Found Deceased TN - Riley Strain, 22, missing after leaving bar, Nashville, 8 March 2024 #3

[SMK777]

I’m definitely not a forensics expert, and as you said, waterlogged clothes may behave differently than non waterlogged clothes, but it just seems weird that pants could slip off a person over their boots. I can’t get my jeans off over sneakers and my jeans aren’t tight or the skinny leg kind. Maybe his pants or jeans were loose to begin with… but sliding off over boots if the body is bloating seems odd to me.

Since the family spokesperson did this interview, it sounds like they weren’t satisfied with the medical results and if this sort of thing is a normal occurrence, I hope another expert can assure them. Chris seemed focused in the interview on the person who heard the commotion.

I have the same difficulty imagining that, but then, I don’t know much about water and currents’ effects in regard to this. I guess we have to wait for further explanation.

 

[MassGuy]

I’m definitely not a forensics expert, and as you said, waterlogged clothes may behave differently than non waterlogged clothes, but it just seems weird that pants could slip off a person over their boots. I can’t get my jeans off over sneakers and my jeans aren’t tight or the skinny leg kind. Maybe his pants or jeans were loose to begin with… but sliding off over boots if the body is bloating seems odd to me.

Since the family spokesperson did this interview, it sounds like they weren’t satisfied with the medical results and if this sort of thing is a normal occurrence, I hope another expert can assure them. Chris seemed focused in the interview on the person who heard the commotion.

The boots would have likely slid off first, then the pants. The boots were missing too.

Or the pants could have forced the boots off as they were sliding off.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

The boots would have likely slid off first, then the pants. The boots were missing too.

Or the pants could have forced the boots off as they were sliding off.

With the gases accumulating in the body after a few days, tho, wouldn’t that have had to occurred sooner than later? Like the body would have had to have reduced in size at first in order to enable these things to slide right off.

 

[Hestia's Fire]

I've thought all along that Riley most likely stepped off the sidewalk and went toward the river to find a private place to relieve himself, so it would make sense to me that he might have already unfastened his pants when he slipped and entered the water. In that case, pants being loosened or partially down would probably come off easily in the water's current, and would have taken the boots with them.

 

[iamshadow21]

Of course this will open the floodgates to speculation about his being already dead when thrown into the water, and of being accosted.
(I must admit, that as a lay person, I don’t understand drowning without water in the lungs, or how jeans can slide off a body. But I trust those who have expertise).

Dry drowning happens in a percentage of cases. The throat locks down to prevent water entering the lungs, and the victim suffocates.

Deceased persons are often found unclothed in moving bodies of water, due to actions such as currents and tides. And if this was an accident that happened while looking for somewhere to urinate... his trousers may have been undone, which would make it more likely for his trousers to come off. And if his wallet was in his trouser pocket, and his shoes weren't tightly laced, it's all going to be more likely to be lost. He was in the river a long time, and travelled eight miles downstream. That's a lot of agitated water.

I understand why the family finds both suspicious, but as someone who reads about forensics, I can understand why the medical examiner and LE don't. Both are commonly found in drowning cases.

MOO

 

[Sundog]

So “authorities have ordered a second autopsy”.
Is this more poor wording from that news venue?

Riley Strain body found with no pants, wallet, boots | Vargas Reports

New details reveal University of Missouri student Riley Strain was found without his pants, wallet or the cowboy boots he wore the night he vanished. Strain family friend Chris Dingman tells NewsNation's "Elizabeth Vargas Reports" that authorities have ordered a second autopsy.

www.newsnationnow.com

In the interview, Chris said that the family had their own autopsy done by a private examiner, in addition to the autopsy performed by the medical examiner.


EBM for clarification

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

I’m not leaning one way or another, but I do recall he wore size 15 shoes, and we heard his footsteps “clomping” down the street as he approached the police officer at the first bridge. Those would be large boots to slip off a foot, I’d think. Square toed Justin cowboy boots seem to go up the leg toward the calf. Easier for me to envision a sneaker slipping off. But as always I’m open to opinions.

 

[Chimera]

I've been wondering about his phone too but they haven't mentioned it so I'm thinking they haven't found it

I thought they'd found his phone ?
Maybe someone will locate it and turn it in ?

 

[Sundog]

So Riley was found wih just his watch and unique shirt, and was initially able to be identfied that way. And, of course, there is his height.

 

[Chimera]

I’m beginning to think it was more than alcohol. He was a good sized man, should have been able to hold his liquor as well as the other frat boys, IMO. I’m honestly considering the possibility that he was drugged. It’s reportedly quite common at Nashville bars. Why?
Hopefully the tox report will show if that’s the case.
And/or a head injury from the fall. All JMO

Bbm.
Yes, the tox results will hopefully answer a lot of questions.

So sorry for his family.
What a tragic turn of events.

 

[Chimera]

So Riley was just found with his watch and unique short, and was initially able to be identfied that way. And, of course, his height.

Looks like it.

Graphic post :

I don't want to dwell on it, but after a few weeks in the water, decomposition is pretty extreme.
Omo.

 

[Chimera]

In the interview, Chris said that the family had their own autopsy done by a private examiner, in addition to the autopsy performed by the medical examiner.


EBM for clarification

Thanks for clarifying.

I wouldn't read too much into it.
Omo.

 

[arielilane]

@burtstaggsnews

#RileyStrain His family had a second autopsy done in Missouri. Riley was reportedly missing his pants & boots. I can personally say that current will take your clothing. My cousin was successful water rescued, all his clothing had been stripped away except his shirt

5:54 PM · Mar 27, 2024 from Tennessee, USA

 

[Odeto BJ]

I’m not leaning one way or another, but I do recall he wore size 15 shoes, and we heard his footsteps “clomping” down the street as he approached the police officer at the first bridge. Those would be large boots to slip off a foot, I’d think. Square toed Justin cowboy boots seem to go up the leg toward the calf. Easier for me to envision a sneaker slipping off. But as always I’m open to opinions.

A different opinion....If he went into that cold, fast running water and was attempting to swim he may very well have kicked his boots off. Very hard to swim with cowboy boots on....though I've never tried, and don't really want to.
This all tracks back to the circumstances under which he ended up in the water. Autopsy indications are that he was only minorly bruised: if he fell in without hitting trees or masonry, there is a reasonable chance he was conscious and trying to swim before the cold got to him. I would anticipate the first thing you would want to do is get your face above water, and the second would be ditch the boots.
JMO

 

[iamshadow21]

@burtstaggsnews

#RileyStrain His family had a second autopsy done in Missouri. Riley was reportedly missing his pants & boots. I can personally say that current will take your clothing. My cousin was successful water rescued, all his clothing had been stripped away except his shirt

View attachment 4932315:54 PM · Mar 27, 2024 from Tennessee, USA

So glad it was successful. So many are lost so fast. I'm in a country with a massive coastline and lovely, beguiling beaches. We lose many to drowning, even on patrolled beaches. We lost one on a not even a beach this year - a lake, really - near where I live. It was patrolled, good weather, broad daylight. A young, healthy guy came off his paddleboard and never surfaced.

There's a good reason why Australian kids go to swimming lessons pretty much from the moment they're born, just about. My mum had me in the local pool from a month or two old. There's a reason why most schools have mandatory courses of lessons for kids in certain grades.

We lose too many.

And when darkness, aloneness, steep banks, and alcohol factor in... It's very easy for a drowning to happen quickly and quietly.

MOO

 

[iamshadow21]

A different opinion....If he went into that cold, fast running water and was attempting to swim he may very well have kicked his boots off. Very hard to swim with cowboy boots on....though I've never tried, and don't really want to.
This all tracks back to the circumstances under which he ended up in the water. Autopsy indications are that he was only minorly bruised: if he fell in without hitting trees or masonry, there is a reasonable chance he was conscious and trying to swim before the cold got to him. I would anticipate the first thing you would want to do is get your face above water, and the second would be ditch the boots.
JMO

Kicking off your shoes is the first thing you're taught in Swim and Survive out here. It may have been instinct if he'd had similar training.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

A different opinion....If he went into that cold, fast running water and was attempting to swim he may very well have kicked his boots off. Very hard to swim with cowboy boots on....though I've never tried, and don't really want to.
This all tracks back to the circumstances under which he ended up in the water. Autopsy indications are that he was only minorly bruised: if he fell in without hitting trees or masonry, there is a reasonable chance he was conscious and trying to swim before the cold got to him. I would anticipate the first thing you would want to do is get your face above water, and the second would be ditch the boots.
JMO

Sure, makes sense, if he was able to do so. I feel so bad for his family and wish this had been a “cut and dry” no lingering questions scenario for them.

 

[ifindedout]

Kicking off your shoes is the first thing you're taught in Swim and Survive out here. It may have been instinct if he'd had similar training.

I've read of World War II aviators doing the same thing after any kind of water landing.

 

[iamshadow21]

Sure, makes sense, if he was able to do so. I feel so bad for his family and wish this had been a “cut and dry” no lingering questions scenario for them.

Cut and dry tends to be the stuff of fiction. Whatever the manner of death, there tend to always be some questions unanswered. They don't always play a crucial part in the death, but they linger, regardless. Especially when the victim is young and healthy and the death sudden and unexpected.

MOO

 

[iamshadow21]

I've read of World War II aviators doing the same thing after any kind of water landing.

And those guys (and gals) had boots, serious ones. So if they managed to get theirs off, in the sea, then cowboy boots in a river isn't a stretch.

MOO