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Topics: US News, World News, Crime, Virginia, Travel
Liv Bridge
New CCTV footage has come to light which shows a missing college student walking arm-in-arm with a 'person of interest'.
Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student, was last seen on March 6 on a spring break vacation in the Caribbean beauty spot, Punta Cana.
Sudiksha, an Indian native from Virginia, and her friends were headed for the beach at around 4am after enjoying a party at the Riu Republica Hotel.
The other women travelling with her went back to their hotel rooms at around 5.55am.
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Authorities have since launched a major search for Sudiksha after her clothes were found on a sun bed on the Dominican Republic beach where police believe she was going for a swim, reports ABC News.
Now, eerie new surveillance footage has shown the missing young woman stumbling while walking arm-in-arm with a man now identified as a 'person of interest' in connection with her disappearance.
Joshua Steven Riibe of Rock Rapids, Iowa, has been identified as the last person to see the young woman alive, reports the New York Post.
The CCTV footage shows the pair were walking near the beach at around 4.15am and at one point were holding hands and snapping selfies while the rest of the group walked near-by.
The Dominican Republic National Police said when Sudiksha's spring break pals left the beach, she was left alone with Ribe, a senior at St Cloud State University in Minnesota.
The 24-year-old has allegedly given mixed accounts of what happened, reportedly telling police that he and Sudiksha went swimming before they were hit by a big wave. He said he returned to the beach, vomited and passed out drunk, only to wake up and find the woman was nowhere to be seen.
Security footage shows Riibe, barefooted and without his shirt, returned to his own hotel room at 8.55am.
Sudiksha's friends rang the alarm when they noticed she was missing the next day.
Police say he is cooperating with the authorities and is still in Punta Cana to assist.
Now, Chad Quinn, a spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed Riibe was a 'person of interest' in the case but stressed a difference between that and a suspect.
Quinn told the news outlet: "This is not at this time a criminal investigation, so to be clear, he is not a suspect. It is our understanding that he is a US citizen who was vacationing in Punta Cana, not part of the group traveling with the missing person."
“A number of people have been interviewed by the Dominican National Police with the assistance of the FBI and this is continuing," he continued. "Our office will have a presence on the ground today too.”
Hundreds of law enforcement, including FBI, continue to trawl the area, waters and beaches in search for the missing woman - though the challenging turf has aggravated conditions.
Local police on the paradise island suggested Sudiksha has drowned, but her family fear something more sinister happened and she could be a victim of a serious crime.