Featured Image Credit: Sudiksha Konanki/Facebook
Topics: Health, Travel, World News, Parenting
Ella Scott
Topics: Health, Travel, World News, Parenting
The family of missing American student Sudiksha Konanki has requested a declaration of death from Dominican Republic investigators probing her vanishment.
20-year-old Konanki was last seen in the early hours of March 6 in Punta Cana where she and five friends were vacationing.
The University of Pittsburg co-ed, who was staying at the adults-only RIU República Hotel for her Spring Break, is understood to have headed to the beach at 4.15am with friends and a ‘person of interest’, Joshua Riibe, 22, as per the Dominican National Police.
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When her friends returned to the five-star resort around 6am, she and Riibe, an Iowa native, were left alone on the beach.
Riibe - who has expressed he is ‘deeply dismayed’ by Konanki’s disappearance - claims he and the woman kissed before being caught in heavy surf, as per The Independent.
The St. Cloud State University student, who is also a former lifeguard, said he’d pulled Konanki back to shore but lost track of her after he began vomiting sea water before passing out.
When the Virginia woman failed to return to the hotel, her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, swiftly filed a missing person report.
In a fresh update, Subbarayudu and the Spring Breaker’s mother SreeDevi Konanki have seemingly not challenged Riibe’s story, and have instead announced their daughter died by drowning.
“It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we are coming to the terms with the fact that our daughter has drowned. This is incredibly difficult for us to process,” Subbarayudu said in a statement.
“We kindly ask you to keep our daughter in your prayers.
“We still have two young children to care for, and they are at a very tender age. In light of this, we respectfully request some space, time and privacy to focus on healing us and helping our children recover as we try to move forward with our lives.”
The new update comes just hours after the Subbarayudu and SreeDevi asked investigators for a declaration of death regarding their daughter’s disappearance.
Fox News reports that Subbarayudu had previously requested police to investigate all possibilities regarding his daughter’s disappearance.
However, a newly obtained letter sent from Konanki’s family to La Policia Nacional, the Dominican Republic’s national police force, reads: “Following an extensive search, Dominican authorities have concluded that Sudiksha is believed to have drowned.
"Her clothes were discovered on a beach near where she was last seen. The individual last seen with her is cooperating with the investigation, and no evidence of foul play has been found.
"Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence," the pair penned.
"While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory."
Following the alleged letter, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office stated that it had offered victim services to the Konanki family.
“Sudiksha’s 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,” the office stated.
“We thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Dominican National Police for their dedication to this investigation and collaboration.”
Following Subbarayudu’s missing person report, Riibe was detained at the luxury hotel and had his passport confiscated.
Authorities have stated that although Riibe is not considered a ‘suspect’ he remains a ‘person of interest’ in the case.
Yesterday (March 18), a Dominican Republic judge ruled that the Minnesota college student should be freed from police surveillance.
He is now free to leave the hotel and travel freely through the country, but it has not been confirmed when he will return to his native US, as per CBS News.
"I've done what I can but at this time there's not much now that I can do," Riibe said. "I'm just waiting to go home and go back to my life.”
UNILAD has contacted the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office for further comment.