Student Riley Strain Was 'Virtually Incoherent' Before Dying. Instead of Helping, Frat Brothers Kept 'Partying': Suit (2025)

• The family of Riley Strain, the Missouri college studentwhose body was found in a Tennessee river two weeks after he was kicked out of a bar and disappeared in 2024, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Delta Chi fraternity organization and its members
• The lawsuit was filed in Boone County, Mo., on March 21, 2025
• The family also accuses the fraternityof allowing excessive drinking on the buses transporting members to Nashville and the absence of "proper chaperones" and abandoning Strain
  

The family of Riley Strain, the Missouri college studentwhose body was found in a Tennessee river two weeks after he disappeared, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Delta Chi fraternity organization and its members.

The lawsuit was filed in Boone County, Mo., on March 21, 2025 — nearly one year after Strain was found dead — and accuses the Delta Chi fraternity of abandoning the 22-year-old student when he needed their help, according to court documents obtained PEOPLE.

In the spring of 2024, the complaint stated that Strain was "first approached about attending the yearly formal in Nashville," but that the student, described as an "often-reserved young man" who didn't usually "go with the typical fraternity flow" said that he wasn't planning on attending.

However, the complaint alleged that his "fraternity brothers continued to pressure Riley about the formal and, after their continued cajoling, Riley agreed to attend."

The Strain family also accuses the fraternity — of which 32 fraternity members and chapter leaders are listed in the suit —of allowing excessive drinking on the buses transporting members to Nashville, not having "proper" chaperones on the trip and "instilling a code into its fraternity members that encouraged or taught fraternity 'brothers' to abandon one another instead of helping one another."

According to an autopsy report, Strain'scause of deathwas noted as having been drowning and ethanol intoxication, with his manner of death listedas accidental. The report found that Strain had a blood alcohol content of .228, nearly three times the legal limit.

According to the complaint, on March 8, 2024, Strain and a group of fraternity brothers "boarded four separate charter buses to Nashville," with Strain boarding "without a date." Beer and alcoholic Jello shots were said to be provided on the buses, "although it was supposed to prohibited," the complaint alleged. The group arrived in Nashville later that afternoon.

According to the suit, fraternity members claimed that "within hours" after they arrived, they noticed that Strain "was acting unusual," having difficulty speaking and walking and was "virtually incoherent" by the time they reached the final bar that night.

After being kicked out of the bar, the suit alleged that Strain became lost and that "rather than having the support of his brothers, Riley was abandoned and alone" while his fraternity brothers kept "partying." The complaint went on to allege that they "failed to notice" Strain was missing and instead went to sleep before contacting his parents the following day, who then called police.

Strain's family had no comment when reached by PEOPLE. Delta Chi did not immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE, although last year, theyreleased a statementsaying they were “deeply saddened by the tragic passing of our esteemed fraternity brother."

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Strain was last seen by friends after hewas askedto leave country music star LukeBryan’sbar restaurantin Nashville, according to a previous statement from the TC Restaurant Group, which oversees the establishment.

Following an investigation, the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC)Investigators said they did not find "clear evidence that he was served an alcoholic beverage while visibly intoxicated at a licensed premises," despite the fact that evidence showed he did become "intoxicated over the course of the evening."

"While the circumstances of Mr. Strain’s death are tragic, the TABC investigation into whether he was served alcohol while visibly intoxicated on the night of March 8, 2024, did not result in any concrete evidence in the form of eyewitness testimony or video proof of a violation," read a statement released last June.

On the night he went missing, StrainFaceTimed his motherfrom a different bar sometime before 8 p.m., mom Michelle Whiteid previously told PEOPLE. “We FaceTimed for a while, he wanted me to see around, and he was so excited,” she said. “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.’ "

"I said, ‘Well, you boys be safe. Make good choices. I love you guys.’ And he said, 'I love you, too,’ " she added. "And that’s it, that’s the last I have heard from him.” The familydidn'trealize anything was wrong until his wife got a call from his fraternity brothers the following morning.

On March 12, 2024, Authorities sharedsurveillance footage on Xof Strain appearing to stumble as he crossed a street. A local smoke and vapeshop’ssurveillance footage, shared withFox affiliate WZTV, showed Strain on another street on the evening of March 8.

Two weeks later, the Nashville Police Department announced on March 22, 2024, thatStrain’sbody hadbeen recoveredfrom the Cumberland River, about 8 miles from downtown Nashville.