With Riley Strain still missing, the days are beginning to take their toll on the University of Missouri senior's family. In a press conference, Strain's stepfather Chris Whiteid detailed the mix of emotions they're feeling. He says that the family feels frustrated by search efforts and a bit powerless.
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"I feel that the Nashville Metro Police Department is doing everything within their power." Strain's family is currently dealing with media as well. "I feel that they are overwhelmed with the amount of information that's coming in due to the social media and the news coverage that we've been fortunate to have and so it's a double-edged sword," he said. "I have my days that I'm frustrated — I have my days that I know they're doing everything they can. It's like I tell everybody: Put yourself in that position. If this was your family member they were missing, how would you feel? It doesn't matter how fast it's done, it's not going to be fast enough."
Whiteid also asked people to put themselves in the position of Strain's family. It's not easy knowing that Strain is somewhere out there and having no clue what happened to him. Strain went missing after leaving Luke Bryan's 32 Bridge Bar nearly two weeks ago.
New Footage Shows Riley Strain Jogging
"If you can see your son two blocks away from you and they're bringing him to you, you don't want to see him two blocks. You want him two inches from you. You can't get there quick enough," he said. "It's never going to be quick enough for family, no matter how many people are working on it. So, I try to remind myself of that. I try to remind my family of that, and we just take every day, hour by hour and see what we can do."
"We are we're still hopeful. We can't give up hope" Whiteid said.
Perhaps, that hope will come with some answers. New footage showed Strain jogging toward the James Robertson Parkway Bridge. The 22-year-old appeared to be moving at a fast pace. However, police have dispelled theories that Strain was being chased, saying that the evidence doesn't support it.
"We got to see him walking," Whiteid said. "We got to see him kind of at a fast pace walk, almost a jog. And it just shortened the last known window" of sightings.
According to Strain's stepfather, the family first saw the footage last Sunday. Police still aren't investigating Strain's case as a criminal case.
"The video was shown to us on Sunday after they found the debit card," Whiteid said. "It was the last known video of Riley. Basically from where the body camera footage was with the officer to just right before the James Robertson Bridge."
