A private investigator has completed his investigation into the death of Riley Strain — the 22-year-old University of Missouri student who was found dead in the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee, about two weeks after he went missing.
Steve Fischer posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, July 9, that he completed his investigation. He told PEOPLE he could not comment on his findings.
On the social media platform, Fischer said that the report he sent to Strain’s family is 281 pages and is accompanied by a 49-minute video presentation containing “important pieces of surveillance” footage from when Strain initially disappeared. He also said in his post that there are more than 104 hours of surveillance video from more than 20 cameras.
“Riley can be tracked throughout the entire evening, from dinner until 9:58 p.m.,” he said. “With so much data already released, the family may decide not to read my report at this time. It is a lot to rehash, and the accompanying video will undoubtedly be hard to watch.”
Metro Nashville PD
Speaking with PEOPLE, Strain’s stepfather, Chris Whiteid, said he had not had a chance to read the report or watch the footage.
“What’s in it? I really don’t know because we really haven’t had a chance to look at it. We’re still waiting on getting the police report since they’ve closed the report now,” Whiteid says. “We’d like to see what they have.”
According to Whiteid, the family has been told that they can get up to one hour free, but the estimate for all the information is a minimum of $1,600 to $1,800. “And we’ve heard cases as high as $10-$15,000 to get everything on a case like this,” he adds.
The family has also been told that to get the information, they need to be residents of Tennessee. “We’re trying to get some answers,” Whiteid tells PEOPLE. “I don’t know that we’ll ever get answers, but at least once we see everything that they have that we haven’t seen, we’ll have a better idea. So that’s where we’re at with it.”
Christopher Whiteid
Through it all, Whiteid says that the family is still trying to understand exactly what happened to their son — and also trying to heal.
“We took a little break from everything and cleared our heads a little bit, then everything started blowing up again. And so it’s day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. Just some days are better than others,” he says. “And it seems like every time something blows up, it brings all the emotions back and all the questions.”
Whiteid adds: “So we’re just here. I mean, that’s the best way to put it, is we’re just here.”
The Nashville Police Department did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Friday, July 12.
