University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konaski, 20, was last seen on a beach near the five-star RIU Hotel and Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and clothes have now been found on a beach
The last person to see missing student Sudiksha Konanki has had his passport seized as he’s forced to remain in the Dominican Republic for the duration of the investigation.
The 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student vanished without a trace more than a week ago from the Dominican Republic resort where she was spending Spring Break.
The last person to see her, Joshua Riibe, has had his travel documents seized 10 days after he claims to have left her on the beach near the resort they were both staying in on March 6.
Riibe told NBC News: “I’m just trying to help them out. The ocean is a dangerous place.”
Lawyers for Riibe, who his parents instructed shortly after the disappearance, have acknowledged that his passport has been confiscated. He is being forced to stay at the hotel and is under a “permanent” police escort.
It comes after an image released to the public shows a white-netted sarong on top of a sun lounger, with a pair of flip flops on the sand under the chair.
Authorities told local outlet CDN that the beachwear doesn’t look as though it’s been tampered with. It looks incredibly similar to the clothes that Sudiksha was seen wearing in surveillance footage of her last night.
Local cops think she left her clothes there before going into the ocean, where they believe she drowned. As it stands, police say her cause of death was drowning but have not ruled out foul play after naming a person of interest – the last person to see her, Joshua Riibe, 22, a senior at Minnesota’s St Cloud State University.
Both had travelled to the five-star RIU Hotel and Resort in Punta Cana with pals for Spring Break.
Surveillance footage has helped police piece together the young woman’s final moments. She was seen walking with Riibe towards the beach at 4.15am, with the pair seen holding hands at one point. The pair stayed on the beach while the rest of the group returned back to their rooms.
Riibe has confused investigators after lawyering up and providing conflicting accounts of the woman’s last movements.
The most-recent account details how he saved Sudiksha after a wave came crashing into them, before returning to the shore, losing track of her and parting ways, Noticas Sin reported, citing a transcript of his interrogations.
Riibe has been under 24-hour surveillance despite not being named as a suspect and only as a “person of interest”. Sources say that a high-ranking prosecutor will be intensifying the questioning over the coming days.
More questions were raised when he refused to answer a number of key questions after his parents arranged for a beefy legal team to support him.
“Despite his full willingness to cooperate, Josh has been detained under irregular conditions and subjected to extensive questioning without the presence of official translators or legal counsel until Wednesday, March 12,” the Riibes parents said in a statement, WTAE reported.
It has now been eight days since the 20-year-old woman vanished, with missing persons posters dotted around the country, describing her as 5ft 3 with black hair and brown eyes.
