A student from the University of Pittsburgh went missing while on vacation in the Dominican Republic with her friends for spring break. Sudiksha Konanki was last seen on Thursday, March 6 on a beach at RIU Republica Resort.
Konanki is 20 years old and a junior at the University of Pittsburgh. It was said that she was traveling with six friends from the same school. The group arrived at the hotel in Punta Cana on March 3.
She was last seen on the beach with 22-year-old Joshua Riibe. Ribbe is a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.
Both Konanki and Riibe were staying at the RIU Republica Resort but on separate trips. Riibe had arrived at the hotel on March 1 with a friend. Konanki and Riibe first meet in the hotel when Riibe and his friend introduce themselves to Konanki and her friends.
According to FOX News, “The pair had been out drinking with friends at the RIU Republica in Punta Cana before Riibe said they went for a swim during a red-flag warning”.
Early in the morning on March 6, Konanki and her friends were seen on surveillance video heading to the beach with Riibe and his friend. A couple hours later, everyone in the group, except for Konanki and Riibe, had returned to the hotel. Then Riibe came back to the hotel alone a few hours later.
Riibe has had multiple interviews with police to describe what happened the night she went missing. Riibe stated that he and Konaki were hanging out in the water when a wave hit them and kept pulling them farther out to sea.
In an interview with Noticias SIN, a news service in the Dominican Republic, Riibe said, “It took me a long time to get her out. It was difficult”.
He said that he was a former lifeguard, but he worked at pools, not beaches. After a hard effort to pull her out of the water, he had passed out and the last time he saw Konanki, she was walking in knee-deep water.
When he didn’t see Konanki, he assumed that she had grabbed her things and left. Riibe slept on the beach because he felt too sick to go back to the hotel.
Later that same morning, Riibe went to his friend’s room. He had told Riibe that Konanki never returned to her room.
When the group realized Konanki never came back, they went to search for her before they notified the police. The group reported Konanki missing around 4 p.m. on Thursday to the hotel staff.
Konanki’s cover up that she was seen wearing in previous surveillance footage was found on a lounge chair on the beach.
Riibe has not been accused of any crime and has only been identified as a witness. However, he was detained under irregular conditions. Riibe has been cooperative as law enforcement continue to question him without an official translator or legal counsel.
There are still no suspects that are connected to her disappearance. Since Konanki is still missing, her parents have asked authorities to declare her dead.
