Authorities and community volunteers are still on the lookout for Riley Strain, the 22-year-old University of Missouri student who vanished almost two weeks ago in Nashville. Their search efforts have now shifted to a dam located miles away from the downtown section of the Cumberland River where the initial focus was.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department released a video on Tuesday captured by one of their helicopters flying over the Cheatham Dam, approximately 40 miles from central Nashville.
"Our helicopters are continuously scouring the Cumberland River in the relentless search for Riley Strain," stated the police department in a social media post accompanying the video. While the Nashville police have been spearheading the investigation into Strain's disappearance, they have joined forces with the Cheatham County Sheriff's Office for operations downstream.
Collaborating officers have taken measures to close off the dam this week and examine any debris that may have surfaced. According to a report by CBS affiliate WTVF
"It appears that Riley may have fallen into the river and was carried away by the strong current," stated David Flagg, the director of operations for the United Cajun Navy, a volunteer disaster relief organization aiding in the search for Strain. "The current was exceptionally swift on the day he went missing."
Search teams have been scouring the area on foot, by boat, and from the air.
Strain was last spotted on the evening of March 8, after being asked to leave a bar in downtown Nashville. He briefly interacted with a Nashville police officer while walking along a street near the Cumberland River. Over a week later, two community members found Strain's debit card on the riverbank close to where he and the officer exchanged greetings on the night he disappeared.
Following the discovery of the debit card, search efforts were intensified with the assistance of individual volunteers mobilized by the United Cajun Navy. The organization provided airboats and a hovercraft to aid in the search for Strain.
Since the search began, Strain's parents, Michelle Whiteid and Chris Whiteid, have been in Nashville. Chris Whiteid, Strain's stepfather, expressed to ABC News on Wednesday that the family is preparing for the worst as time goes by.
"Put yourself in our shoes. Everyone knows it. Everyone is thinking it," Whiteid shared. "Those conversations are beginning to take place. It's not what we want."
