PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – The State Department on Tuesday confirmed to Fox News Digital it is assisting a witness in University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki’s March 6 disappearance from the Dominican Republic.
Konanki, 20, has been missing since the early morning hours of March 6, when she went swimming in the ocean with the witness, identified as 22-year-old Joshua Riibe of Iowa, outside the RIU Republica resort in Punta Cana after drinking at a hotel bar. She has yet to be located.
“We take seriously our commitment to assist U.S. citizens abroad and are providing consular assistance,” the State Department said in a statement when asked about Riibe’s Monday filing of a writ of habeas corpus. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”
Konanki had gone to the beach with a group of seven other friends after a night of drinking. Six of her friends returned to the RIU Republica around 6 a.m., leaving the 20-year-old student alone with Riibe, who was also on spring break at the RIU Republica and is believed to be one of the last people to see her alive.
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Riibe, who is considered a witness in Konanki’s disappearance, apparently told Dominican authorities that while they were swimming, a large wave crashed over them, according to a translated transcript of his interview to police shared with Fox News.
He said he tried to help her and last saw her wading through knee-deep water. He then began vomiting up seawater and noticed that Konanki was no longer in sight and assumed she had returned to her hotel room. Riibe said he fell asleep in a beach chair before eventually returning to his room.
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Hotel surveillance footage shows Riibe returning to his hotel room around 9 a.m. on March 6.
Riibe has been detained in the Dominican since then and filed a writ of habeas corpus on Monday, challenging his de facto detention in the country. He is expected to have a hearing Tuesday in which a judge will rule on whether he can return home, sources said.
Konanki’s parents, Subbarayudu and SreeDevi Konanki, are not disputing Riibe’s account of what happened, according to a letter they sent to Dominican police on Monday. Her father had previously asked police to investigate all possibilities.
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“Following an extensive search, Dominican authorities have concluded that Sudiksha is believed to have drowned,” her parents wrote in a letter to La Policia Nacional, the country’s national police force, Monday night. “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.”
They said they made the request after “much deliberation” and thanked supporters for the international search effort.
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The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, where Konanki is from, issued a statement sharing her family’s 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 sheriff’s office said.
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Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota who has not been accused of a crime but is considered a crucial witness in the case, has been held under surveillance at the resort since Konanki was reported missing.
His family has called his continued required presence in the country “irregular.”
Riibe is not accused of a crime, but authorities confiscated his passport while investigating his account of what happened.
A hearing on the habeas petition is expected to be held Tuesday afternoon, sources said, but the timing could change.
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