Riley Strain’s cause of death has been confirmed, three months after the college student’s body was found, following his disappearance in Nashville.
The 22-year-old University of Missouri student’s official cause of death was listed as drowning and ethanol intoxication, according to the autopsy report obtained by TMZ. The manner was deemed accidental.
At the time the autopsy was conducted, Strain had traces of THC in his system, as well as a 0.228 blood alcohol content level, nearly three times the legal limit to drive in most of the United States, including Tennessee.
Metro Nashville Police Dept
Riley Strain is seen in surveillance video crossing 1st Ave N to Gay St in Nashville before his death. (Metro Nashville Police Dept.)
The autopsy also found no evidence of significant trauma to Strain’s body, which was found in Cumberland River on March 22, two weeks after he had last been seen.
An employee of a nearby concrete plant made the heartbreaking discovery about 8 miles from downtown Nashville.
Though Strain’s debit card had been located along the banks of the river, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake told reporters at the time that evidence suggested Strain had fallen into the river and that no “foul play-related trauma was observed,” pending an autopsy.
Strain was on a trip with his fraternity brothers in honor of their spring formal at the time he went missing on March 8. Prior to his disappearance, Strain was booted from singer Luke Bryan’s bar, Luke’s 32 Bridge on Broadway. The establishment denied allegations of overserving the missing student, but remained vague about why he’d been asked to leave, noting simply, the “security team made a decision based on our conduct standards to escort him from the venue.”
The mystery of Strain’s whereabouts quickly took the country by storm.
On March 19, just before his remains were found, a spokesperson for his “frustrated” family told TMZ that Strain’s parents were adamant that their son was still alive.
