Riley Strain’s parents have been contacted by as many as 10 people who have been drugged in Nashville, Tennessee, according to a report from the Independent. This news supports what many TikTokers have suspected may have happened to the Mizzou senior before he went missing on March 8, 2024.
Strain, 22, was in Nashville on a trip with his fraternity when he was asked to leave country singer Luke Bryan’s bar and restaurant, Luke’s 32 Bridge Bar + Drink, for violating “conduct standards.” The establishment has since confirmed Strain was served one alcoholic drink, and water. Strain and his friends visited at least two other bars that night. And security footage from downtown Nashville has suggested he was highly intoxicated the night he disappeared.
Strain was separated from his friends after leaving Bryan’s establishment, and his last cell phone ping came from near the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. Strain’s bank card was found on the banks of the Cumberland, and police body cam footage from an officer investigating a car break-in in the neighborhood confirmed Strain was near the waterway around 10 p.m. that night.
Is there a roofie problem in downtown Nashville?
Since Riley Strain vanished, Tennessee officials are investigating whether Strain was overserved at Luke Bryan’s bar, and it’s not known how many alcoholic beverages Strain may have had elsewhere. A 32 Bridge employee said when Strain was asked to leave, it seemed like “maybe he had had enough.” It raises the question, however, whether Strain may have been drugged or roofied sometime that evening, as many TikTokers with experience in the Nashville area have suggested. Reports that individuals who have been drugged in Nashville have contacted Strain’s parents support that claim.
TikToker NewHoyerWhoDis says women in Nashville don’t go to the area where Strain was last seen “because it’s so unsafe.” And Nashville’s downtown roofie problem has been covered in the local press since at least 2022. From a Reddit post headlined, “How is Nashville addressing its roofie problem?” one person wrote in an unverified comment,
” … It happened to me as a straight man at a gay bar. Someone that I thought I trusted got me a drink and it’s very likely that it was drugged by them. The bad thing is, you don’t really know in a compromising situation like that. I had been drinking already, but I didn’t think I drank that much compared to the amount of intoxication I was feeling. I slowly started to black out.”
via FitUpstairs7020/Reddit
As of this report, the search for the college senior and the investigation into his disappearance was ongoing. New clues may confirm or refute that Strain was drugged, but anecdotal evidence is abundant that Strain may have been under the influence of something more than alcohol the night he went missing.