Riley Strain’s missing belt ‘changes dynamics’ of mysterious Nashville death

Riley Strain was wearing a belt the night he disappeared and loved ones believe the missing item of clothing “raises more questions” about the student’s mysterious death.

“Everyone we talked to about it as soon as we found out he was wearing a belt that night was like, ‘Wow, that totally changes the dynamic of why these items were going missing,'” a friend of family, Chris Dingman, on NewsNations. “ “Elizabeth Vargas reports.”

Strain, 22, was pulled from the Cumberland River wearing only his shirt and watch on March 22, two weeks after he was kicked out of country star Luke Bryan’s honky tonk bar.

His cowboy boots, pants and wallet were all missing and have yet to be found nearly a month after investigators said he drowned.

The University of Missouri student was wearing his favorite belt that evening, which Dingman said should have kept his pants from being torn off during a fall into the water or a strong current.

“Riley had a swimmer’s body… With the belt on his hips, it would have been even harder for the pants to come off in the water. It literally would have been snug against him, it would have rolled over his hips,” Dingman said.

“The belt is a big piece of the puzzle we have now and once again raises more questions.”

The grieving friend also claimed investigators were keeping tabs on several people of interest in the case — despite their preliminary autopsy report indicating Strain died of “accidental” causes.

Strain’s family struggled to accept that the student might have drowned, with Dingman pointing out that “he was actually an excellent swimmer.”

Strain was found with no water in his lungs, as is usually the case with drowning victims.

The family ordered a second private autopsy to further investigate the case after Metro Nashville investigators ruled Strain showed no obvious signs of trauma.

Digman previously suggested that homeless people living in a nearby encampment might hold the answers to the family’s burning questions.

A local homeless man reportedly saw a “very, very drunk” stump almost fall off the side of a footpath into the river.

Strain was wandering the streets of Nashville alone on March 8 when he was kicked out of Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink in Nashville on March 8.

He told his University of Missouri fraternity brothers that he was heading back to his hotel room, but surveillance footage showed him taking a wrong turn toward the river, his cell phone ringing for the last times a kilometer from the bar.

Strain was also spotted that night by a police officer near the river, according to body camera footage.

The student’s bank card was found a few days later on a bank of the Cumberland River by two TikTokers searching the area.

“It’s very brutal for the family right now. We are at the stage where we want answers. We have the chance to bring Riley home, but now we want answers,” Dingman said.