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

[GatorFL]

An important question that I think needs to be answered is, “what percentage of the accidental drownings are dry drownings?”

Scroll up. Another Sleuther posted an article that states 20%.

 

[GatorFL]

How are bars not responsible …..they throw out an overly intoxicated person….to fend for themselves?????


This happens way too much here and the UK as well as other places.

Because drinkers have some personal responsibility for their actions?

 

[SMK777]

Because drinkers have some personal responsibility for their actions?

It’s clear that they do.
However, death at 22 is horrible in it’s finality, and I’m sure from his mother’s perspective, she simply can’t believe he’s gone, and agonizes over how it could have been prevented, if only he’d been walked back to the hotel by someone.
I can understand both sides.

 

[layer]

Because drinkers have some personal responsibility for their actions?

It seems to me that if your business model is to get people intoxicated you might bear some responsibility for how you handle such persons you got intoxicated.

 

[NCWatcher]

It’s clear that they do.
However, death at 22 is horrible in it’s finality, and I’m sure from his mother’s perspective, she agonizes over how it could have been prevented, if only he’d been walked back to the hotel by someone.
I can understand both sides.

In her earlier remarks his mother didn't seem to blame the men RS went out drinking with. But I suppose that could have changed. I hope not for her sake. She may also be questioning what she could have done differently as a parent. If there was blame, I'd think self-blame would be more common (and more painful) than blaming others. But maybe not these days. There's a tendency it seems to me to blame others for choices adult family members make.
MOO

 

[SMK777]

In her earlier remarks his mother didn't seem to blame the men RS went out drinking with. But I suppose that could have changed. I hope not for her sake. She may also be questioning what she could have done differently as a parent. If there was blame, I'd think self-blame would be more common (and more painful) than blaming others. But maybe not these days. There's a tendency it seems to me to blame others for choices adult family members make.
MOO

Right, but I don’t think it’s really a question of blame; more just agony and bewilderment that something so permanent and unexpected actually happened, and the natural question of why, and the regrets about if only this or that had stopped it.

 

[NoviceCrimeWatcher]

Quick question - if the autopsy revealed there was no water in his lungs (didn't drowned) and the death is ruled accidental, wouldn't there be bruising or at least something on the body that showed some kind of trauma (fell hit his head, etc.)? Something must have killed him before he hit the water, correct? Am I missing something? NOTE: Please go easy on me, I'm new at this.

 

[GatorFL]

Quick question - if the autopsy revealed there was no water in his lungs (didn't drowned) and the death is ruled accidental, wouldn't there be bruising or at least something on the body that showed some kind of trauma (fell hit his head, etc.)? Something must have killed him before he hit the water, correct? Am I missing something? NOTE: Please go easy on me, I'm new at this.

Scroll up, several posts discussing how a "dry drowning" works.

 

[GatorFL]

It seems to me that if your business model is to get people intoxicated you might bear some responsibility for how you handle such persons you got intoxicated.

Sure. Riley was cut off though.

 

[NCWatcher]

Right, but I don’t think it’s really a question of blame; more just agony and bewilderment that something so permanent and unexpected actually happened, and the natural question of why, and the regrets about if only this or that had stopped it.

Ok. Thinking your son is dead because someone didn't walk him back to the hotel sounds close to blame to me but I guess it's not always. It's an awful situation, no doubt about it. And I feel very sorry for his RS's family and friends. But isn't it pretty much true that every accident that happens could have been prevented "if only?" Sort of like "for want of a nail..."
MOO

 

[JSolt1210]

Sure. Riley was cut off though.

Also, the bar served him just one drink. I don't think it's reasonable to try and hold any bar accountable for that.

If Riley had been pregaming, I think he somehow still had enough wits to act 'fine' for just a few moments in order to get past the bouncer and fool the bar staff. I mean, that's what he did with the police officer. We all saw him stumbling around the streets on camera, and yet when he walked by the cop, he walked just fine, greeted the officer back without slurred speech, etc.

I know I did stuff like this in my drinking days, and I don't hold others accountable for not noticing that, when I was actively looking to fool them.

 

[Gizmo3]

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

That's wonderful to hear that many Australian schools have mandatory swimming lessons.

I saw a couple of other posts speculating on Riley's swimming abilities. I grew up about 45 minutes from Springfield and completed my undergrad degree at one of the city's universities. While a lot of places in the Midwest, particularly urban areas, may not have an emphasis on or the facilities for teaching swimming, I don't think the same can be said for this region. Rivers are a major part of leisure activity in the area - there isn't a whole lot to do so many people grow up spending weekends and the summer at various rivers (most people I know at least learned how to doggie-paddle, but of course that is anecdotal). There are also several large recreational lakes within an hour's drive, such as Lake of the Ozarks. I don't remember people talking about what to do when struggling in water as far as removing shoes, but even as someone who is definitely not into fishing, I was repeatedly warned about the dangers of wearing waders. I can't imagine someone who was interested in conservation and growing up in this area as not knowing how to swim, but of course you never know. However, unexpectedly finding yourself in cold and unfamiliar water in the dark while clothed and not sober? That's a totally different story.

 

[layer]

Sure. Riley was cut off though.

and

Also, the bar served him just one drink. I don't think it's reasonable to try and hold any bar accountable for that.

Valid points, one and all. The real price of freedom is personal responsibility; the buck stops with the drinker/user. And he paid more than enough. If I'm not mistaken he also stumbled across a cop along the way. I don't really know or care about legal (undoubtedly civil $$) responsibility, but I just wish we could all do a better job of looking out for each other. Sad story, and seems like foul play to me.

 

[MassGuy]

and

Valid points, one and all. The real price of freedom is personal responsibility; the buck stops with the drinker/user. And he paid more than enough. If I'm not mistaken he also stumbled across a cop along the way. I don't really know or care about legal (undoubtedly civil $$) responsibility, but I just wish we could all do a better job of looking out for each other. Sad story, and seems like foul play to me.

How do you get foul play when two autopsies have shown no signs of that?

 

[housewife]

That thought has occurred to me many times. Didn’t fit his known character or where he currently was in terms of getting ready to graduate and begin an internship. He’d been on a prior Nashville trip without incident. More like a freshman thing. MOO

Was Riley in AA?
I mean, he was in a fraternity, traveling to a party town to party with others.
This is very typical behavior for most people in the greek life, most activities are soaked in alcohol. Becoming older doesn't automatically change these habits. I know many young, brilliant and high achieving people who are high functioning binge drinkers. Or do coke on the weekends. Work hard, play hard.
This is a very sad death and unfortunately, very common.
Alcohol is a deadly drug.

 

[layer]

How do you get foul play when two autopsies have shown no signs of that?

Where I come from a man don't lose his cowboy boots unless there's foul play.
Only partly kidding.

 

[MassGuy]

Where I come from a man don't lose his cowboy boots unless there's foul play.
Only partly kidding.

Let’s game this out.

Someone murders Riley, steals his boots and pants, but does so without committing an overt act of violence. Literally the perfect murder, as it’s fooled two experts.

Or, a drunk guy falls in a river, which is astoundingly common. And the tide results in his pants and boots falling off, of which there is precedent.

You think the former is the most likely?

 

[layer]

Let’s game this out.

Someone murders Riley, steals his boots and pants, but does so without committing an overt act of violence. Literally the perfect murder, as it’s fooled two experts.

If the body was recovered 2 weeks after being in the water I'm not sure how much soft tissue damage (like an SA) would show up. Was there water in the lungs?

 

[MassGuy]

If the body was recovered 2 weeks after being in the water I'm not sure how much soft tissue damage (like an SA) would show up. Was there water in the lungs?

No stab wounds, no broken neck, no blunt force trauma; nothing at all. No water in the lungs, but that's not uncommon.

 

[Tutter]

Did either autopsy say the body condition was consistent with being in the water 2 weeks?

It’s going to take a for me while to accept no water in the lungs as perfectly normal for drowning. Let’s remember that the next time a wife or child is found in the tub, said to have accidentally drowned, but no water in their lungs.

The other thing that bothers me is that when Riley was found the very first thing they said was he was wearing his shirt! Did any of us suspect for a moment that he would not have boots or pants? They specifically mentioned the shirt, made sure it was clear he had it on, but no mention of his bottom half. And that is because there was a rumor that a person was spotted possibly wearing his shirt. So that seems to me to be a way for them to say, ‘see everything is fine no one took his shirt. The end’. That is a big omission IMO.

He did fall and hit his head, anything said about head injury?