man nearly stumble over the edge of a trail into the Cumberland River.
The next day, Strain was reported missing and his body was found two weeks later eight miles downstream from where he was last seen.
Even though the family had suspected foul play, the autopsy revealed it was an accident.
The autopsy determined that his cause of death was “drowning and ethanol intoxication,” with a blood alcohol content of .228.
A spokesperson for the University of Missouri told reporters that the fraternity’s formal was a private event, and the group had no current conduct violations.
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