Nashville police are searching for a missing Missouri college student who was visiting the Music City when he vanished on Friday night.
Riley Strain, 22, was last seen around 10 p.m. Friday on Gay Street "after drinking downtown" at Luke Bryan's bar called Luke's 32 Bridge, according to his family and the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD).
Police described Strain as 6-foot-5 with a "thin build, blue eyes and light brown hair."
Strain's cousin, Chelsea Strain, described the 22-year-old student as a "kind young man," who is "so sweet and willing to do anything for anyone."
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"We have been best friends since day 1 and [he] does not know a stranger. He has a contagious smile that could light up a room," she told Fox News Digital in a statement. "He went to Nashville for a fraternity formal with 200 others on charter buses and stayed at a hotel close to downtown. He got split up from his friends Friday night but let them know he would head back to the hotel. When they went back they could not find him."
Strain is a University of Missouri student majoring in finance, according to FOX 17 Nashville.
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He was reportedly kicked out of the bar after staff felt he had too much to drink and told his friends he would walk back to their hotel, Tempo by Hilton, which is about five blocks away from Luke's 32, FOX 17 reported.
"The bartender said he had been overserved," Chris Whiteid, Strain's stepfather, told the outlet. "He was trying to pay his tab."
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When his friends did not see him again at their hotel later that evening, they filed a missing persons report, Chelsea Strain said.
"My family left as soon as they heard the news, along with his dad and stepmom. He is not one to leave and not call anyone," she said. "I talked to him every week if not every other day to check on him. He talks to his mom more than once a day. All of us are worried. My family, along with his dad, stepmom and step-siblings, all just want him home. We want to hold him and love him. We want to watch him graduate in May at Mizzou. He has a bright future ahead of him."
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When Strain left the bar, however, he appeared to walk in the opposite direction of his hotel. His phone last pinged between 10 and 10:30 p.m. in the area of Public Square Park, located near the sheriff's office and the Cumberland River, according to FOX 17.
"This is definitely the worst nightmare," Whiteid said. "He talks to his mom three or four times a day. For him to go this long without talking is not normal by any means."
An MNPD helicopter searched the area Monday, including around the Cumberland River.
"Detectives on the ground also searched, but to no avail. The investigation as to his whereabouts is active," MNPD said.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about Riley's disappearance to contact 615-862-8600.
