Riley Strain’s mom recalls final conversation before he disappeared in Nashville: ‘I was just telling him…’

A manhunt is underway to locate 22-year-old Riley Strain, who went missing on March 8 after allegedly being kicked out of Luke’s 32 Bridge in Nashville. The University of Missouri senior was in Music City for a fraternity conference with his Delta Chi fraternity brothers over the weekend.

Riley Strain’s mom has recalled the final conversation they had before he went missing in Nashville (Chris Whiteid via AP)

Strain’s mother has now recalled the last conversion she had with her son. “We’re searching everywhere,” mom Michelle Whiteid, 52, told PEOPLE.

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‘He’s such a great kid’

“I’ve never gone this long without talking to him,” she added. “He just always wants to make sure that his mama is okay, no matter what. He’s such a great kid.”

Whiteid and Strain generally talk several times a day. “If he was having a bad day at school, he would call me and we would talk,” she said. “I’d be like, ‘You just got to get through it, Bub. Not every day is going to be perfect, but you got to find the good in everything.’ ”

The two texted back and forth even the night Strain went missing. He texted his mom a photo, saying a friend had allowed him to borrow one of his shirts. “Doesn’t this look so Nashville?” he texted.

“I’m like, ‘Have so much fun,’ ” she said. Strain also shared a picture of him at Miranda Lambert’s Bar. She said she believes he was at Garth Brooks’ bar when he FaceTimed her. His friends were with him at the time.

“I was laying down, and I didn’t want him to know I didn’t feel good, but I was just telling him that I was watching a show,” Whiteid said, adding that he and his buddies joked with her, asking her why she was going to sleep so early.

“They were giving me a hard time, saying, ‘It’s 7:30, what are you doing in bed already? Come on, Mom, get up!’” she said.

“We FaceTimed for a while, he wanted me to see around, and he was so excited,” she said. “Then we hung up and he texted me and he was like, ‘It was kind of hard to hear you, but I wanted you to see what was happening.’”

“I said, ‘Well, you boys be safe. Make good choices. I love you guys.’ And he said, “I love you, too,’ ” Whiteid added. “And that’s it, that’s the last I have heard from him.”

Police have said that they are “doing everything” to find Strain. Hardly any physical evidence has been found yet, except his bank card, which was discovered near a river.

“I think he got turned around and just went the wrong way,” Whiteid said. “I don’t know. Everything’s speculation right now.”

“I want to thank everyone for searching for him and keeping him — and us — in their prayers and their thoughts,” she added. “It means so much. It’s what’s keeping us going.”

Strain remains missing over a week later. His stepfather Chris Whiteid said that the bartender at Luke Bryan’s bar, 32 Bridge Food + Drink, cut off the University of Missouri student after he was overserved. However, the bar claimed he was served just one alcoholic drink. Strain disappeared after being led out by the security team.

A recently-released body camera footage also revealed that Strain spoke with a police officer minutes before he disappeared. The footage, released by the Metro Nashville Police Department, showed him speaking with a police officer on Gay Street, responding to a burglary call.