Thu Mar 20 03:56:10 UTC 2025: ## US Student Missing in Dominican Republic: Witness Released, Parents Seek Declaration of Death
**Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic** – The investigation into the disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student, continues to unfold with the release of a key witness and a request from her parents to declare her legally dead.
Joshua Riibe, a St. Cloud University student and the last person known to have seen Ms. Konanki, was released from detention on Wednesday after a five-hour trial. A judge ruled that Mr. Riibe, considered a witness, had the right to unrestricted freedom of movement. He subsequently left the Dominican Republic, obtaining a new passport from the US consulate for privacy reasons.
According to Mr. Riibe’s statement to authorities, he and Ms. Konanki were kissing in the ocean when they were caught in a current. He stated that he helped her ashore, but she left to retrieve her belongings and disappeared. Dominican media outlets, along with NBC and Telemundo, reported on this testimony.
Ms. Konanki, a US permanent resident originally from India, vanished from a beach near her hotel on March 6th, during a spring break trip with friends. Following an extensive search, her parents, Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki, have formally requested Dominican authorities to declare their daughter legally dead. They cited the belief by local authorities that she drowned and stated that this declaration would allow their family to begin the grieving process.
Loudoun County Sheriff Michael Chapman expressed the county’s support for the Konanki family and confirmed their collaboration with Dominican authorities. The investigation continues.
First Piper 