Search efforts pressed on into their second week for Sudiksha Konanki, a college student at the University of Pittsburgh who went missing earlier this month during a trip to the Dominican Republic resort town Punta Cana.
Details surrounding Konanki’s disappearance have begun to emerge as the international investigation continues. Here’s what we know so far about her case.
Konanki seen on video walking to beach
Konanki, 20, is from Chantilly, Virginia, a Washington, D.C., suburb, and attends college in Pittsburgh. She has permanent residency in the United States as well as citizenship in India. She arrived in the Dominican Republic for spring break on March 3 and was vacationing with a group of friends, five other women, according to investigators and her parents.
She has been missing since Thursday, March 6, after surveillance video showed her, three of her friends and two other American men walk toward the beach area outside the Riu República hotel. The video was from around 4:15 a.m., investigators in the Dominican Republic said.
Power outages at the hotel may have prompted guests to move outdoors around that time, the hotel said in a statement. An earlier surveillance video showed Konanki and one of her friends hugging at the hotel bar.
Defensa Civil Dominicana
One of the men in the group walking to the beach has been identified as 22-year-old Joshua Riibe, an American college student. In the footage, Konanki and Riibe are seen walking with their arms around each other.
Video shows the other four individuals later returning to the hotel, but Konanki and Riibe stayed behind on the beach, a police source said. The last sighting of Konanki and Riibe in the water happened around 4:50 a.m., according to Loudon County Sheriff Mike Chapman, whose office in Virginia is involved in the investigation.
Riibe told police he and Konanki were swept into the ocean by a large wave and both struggled against rough seas. He said he believed Konanki got out of the water but was not certain, according to a person with direct knowledge of Riibe’s statements to U.S. investigators.
He is presumed to be the last person who saw Konanki alive.
Konanki’s disappearance is so far being investigated as a missing persons case, not a criminal investigation.
The Dominican Republic’s attorney general said investigators were exploring whether Konanki drowned, but not ruling out the possibility of foul play.
Chapman said “it’s hard to say” whether there are indications Konanki’s disappearance was anything other than an accident.
“We know that at about 4:50 a.m. was the last sighting that we had of them in the water. We don’t know what happened after that,” Chapman said in a “CBS Mornings” interview. “And we also don’t know what happened between the time that [Riibe] claimed to have come out of the water and the time that he actually left the beach, so it’s really hard to say. It’d be speculative on my part to assume or presume anything at this point.”
Konanki’s family seeking closure
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office told CBS News that Konanki’s family has requested that she be declared deceased, expressed gratitude to investigators for their work, and expressed a desire for closure following her disappearance in the Dominican Republic.
The family provided the request in writing to the sheriff’s office, according to spokesperson Thomas Julia. Julia said the family made a similar request to Dominican authorities.
Konanki’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CBS News has learned that their written request referenced Riibe’s cooperation with investigators and a lack of evidence collected to date that would suggest foul play was involved in Konanki’s disappearance.
Chapman said the family has expressed their belief that she drowned.
“While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible as we continue to review the evidence and information made available to us in the course of this investigation,” he said.
Riibe faces questioning, says he is cooperating
Riibe has been in Punta Cana for questioning since the investigation got underway.
Authorities confiscated Riibe’s passport and he has been confined to a hotel with police escorts anywhere he goes, according to the law firm representing him, Guzmán Ariza. Yeni Berenice Reynoso, the Dominican attorney general, was interrogating Riibe directly, attorneys with Guzmán Ariza said. A hearing for Riibe’s release was set to take place Tuesday, after his attorneys pushed in legal documents for his freedom given the absence of any criminal charge.
Riibe and his parents, Tina and Albert Riibe, extended “deep sorrow and solidarity” with Konanski’s family in a statement released through his attorney.
“Above all, we wish to contribute to the search efforts and understand the anguish and uncertainty they are going through and we share the hope that Sudiksha will be found as soon as possible,” the statement said. “Joshua Riibe is deeply dismayed by her disappearance and has fully cooperated in the search and clarification of the facts from the very beginning.”
Chapman told “CBS Mornings” that Riibe was “very forthcoming” with sheriff’s detectives who traveled to the Dominican Republic to speak to him, and did not “seem to hesitate on answering any of the questions that we threw his way.”
Chapman noted there was “nothing that would really make us feel as though there was anything untrue coming from Joshua.”
Originally from Iowa, Riibe is a college senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, where he is pursuing a degree in land surveying.
His family in their statement described him as “a beloved son, brother, and friend, known for his kind nature, sense of humor, and commitment to his community.”
They also shared concerns about the “irregular conditions” of his detainment in Punta Cana, where, they said, he had been “subjected to extensive questioning without the presence of official translators or legal counsel until Wednesday, March 12.” The family retained a lawyer “to initiate legal actions ensuring his safety and the protection of his rights throughout this process,” according to the statement.
Intensifying search efforts
More than 300 police and other officials, with support from the FBI, are searching the air, sea and land to locate her, Dominican President Luis Abinader said. The Dominican Republic National Police said they have assembled a new “high-level commission” to oversee the case, and Interpol has issued a global police alert at the request of investigators.
“We are concerned,” Abinader said at a news conference on March 10. “All government agencies are searching … because the latest information we have from one of them, from the last person who was with the young woman, what he says according to the reports is that a wave, while on the beach, crashed into them.”
Dominican Republic National Police said in a statement March 11 that they were “re-interviewing targeted individuals who were in the victim’s proximity at the time of her disappearance.” Investigators said the individuals included “hotel employees where Konanki and her companions were staying, with the goal of gathering information to corroborate her movements, interactions, and any relevant details for the investigation.”
Anna Schecter,
and
Manuel Bojorquez
contributed to this report.
