The family of University of Missouri student Riley Strain has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against his fraternity, accusing Delta Chi of instilling a code that taught brothers “to abandon one another.”
The suit was filed in Boone County Circuit Court on Friday, almost a year to the day after Strain’s body was found in the Cumberland River in Nashville, following an extensive two-week search.
Strain, 22, had traveled to Nashville with fellow Delta Chi members for a spring formal, an annual event that the lawsuit described as involving “prolific consumption of alcohol.” Much of it was above 15% alcohol by volume, the suit said, even though Delta Chi’s risk management policy prohibits beverages with such high alcohol content from being served at fraternity events.
The suit names Delta Chi and more than two dozen fraternity leaders and members as defendants, accusing them of negligence that it says led to Strain’s death.
It accuses the fraternity of failing to ensure that the chapter was following a strict safety protocol, failing to enforce its written policies and “instilling a code into its fraternity members that encouraged or taught fraternity ‘brothers’ to abandon one another instead of helping one another,” among other allegations.
The suit accuses the fraternity members of encouraging Strain to continue drinking “after it became apparent that he was acting in an unusual way,” failing to arrange a ride back to the hotel for him after he got kicked out of a bar when he was out with fraternity friends and delaying a 911 call to report him missing.
A representative for Delta Chi did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did attorneys for Strain’s family. At the time of Strain’s death, Delta Chi released a statement saying it was “deeply saddened by the tragic passing of our esteemed fraternity brother” and said that it was providing support and resources to those affected.
An attorney for the family, Jacob Lewis, declined to comment, as did Strain’s stepfather, Christopher Whiteid, who is one of four plaintiffs. The other three plaintiffs — Strain’s mother, Michelle Whiteid, his father, Robert Gilbert, and his stepmother, Melissa Gilbert — did not respond to requests for comment.
The legal complaint describes Strain as an “often-reserved young man that did not tend to go with the typical fraternity flow,” whose fraternity brothers convinced him to come on the chartered bus trip to Nashville for the formal. On the bus ride from Columbia, Missouri, the suit said, Delta Chi members served beer and jello shots they had made with vodka, which has well over 15% alcohol by volume.
The lawsuit goes on to say that Strain was offered several drinks, and fraternity members noticed him having difficulty speaking and walking within hours of arriving in Nashville, but brought him along as they went bar-hopping. When a bar made Strain leave later that night, his fraternity brothers “chose to continue partying” instead of making sure he was safe, the lawsuit states.
“Rather than having the support of his brothers, Riley was abandoned and alone,” it said.
Instead of heading toward the hotel, Strain made a wrong turn and began walking toward the river, the lawsuit said. When his hotel roommates returned around 1 a.m. and saw he had not completed what should have been a 12-minute walk back to the hotel despite leaving the bar about three hours earlier, there was “no search, no panic,” and no call made to 911, according to the suit.
“The fraternity brothers did not even think to call Riley’s parents, they simply got ready for bed and went to sleep,” it said, adding Strain’s parents and police in Nashville were notified the following afternoon.
Strain was eventually found facedown in the Cumberland River. An autopsy report revealed he died “as a result of drowning and ethanol intoxication,” also known as alcohol poisoning.
Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink in Nashville, the bar that Strain was last seen at, released a statement last year while Strain was still missing saying that he was served one alcoholic drink and two glasses of water before he was escorted out by security “based on our conduct standards.”
The autopsy report said his death appeared to be accidental and did not indicate any signs of foul play.
Strain’s family is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages plus compensation for the pain and suffering Strain experienced before he died.
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