Riley Strain's family is shining new light on the theory that he may have been drugged. The 22-year-old disappeared from Luke Bryan's 32 Bridge Bar in Nashville. Authorities discovered his body in the Cumberland River, nearly two weeks later.
Speaking with NewsNation, Strain's stepfather Chris Whiteid said Strain communicated with his mother through the trip to Nashville with his frat brothers. On the evening he disappeared, Strain reportedly texted her that he ordered a rum and Coke, but "that didn't taste good."
Now, his family believes he may have been drugged by the drink."Maybe there was something in it that shouldn't have been," Whiteid said. The family didn't say what bar Strain reportedly bought the drink at. However, 32 Bridge Bar asked Strain to leave due to apparent intoxication. They said they only served him one drink and two waters.
Meanwhile, Strain's stepfather is blasting Strain's frat brothers for "all of a sudden disappeared, all of the boys," during the search, Whiteid said. He said he found out a little later they went partying "in their dress clothes to go out to their formal that night."
"Why wouldn't they — Why wouldn't they have called the police when they got back at 3:15 in the morning and didn't see him then? Why wouldn't they have called the police?" Whiteid said.
Riley Strain's Family Wants Answers
Strain's own father Ryan Gilbert also echoed a similar sentiment. "We haven't really heard much from them," Gilbert told News Nation. "There's a lot of things we'd like to find out from them. If I was in their situation, I'd be beating down those parents' doors to tell them everything I could and be helpful in any way that I could."
The family is still waiting on toxicology to get back from the autopsy. Currently, police aren't expecting foul play despite there being little water in Strain's lungs. One expert Dr. Michael Baden explained why.
"It's not the water that causes harm," he told FOX, "it's the blockage of oxygen getting to the lungs."
He added, "So, if somebody goes in the water and because of a spasm of the windpipe, because ... if you can't breathe, you get a little spasm there. It's the lack of oxygen that causes the person to die. And one can have [a] lack of oxygen and water without water getting into the lungs, but just by creating a spasm in the air passages."
