A lawsuit filed by Riley Strain‘s family provides new details about the night he went missing in downtown Nashville.
Strain was 22 years old when he went missing after visiting Luke Bryan‘s Luke’s 32 Bridge Bar in Nashville and several other country-artist affiliated bars beforehand.
Instead of returning to his hotel, Strain walked northeast and ended up along the Cumberland River, where his body was later found.
During the two weeks between when he went missing (March 8, 2024) and when he was found (March 22), there was tremendous media attention on downtown Nashville safety, bar and restaurant responsibilities and fraternity events.
Strain was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity and was visiting Nashville for a formal event, scheduled for the next day.

WSMV-TV in Nashville shared the full 36-page document that details who the plaintiffs and defendants are, and what damages are being sought. The sheer size of the list of people being sued is notable. In addition to the fraternity, nearly three dozen individuals are listed, but it’s not clear which, if any, were with him in the hours before he went missing.
The lawsuit describes a traveling party bus that was loaded with beer and high ABV (alcohol by volume) Jello shots. It also details Strain’s physical state as the night went on and concludes that he should not have been left to walk to his hotel (west of downtown Nashville) by himself.
Find 11 things we learned from Riley Strain’s family’s lawsuit below.
The document was filed in circuit court in Boone County, Mo. on Thursday (March 21), one day short of the one-year anniversary of Strain’s body being found in Nashville. Not listed is any of the bars or restaurants Strain visited while in Nashville.
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
Who had the most played country song during the year you were born? This list is a fascinating time capsule of prevalent trends from every decade in American history. Scroll through to find your birth year and then click to listen. Some of these songs have been lost through the years, many of them for good reason!
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes