Riley Strain's family continues their search for answers.
After reports surfaced that an alleged witness had come forward as the last person to speak to the 22-year-old on the night he went missing, the Nashville Police Department is clarifying the series of events.
As a spokesperson for the department told E! News on April 12, while an unnamed person did claim to speak to and see Riley the night of March 8, their statement was recanted following detective interrogation during which they said they had not actually seen him, but someone else.
"The case remains open and unclassified, pending the report from the medical examiner's office," the spokesperson added, "which is awaiting toxicology reports. Until now, there is no tangible reason to believe there was any foul play involved."
E! News has reached out to Nashville PD for an update on the case but has not heard back.
Prior to the police department's clarification, family friend Chris Dingman—who has often spoken on behalf of Riley's family since he first was reported missing—shared they'd received promising information from an alleged new witness.
"That was huge," he told News Nation April 10 of the newfound information. "That was something we were looking for. He told the detective his account of the story of what happened to Riley."
Despite the once promising lead, Riley's family—including mother Michelle Whiteid and stepfather Chris Whiteid, as well as father Ryan Gilbert and stepmother Milli Gilbert—continues to seek answers as to the events of March 8 when the University of Missouri student went missing during a night out in Nashville with fraternity brothers. His body was found two weeks later in Nashville's Cumberland River.
An initial autopsy found no foul play to be involved in Riley's death, ruling it "accidental," however his family ordered an additional autopsy during which the coroner found there was no water in the college student's lungs, according to Chris Dingman.
As he told News Nation March 27, "I'm not a crime drama person by no means, but usually water in the lungs means that you know, they were alive when they went into the water.
Riley's dad Ryan expressed hope to get further answers from the Delta Chi fraternity brothers Riley had been out with.
"We haven't really heard much from them," Ryan said on News Nation. "There's a lot of things we'd like to find out from them."
According to Riley's stepfather Chris, who previously spoke to local outlet WSMV March 11, Riley's fraternity friends had gone out to look for him after going back to their hotel and realizing he was not there. They were also the first to alert Chris and Riley's mother Michelle that their son was missing.
For more on the tragic case, keep reading.