Nashville, TN (WOKI) Officials with the Metro Nashville Police Department have confirmed that a body found Friday in the Cumberland River is that of missing University of Missouri student, 22-year-old Riley Strain.
Metro Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake addressed media from the Cumberland River in West Nashville where Strain’s body was recovered Friday morning.
Nashville Police recovery boat leaving the scene of the search for Riley Strain (Courtesy: WVLT / WSMV)
Drake said Strain’s body being found was first reported to authorities by barge operators near the river at 61st Avenue North. He said workers were working to remove an object from the river when they spotted the body.
“They noticed what appeared to be Riley Strain pop up,” Drake said, adding the Nashville Fire Department responded and pulled the body from the river. “The medical examiner’s office reviewed the body, and we’ve confirmed that it is Riley Strain.”
According to Drake, Strain still had on the shirt he was wearing when he went missing on March 8 after getting kicked out of Luke’s 32 Bridge in Downtown Nashville; his body was found eight miles down river from where he was last seen.
Drake said authorities do not suspect foul play in Strain’s disappearance nor his death.
Strain’s body was found after two weeks of extensive search by air, boat and on foot that included the Metro Nashville Police Department, Nashville Fire Department, Nashville’s Office of Emergency Management, Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office, and the United Cajun Navy as well as countless volunteers.
Now that Strain has been found, the search will turn more to the investigative side. The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has been conducting a separate investigation to determine whether Strain was overserved the night he disappeared.
Drake said Strain’s family has been notified of his recovery.
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) Ijams Nature Center officials issue a warning Friday about Mead’s Quarry Lake.
Officials say you should not swim in the Quarry right now and neither should your pets.
The lake is suffering a temporary algae bloom which Ijams says has the potential to be toxic to both people and pets.
The bloom was discovered through water quality testing by UT students and faculty during a class.
Officials say until the health advisory is lifted, neither you nor your pets should swim, wade, or come into contact with the water until further notice.
According to officials, symptoms to watch out for include upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea. Heavy exposure could also result in liver or kidney damage and can harm your pets as well.
The center said it’s working closely with the Tennessee Department of Health and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to monitor the levels.
If you think you, your family or your pets are experiencing symptoms after swimming in the lake, contact the Tennessee Department of Health. You can e-mail them at [email protected] or call 615-741-7247.
Sumner County, TN (WOKI / WVLT) It’s been nearly a month since an autistic teen disappeared from his Sumner County home, and now the search area is expanding to include West Tennessee.
The father of missing 15-year-old Sebastian Rogers tells our news partner WVLT he is searching Natchez Trace State Park as it is a place without cameras where he believes his son might have been “dropped off.”
An Amber Alert remains active for Rogers. Anyone with information about where he could be should call 1-800-TBI-FIND.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Graduate Payton Gottshall made history Thursday night as she notched her 1,000th career strikeout in the seventh inning against Western Carolina as she shut the door on a 6-0 Lady Vol victory at Catamount Softball Complex.
Tennessee (23-4) extends its nation-leading win streak to 15 in a row with its 13th shutout of the year.
Coming out of the bullpen in the fourth inning, Gottshall fanned nine Catamounts en route to her 10th win. The right-hander scattered three hits over four innings without allowing a walk.
Gottshall’s 1,000th strikeout of her career came in the bottom of the seventh as she struck out B.J. Wells to open the frame. The Massillon, Ohio, native struck out the side to close out the game.
The Lady Vols used three fifth-inning home runs to bust open the game. Destiny Rodriguez cranked her fifth home run this season to jump-start the frame. Rylie West returned to the lineup and followed Rodriguez’s blast with a long ball to extend Tennessee’s lead to 4-0.
With one on and one out, Kiki Milloy knocked a two-run shot down the left-field line for her ninth homer of the year to cap the scoring outburst.
Sophomore Charli Orsini got the start for the Lady Vols and tossed three no-hit innings before giving way to Gottshall.
Western Carolina (7-12) started MaKenzie Martin for two innings before turning things over to Taylor Norton in the circle. She lasted two innings and was relieved by Tessa Juett who finished out the game’s final three frames.
Norton allowed four runs on five hits and suffered the loss, falling to 2-3. Tennessee tagged Juett for two runs on three hits.
STAT OF THE DAY With 1,002 career strikeouts, Payton Gottshall is the active Division I leader in punchouts.
UP NEXT Tennessee goes to Columbia, South Carolina, March 23-25 for a Saturday-Monday three-game series against the Gamecocks.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For the third consecutive season, the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team claimed a first-round victory in the NCAA Tournament, this time with an 83-49 decision Thursday night against No. 15-seeded Saint Peter’s.
Sixth-ranked, second-seeded Tennessee (25-8, 14-4 SEC) led wire-to-wire at Spectrum Center and got a game-best 23 points from fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht, who entered the top five on the program’s single-season scoring list. The triumph also served as the 200th for head coach Rick Barnes in his Tennessee tenure, making him the 19th coach ever to hit that number at two Division I schools.
The Volunteers scored the first seven points in the opening two-and-a-half minutes to immediately grab control and shortly thereafter used a 19-2 run in 7:10 to push the lead all the way to 22, 29-7, with 7:04 on the timer. Junior forward Jonas Aidoo had 13 points on a perfect 5-of-5 field-goal clip at that time. Meanwhile, Saint Peter’s (19-14, 12-8 MAAC) went 3-of-20 from the floor, including 1-of-10 from deep, through the first 13 minutes.
Tennessee went on a 14-2 spurt in 3:48 late in the first session to go up by 29, 46-17, with 55 ticks left in the frame. The Peacocks hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 46-20 at the intermission. The Volunteers shot 64.0 percent (16-of-25) through 20 minutes, including 44.4 percent (4-of-9) from deep, while holding Saint Peter’s to 23.3 percent (7-of-30) and 26.7 percent (4-of-15) respective clips.
The Volunteers stretched their margin to a then-game-best 33, 65-32, with 12:29 remaining. They went scoreless for the next four-plus minutes, but conceded just six points during that stretch and never let the Peacocks seriously challenge them the rest of the way.
Tennessee went up by as many as 36 points on multiple occasions and claimed a 34-point triumph, its second-largest ever in NCAA Tournament action and the biggest by any SEC team in the NCAA Tournament since March 21, 2019.
Knecht, who recorded 20-plus points for the 14th time in the last 19 affairs, shot 8-of-15 from the floor, including 4-of-8 beyond the arc. He also led all players with eight rebounds in his 29 minutes of action.
Junior guard Zakai Zeigler, in a showdown with his half-brother, Armoni, recorded the first points/assists double-double by a Volunteer in NCAA Tournament play. He totaled 11 points and 10 assists, the latter the fourth-most ever by a Tennessee player in the NCAA Tournament, while committing just two turnovers.
Aidoo finished with 15 points on 5-of-6 field-goal shooting, grabbed three rebounds and blocked three shots to enter the top three on the school’s single-season leaderboard.
Senior guard Latrell Reid finished as the lone Peacock with double-digit points, tallying 17 on a 6-of-13 clip in the setback.
Every other player on Saint Peter’s combined to shoot 10-of-42, as the team went 16-of-55 (29.1 percent) overall. The Peacocks did not make a 3-pointer in the second half and concluded the night at 4-of-24 (16.7 percent).
Tennessee, meanwhile, shot 45.8 percent (11-of-28) from 3-point range in the victory, as well as a 28-13 advantage in bench points. It also had a commanding 47-21 margin in rebounds, leading to a 14-4 ledger in second-chance points.
Up next for the Volunteers is a Round of 32 matchup against Texas, with action set for Saturday at 8 p.m., live on CBS from Spectrum Center.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES • Barnes now owns 804 victories in his career, one behind Rick Byrd for No. 14 on the all-time wins list (min. 10 years at a Division I school). • Barnes is the 19th coach to win 200 games at two Division I schools, including the eighth among active coaches, joining Dana Altman, John Calipari, Fran Dunphy, Jim Larrañaga, Bob Marlin, Rick Pitino and Kelvin Sampson on the latter list. • Barnes now owns 12 25-win seasons in his head coaching tenure, tying Matt Painter for the seventh-most any active Division I head coach. • Tennessee moved to 2-0 all-time against Saint Peter’s, with both contests coming in postseason competition. • This is the eighth time Tennessee has won at least 25 games in a single season, including the third in a row and the fifth in the last seven seasons under Barnes. • The Volunteers are now 26-26 all-time in their 27 NCAA Tournament trips, including 17-9 in opening games, 16-8 in the first round, 7-5 under Barnes, 6-3 as a No. 2 seed, 4-0 versus No. 15 seeds, 16-4 against double-digit seeds, 21-11 versus lower seeds, 22-24 in regulation, 7-7 in North Carolina and 3-4 in Charlotte. • This is the third time Tennessee has won an NCAA Tournament game in at least three straight years, joining 1979/1980/1981/1982 (four) and 2006/2007/2008. • The Volunteers now own a 77-24 (.762) record in 101 games as an AP top-10 team under Barnes’ direction. • The lone larger win for Tennessee in NCAA Tournament play was on March 16, 2007, when it defeated Long Beach State by 35, 121-86. • The last SEC team to win an NCAA Tournament contest by 34-plus points was Kentucky when it defeated Abilene Christian by 35, 79-44, on March 21, 2019. • Tennessee’s 34 defensive rebounds set a program record in NCAA Tournament play, surpassing the prior mark of 32 on March 12, 1999, versus Delaware. • In the first 11:08 of action, Aidoo (13 on 5-of-5 shooting) and Knecht (11 on 4-of-7 shooting) combined for 24 of Tennessee’s 27 points on a 10-of-12 field-goal ledger. • Tennessee’s 26-point halftime lead was its largest ever in an NCAA Tournament contest, surpassing the 25-point edge, 54-29, it held against Longwood on March 17, 2022. • The last time the Volunteers shot over 60 percent in a half was Feb. 14 when they went 14-of-23 (60.9) in the second session at Arkansas. • Thursday marked the fourth time this season Tennessee held its opponent to 20 or fewer points in the opening half, joining the home matchups with Tennessee Tech (12 on Nov. 6, 2023), Norfolk State (18 on Jan. 2, 2024) and Vanderbilt (20 on Feb. 17, 2024). • In the first half alone, the Volunteers posted a 20-4 edge in paint points and a 7-0 advantage in second-chance points. • Zeigler now owns eight points/assists double-doubles as a Volunteer—three have come this season—good for three more than any other player in program history. • Zeigler is just first Volunteer and just the 13th SEC player—15th occurrence—ever to notch a points/assist double-double in the NCAA Tournament, including the second in the last nine years, alongside Alabama’s Jahvon Quinerly, who did so on March 22, 2021, against Maryland. • Zeigler became the fourth Tennessee player to notch double-digit assists in an NCAA Tournament contest, joining Dane Bradshaw (11 on March 16, 2007, versus Long Beach State), Bert Bertelkamp (16 on March 8, 1980, versus Maryland) and Johnny Darden (12 on March 13, 1977, versus Syracuse). • Aidoo blocked three shots to give him 64 this year, putting him in the top three on the program’s single-season list, as he passed Grant Williams (2016-17) and tied Kyle Alexander (2018-19). • Now owning 699 points in 2023-24, Knecht moved past four players—Ernie Grunfeld (1975-76), Jordan McRae (2013-14), Grant Williams (2018-19) and Reggie Johnson (1978-79) to jump from ninth to fifth on Tennessee’s single-season scoring leaderboard. • Knecht’s 699 points mark the top total by a Volunteer in a single season since Allan Houston amassed 717 in 1991-92. • Knecht now owns 36 20-point performances in his three-year Division I career, including 17 in his lone season as a Volunteer and 14 in the last 19 contests. • Seven Volunteers made their NCAA Tournament debuts: Knecht, senior forward Colin Coyne, freshman forward J.P. Estrella, redshirt freshman guard Freddie Dilione V, junior guard Jordan Gainey, redshirt sophomore guard Grant Hurst and freshman forward Cade Phillips.
Sevier County, TN (WOKI) The pilot involved in a 2021 Sevier County helicopter crash that killed one person has been indicted for reckless homicide.
Police say in December of 2021, Matthew Jones was flying in Sevier County with one passenger before crashing along Hooper Highway near Apple Tree Lane.
A National Transportation Safety Board report states Jones ignored warnings from employees at the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport service center not to fly due to rapidly changing weather conditions in the area.
According to the report, Jones and the passenger crashed within an hour of taking off. In the past, Jones had been indicted for flight-related offenses.
Middlesboro, KY (WOKI) The Middlesboro Kentucky Police Department says there is a “significant development” in the death of 17-month-old Elena Hembree.
The MPD says an extensive investigation and a DNA result showing a lack of male DNA confirm their findings that the girl’s mother, Erica Lawson, is responsible for the little girl’s death.
Erica Lawson (Courtesy: Bell County Detention Center)
She is charged with manslaughter, criminal abuse and other charges.
Additionally, the cause of death has been determined to be non-accidental blunt force trauma.
On July 28 of last year, Hembree showed up at the local hospital with severe injuries. She was flown to Knoxville, but due to the extent of those injuries did not survive.
On Wednesday, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a coalition of 22 states in filing an amicus brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in support of Texas’s state law SB4. SB4 makes illegal immigration into the Lone Star State a state crime and allows state magistrates and judges to order those who have crossed the border illegally back to the country from which they entered.
“Tennessee stands with Texas as it protects its citizens from the ongoing federal failure to secure our southern border,” Attorney General Skrmetti said. “The federal government has abdicated its duty at the border. Until the federal open border policies are fixed, the states as sovereign governments have both the right and the responsibility to protect their citizens.”
The amicus brief filed by the states in support of Texas’s law argues, “States also bear an obligation to their citizens to address the attendant public crisis. That obligation implicates one of Amici States’ core sovereign prerogatives—enacting legislation pursuant to their police powers to protect their citizens’ safety… Relatedly, Amici States have a paramount interest in ensuring that their validly enacted state laws are not improperly held unconstitutional under incorrect preemption analyses.”
The U.S. government and private plaintiffs filed suit over the law. A U.S. District Court enjoined the law, but that injunction was temporarily stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Attorney General Skrmetti joined Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming on the Ohio and South Carolina co-led amicus brief.
The Middlesboro Kentucky Police Department says there is “significant development” in the death of 17 month old Elena Hembree.
The MPD says after an extensive investigation and a DNA result which showed a lack of male DNA confirms their findings that the girl’s mother, Erica Lawson is responsible for the girl’s death.
She is charged with manslaughter, criminal abuse and other charges.
Additionally, the cause of death has been determined to be non-accidental blunt force trauma.
On July 28 last year, Hembree showed up at the local hospital with severe injuries, but she was flown to Knoxville due to the extent of those injuries but she did not survive.
