Judge drops lawsuit against Mizzou fraternity, members, in death of Riley Strain
A Boone County judge has dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of a University of Missouri student found dead in a Nashville river in 2024.
The suit, brought forth by Riley Strain’s family, was initially filed in Boone County on March 21, 2025, according to court documents, alleging negligence by the Mizzou chapter of the Delta Chi Fraternity led to Strain’s death.
The suit named the fraternity, as well as several individual fraternity members, as defendants.
Strain, a Mizzou senior majoring in interdisciplinary studies and business, went missing in Nashville on March 8, 2024.
Strain was kicked out of Luke’s 32 Bridge Bar at 301 Broadway, after which a bouncer reportedly did not allow the Delta Chi member to stand outside the bar and wait for friends.
A friend reportedly told investigators they lost sight of Strain after he left the bar. Nashville police attempted to use Snapchat to locate Strain, and his friends attempted to call him several times the next day.
Strain was reported missing by a friend around 1:45 p.m. the next day. The friend said the group was in town for a fraternity formal.
After a massive search for Strain, his body was recovered on March 22 from the Cumberland River in West Nashville, about eight miles from downtown,.
Nashville police classified Strain’s death as accidental. A medical examiner ruled he died of accidental drowning and ethyl alcohol intoxication.
The lawsuit filed against the fraternity and several of its members alleged Strain was pressured into attending the “spring formal” event and to consume copious amounts of alcohol.
Fraternity members failed, the suit alleged, to follow their own alcohol policies, which prohibited beverages with more than 15% alcohol by volume.
According to the suit, Strain was visibly intoxicated when the group arrived downtown, and several fraternity members reportedly noticed he was having difficulty speaking and walking.
The fraternity brothers failed to report Strain as missing in a timely manner, the lawsuit alleged, and abandoned him when he was highly intoxicated and unable to care of himself.
On Dec. 17, 2025, a Boone County judge dismissed claims against several defendants, saying the court was “unaware” of any “existence of a so-called ‘special relationship’ that might give rise to a claim for damages based on a duty owed by one adult fraternity member to another due to their shared status as ‘fraternity brothers.’”
The rest of the pending claims were dismissed on July 7, according to a judgment document.
The Star’s Noelle Alviz-Gransee, Kendrick Calfee and Robert A. Cronkleton contributed reporting.
