Riley Strain's mother issued a heartbreaking statement after her son's body was found 8 miles from his last known location.
The 22-year-old was last spotted near the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee , on March 8 after being kicked out of a bar he had been visiting with friends from his fraternity. Nashvile Police Department wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "The body of Riley Strain was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville this morning, approximately 8 miles from downtown. No foul play-related trauma was observed. An autopsy is pending."
Following the tragic news, Riley's mother Michelle Whiteid thanked everyone for their support and urged parents to 'hug their babies'. In a news conference, she said: "I just want to reiterate how thankful we are for everyone, and how much we appreciate everyone's support and love and prayers, because we feel them. We have felt every one of them.
READ MORE: Riley Strain's body found in Cumberland River after student seen fleeing Nashville bar on night out
"I just ask that you mommas out there hug your babies tight tonight, please." she continued. "Please for me, hug your babies tight tonight." Riley's father, Ryan Gilbert, thanked those how "helped us keep Riley's face in front of the cameras", adding: "You've helped us get some closure and let us take our boy home," he added.
Chris Whiteid, Strain's stepfather, said it has been "an emotional roller coaster" and also expressed his extreme gratitude "for everything that you've done for our family...We have learned through this ordeal that everybody has brought all the good to us," Whiteid continued. "We've had a little bad. You're gonna have that. But it has given us faith in people that sometimes gets clouded by what we're constantly hearing."
Metro Nashville police and fire crews rushed to the scene of a suspected drowning on the Cumberland River on Friday morning. The search has been ongoing for two weeks and despite some clues, including CCTV footage and despite a mysterious text he sent a girl 10 minutes before vanishing.
The bar has said in a previous statement that the young man was served one alcoholic drink and two waters before being escorted out around 9:35 p.m. "based on our conduct standards."
His bank card was later found on the embankment of the Cumberland River between it and Gay Street near Riverfront Park, and the police have said there's still no evidence of foul play as the search continues. The authorities have scoured the area using drones, foot patrols and boats with sonar equipment and have also been attempting to access location data from his phone and Apple Watch but without much luck.
A minute after being kicked out the bar Riley was seen on CCTV footage stumbling down the street, then a few minutes after that walking behind a group of people on the street. A couple of minutes after that, a police body camera captured the young man making small talk with a police officer, who was investigating a vehicle burglary in the area. That was at approximately 9.50pm local time, and Riley appeared fine.
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The horrific news of the Riley's body being found comes as the family of the missing student revealed they were shown new footage of the young man suddenly breaking into a jog before the video cut out.
According to his distraught stepfather, Chris Whiteid, Metro Nashville Police have shown the video showing Riley going along the James Robertson Parkway Bridge away from his hotel.
He became separated from his friends and was seen staggering the streets late at night, according to police. Mr Whiteid said: "We got to see him walking. We got to see him kind of at a fast pace walk, almost a jog. And it just shortened the last known window of sightings."
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