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

[MassGuy]

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?

The shirt was mentioned because it was an identifier. You had his height, the watch, and the shirt. The 911 caller who found him also mentioned the shirt.

Both autopsies had the exact same result, with no signs of trauma.

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

<modsnip>

Sorry for you Riley, sorry for those who knew and love you. May they let you rest.

 

[CamilleBSP]

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?

BBM
From what we've heard the boots and pants were found not far from him at all. Or I'm misinterpreting something.

 

[MassGuy]

BBM
From what we've heard the boots and pants were found not far from him at all. Or I'm misinterpreting something.

I haven’t heard they’d been found.

 

[Arkay]

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

I don’t come from a cowboy boot-wearing culture, but I would presume that your point, if valid, would be on dry land.

IMO it is abundantly clear that Riley’s boots are no match for two weeks of river current tugging at his body, or battered for however long he was stuck under that barge with the ever-flowing water, or for the amount of decomposition his body endured, which would make it easy for his pants and boots and wallet to slide off.

It’s not a test of how macho he was in hanging onto his boots.

JMO

 

[CuriousCricket]

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?

I believe he was identified by his shirt and watch. That watch is the main thing that keeps me from suspecting foul play.

 

[lassy]

So how do heavy wet jeans and cowboy boots come off in the current, but a loose, thin shirt doesn’t get ripped off?

 

[layer]

I don’t come from a cowboy boot-wearing culture, but I would presume that your point, if valid, would be on dry land.

Do you remember all those severed feet that washed up in the Northwest a few years ago that all still had their sneakers attached? In my experience it's not any easier to get out of sneakers than cowboy boots...
In reflecting on what I just typed, I wonder if he fell into the water, tried to get off the (now boat anchor) boots, but failed. I know that you can actually kind of swim in sneakers but cowboy boots will drag you down like a stone.
But If the shirt was really on the body but no pants or boots, if there really was no water in the lungs, smells like foul play to me. I'd say it's fishy at best.

 

[MassGuy]

So how do heavy wet jeans and cowboy boots come off in the current, but a loose, thin shirt doesn’t get ripped off?

A shirt would have his arms to contend with.

 

[NCWatcher]

So how do heavy wet jeans and cowboy boots come off in the current, but a loose, thin shirt doesn’t get ripped off?

If the shirt had been a tube top it probably would have been ripped off. But the shirt had sleeves so not as easy to slip down and off as pants and even boots that held water.
MOO

 

[CamilleBSP]

I haven’t heard they’d been found.

They said they found him with "identifying effects" or something like that. Unless his father was actually there to ID him like people've speculated, he probably had his wallet with him. If the wallet was on the pocket of the pants, the pants were probably near him and were recovered. But I'm assuming that from the info we have, and I could be 100% wrong. You've heard how it goes about assuming things...

Never have I ever seen police ID someone so fast like when they found Riley, and it being based only on his watch and shirt doesn't fit. Could be someone else wearing it.

 

[skylaker]

So how do heavy wet jeans and cowboy boots come off in the current, but a loose, thin shirt doesn’t get ripped off?

We don't know but it's possible the boots got caught in-between the river rocks and slipped off before he ended up in the water, especially if there is no laces. Cowboy boots can easily slide off in many different scenarios.

 

[layer]

They said they found him with "identifying effects" or something like that. Unless his father was actually there to ID him like people've speculated, he probably had his wallet with him. If the wallet was on the pocket of the pants, the pants were probably near him and were recovered.

I actually heard both the wallet and pants were missing. The family friend representing the family said that the father looked at the last video of him and spotted the wallet in the front pocket, where he had showed him to keep it safer from pick-pockets. And I believe the watch was the identifying effect.

 

[Herat]

They said they found him with "identifying effects" or something like that. Unless his father was actually there to ID him like people've speculated, he probably had his wallet with him. If the wallet was on the pocket of the pants, the pants were probably near him and were recovered. But I'm assuming that from the info we have, and I could be 100% wrong. You've heard how it goes about assuming things...

Never have I ever seen police ID someone so fast like when they found Riley, and it being based only on his watch and shirt doesn't fit. Could be someone else wearing it.

Riley has a distinctive height. That would assist in identifying him.

 

[CuriousCricket]

They said they found him with "identifying effects" or something like that. Unless his father was actually there to ID him like people've speculated, he probably had his wallet with him. If the wallet was on the pocket of the pants, the pants were probably near him and were recovered. But I'm assuming that from the info we have, and I could be 100% wrong. You've heard how it goes about assuming things...

Never have I ever seen police ID someone so fast like when they found Riley, and it being based only on his watch and shirt doesn't fit. Could be someone else wearing it.

RS had a very distinctive body shape and hair color . . . combined with shirt and watch, I'd guess the odds were really, really high it was Riley.

 

[MassGuy]

RS had a very distinctive body shape and hair color . . . combined with shirt and watch, I'd guess the odds were really, really high it was Riley.

That shirt was so distinctive that even the guy who found him knew who it was.

 

[arielilane]

Hopeful that Joseph Scott Morgan will do a Body Bags podcast on RS case.

 

[arielilane]

Riley Strain’s family has had a second autopsy done.They say Riley was found in the river near Nashville without his cowboy boots and jeans on – and the coroner said there was a “lack of water” in Riley’s lungs which “raises more questions.”

https://twitter.com/BrianEntin

 

[layer]

RS had a very distinctive body shape and hair color . . . combined with shirt and watch, I'd guess the odds were really, really high it was Riley.

The shirt for sure. I suspect he just suffered the ol' "death by misadventure," but it's puzzling. And sad. And frankly people should stop stumbling around drunk on the street at night like that. How many others have we had to look at on here?

 

[Ressler]

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

Thank you GatorFL.

I don’t know why “dry drowning” was ever mentioned in the first place. It is not a medically accepted term which causes a lot of confusion and misunderstanding. That’s why I asked. Can anyone provide a reliable source on where it was mentioned pertaining to this case?