Missing woman found on same riverbank where student Riley Strain was swept to his death

A woman who went missing was found crawling up the same riverbank where college student Riley Strain tragically lost his life this Spring.

Alexandria Chmiel, 33, had traveled to Nashville, Tennessee , with a friend, but they got separated in the middle of the night. Chmiel's friend reported her missing around 3.40 am. The lost woman was separated from her friend before 2am, according to CBS affiliate WKRN. The search for her began just twenty minutes later.

Despite being missing for only a few hours, Chmiel's story quickly went viral on TikTok due to its shocking similarities to the case of missing college student Riley Strain. Investigators launched a search for the missing woman in the same area that Riley Strain last visited, before he went missing. Luckily for Chmeil, her story ended well.

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Chmiel was finally spotted around 9am at the Gay Street connector, climbing up from the riverbank with scratches and lacerations. She was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for evaluation, WKRN reported.

When she went missing , her friend said she was last seen on downtown cameras near the Woodland Street bridge and First Avenue. The footage shows Chmiel wandering the streets before she vanished, according to the Sun .

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Metro police and Nashville firefighters used manpower, a helicopter, and a drone in their efforts to locate the New Jersey woman. During the search, they discovered her shoes and cell phone down an embankment.

Investigators believe that at some point, Chmiel mysteriously ended up in the river. However, she told officers she doesn't remember how or why she ended up there, but she managed to pull herself out.

Riley, a 22-year-old college student, had vanished after last being seen at various bars in Downtown Nashville, only for his body to be sadly discovered in the Cumberland River, according to WKRN.

The fraternity member had been most recently sighted as he shakily exited Luke's 32 Bridge bar on March 8 after ordering a drink and two glasses of water. Bar staff recounted him as being "verbally aggressive with staff," resulting in him being barred from re-entry.

Then, he vanished. His friends only called it in the next day, thinking that Riley had made his way home on his own. After a week-long search, Riley's body was pulled from the Cumberland River.

"The body of Riley Strain was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville this morning, approximately 8 miles from downtown," the Nashville Police Department wrote on X, formerly Twitter, "No foul play-related trauma was observed."

The University of Missouri student's blood alcohol content was nearly triple the legal limit when he was pulled out of the Cumberland River in Tennessee on March 22, 2024, an autopsy report revealed — and he also had a significant amount of THC in his system.