It has been nearly two weeks since University of Missouri student Riley Strain went missing. The 22-year-old was last seen on March 8 when he was kicked out of Luke Bryan’s bar in Nashville, Tennessee. Strain’s mother, Michelle recalled their final conversation before his disappearance.
“We FaceTimed for a while, he wanted me to see around, and he was so excited. Then we hung up and he texted me and he was like, ‘It was kind of hard to hear you, but I wanted you to see what was happening,’” Michelle told PEOPLE.
“I said, ‘Well, you boys be safe. Make good choices. I love you guys.’ And he said, “I love you, too. And that’s it, that’s the last I have heard from him.”
Riley Strain’s Stepfather Gets Honest About Family’s Mood
With the two-week mark approaching and no sign of the college student in sight, the search for strain is starting to look a little bleak. The Strain family is trying to remain optimistic about his return. But Strain’s stepfather Chris Whiteid, says the family is also preparing for a less-ideal outcome.
“Put yourself in our shoes. Your family, your brother, your sister — they’ve been missing for almost two weeks,” he said.
Chris also added that the family is beginning to have “conversations” about the possibility of him not returning home.
“Everybody knows it, everybody’s thinking it — those conversations are starting to happen,” he continued. “It’s not what we want. And I understand that people want to know what we’re feeling — we’re feeling frustrated, we’re feeling hurt, we’re feeling depressed.”
Riley’s Cousin Sets Record Straight
According to USA Today, Strain was visiting Nashville for a fraternity trip. The optics of a college fraternity member being ejected from a bar are not great. But Strain’s cousin Jake Bradley said that the situation doesn’t depict who Strain was as a person.
“Yeah, he likes to have fun with his buddies and all that,” Bradley said of his cousin.
“That’s not — if you saw him outside of that, his love and his care and his kindness were of a five-year-old boy that loved every toy he ever had, you know?”