Harrowing 911 call reveals moment anxious friends report Missouri student Riley Strain missing
New audio has revealed the frantic 911 call the friends of University of Missouri student Riley Strain made as they called police to report him missing, nearly 16 hours after he was seen on surveillance video walking alone in downtown Nashville.
For more than a week, investigators have searched for Mr Strain, who vanished on 8 March.
The 22-year-old, who had been partying with his fraternity brothers in Nashville, was kicked out of a bar and became separated from his friends.
His friends said they tried to call him repeatedly on Friday night and on Saturday morning, but the calls kept going to voicemail.
They said they first went to Central Precinct on Korean Veterans Boulevard to report him missing, but when they couldn’t get into the lobby, they called 911.
The audio that KSHB obtained from Metropolitan Nashville Police reveals the call was made to police around 1.46pm on Saturday 9 March.
With each question the 911 operator asked, Mr Strain’s friend Brayden Baltz, appeared to become more panicked.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department released video footage last week, showing Mr Strain wearing a two-tone shirt, crossing First Avenue North to Gay Street near the Cumberland River at around 9.45pm on Friday. That spot is just over half a mile from Luke Bryan’s 32 Bridge bar, where his friends last saw him.
In the videos, Mr Strain appears to be stumbling.
Although officials with the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission confirmed they are investigating whether the college senior had been overserved, the bar owners later said he was only served one alcoholic drink and two waters before he was kicked out, telling his friends he would return to his hotel. However, he never made it back.
Police have found no evidence of foul play in Mr Strain’s disappearance. Ground and air search efforts are ongoing.
A police helicopter searched the immediate area around downtown Nashville, including the river bank. Investigators using boats on the Cumberland River have found no trace of Mr Strain.
Mr Strain’s parents have joined his friends and police in Nashville to search for the young man.
“This is definitely the worst nightmare,” Mr Strain’s stepfather, Chris Whiteild, told News 2. “For him to go this long without talking is not normal by any means.”
On 17 March, after days with little updates, his bank card was found near the river.
