Woman Missing After Night in Nashville Surprises Cops Searching for Her

A New Jersey woman went missing in downtown Nashville on Thursday morning (July 25), and for several tense hours, the story seemed very familiar.

A search for Alexandria Chmiel began after 4AM and involved helicopters, drones and crews repelling down the banks of the Cumberland River.

Metro Nashville PD sent out two pictures of Chmiel on surveillance cameras. Shortly after 7:30AM, news outlets like WKRN-TV reported that police had found a shoe and possibly blood near the river.

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The search zoomed in on an area near 1st Ave. and Gay in Nashville. That's where Riley Strain turned left and began a walk north toward a bridge that would mark his last known whereabouts before his body was pulled from the river on March 22.

• Chmiel was separated from her friends around 2AM near the intersection of 3rd Ave. and Broadway. That's where the bar Strain was thrown out of is located.
• Cameras spotted her on Church and 5th Ave, northwest of there at 1:45. Eight minutes later, she was at Woodland and N. 1st Ave.
• Strain was found two weeks after disappearing. He died of accidental drowning.

Another camera spotted Chmiel running toward the river, thus the intense search in that area.

This story ended quite a bit differently, however — just after 9AM CT, the missing woman walked into news reporter Peyton Kennedy's frame.

MNPD would also confirm that the woman was her.

"Allie Chmiel has emerged from the riverbank and is talking with our investigate (sic) team," a post on X reads.

The 33-year-old is pictured smiling, but without several key articles of clothing, including her shoes!

A photo shared by Nashville's Fire Department reveals that all may not be well: Chmiel is on a stretcher being treated, with plans to take her to the hospital.

Multiple outlets would later report that after finding her shoes and cell phone on the embankment, a detective saw her climbing up from the river with several lacerations. She told cops she wasn't sure how she ended up in the river.

Billy Dukes is a Senior Editor and Executive Producer of Video Content at Taste of Country. He specializes in country music interviews, trend analysis and the Secret History of Country Music. Additionally, Billy covers Yellowstone, 1923 and related television shows through the Dutton Rules podcast. To date, he's written more than 13,000 articles for Taste of Country and produced over 3,000 videos for the Taste of Country YouTube channel.