Lacking scholar Sudiksha Konanki vanished in Punta Cana on spring break. This is what we all know concerning the case.

Search efforts pressed on into their second week for Sudiksha Konanki, a school scholar on the College of Pittsburgh who went lacking earlier this month throughout a visit to the Dominican Republic resort city Punta Cana. 

Particulars surrounding Konanki’s disappearance have begun to emerge because the worldwide investigation continues. This is what we all know thus far about her case.

Konanki seen on video strolling to seashore

Konanki, 20, is from Chantilly, Virginia, a Washington, D.C., suburb, and attends faculty in Pittsburgh. She has everlasting residency in the USA in addition to citizenship in India. She arrived within the Dominican Republic for spring break on March 3 and was vacationing with a bunch of associates, 5 different ladies, in accordance with investigators and her dad and mom. 

She has been lacking since Thursday, March 6, after surveillance video confirmed her, three of her associates and two different American males stroll towards the seashore space exterior the Riu República lodge. The video was from round 4:15 a.m., investigators within the Dominican Republic mentioned.

Energy outages on the lodge could have prompted company to maneuver open air round that point, the lodge mentioned in a press release. An earlier surveillance video confirmed Konanki and certainly one of her associates hugging on the lodge bar. 

One of many males within the group strolling to the seashore has been recognized as 22-year-old Joshua Riibe, an American faculty scholar. Within the footage, Konanki and Riibe are seen strolling with their arms round one another. 

Video exhibits the opposite 4 people later returning to the lodge, however Konanki and Riibe stayed behind on the seashore, a police supply mentioned. The final sighting of Konanki and Riibe within the water occurred round 4:50 a.m., in accordance with Loudon County Sheriff Mike Chapman, whose workplace in Virginia is concerned within the investigation.

Riibe advised police he and Konanki have been swept into the ocean by a big wave and each struggled in opposition to tough seas. He mentioned he believed Konanki received out of the water however was not sure, in accordance with an individual with direct information of Riibe’s statements to U.S. investigators. 

He’s presumed to be the final one who noticed Konanki alive. 

Konanki’s disappearance is thus far being investigated as a lacking individuals case, not a prison investigation. 

The Dominican Republic’s lawyer basic mentioned investigators have been exploring whether or not Konanki drowned, however not ruling out the opportunity of foul play.

Chapman mentioned “it is arduous to say” whether or not there are indications Konanki’s disappearance was something aside from an accident. 

“We all know that at about 4:50 a.m. was the final sighting that we had of them within the water. We do not know what occurred after that,” Chapman mentioned in a “CBS Mornings” interview. “And we additionally do not know what occurred between the time that [Riibe] claimed to have come out of the water and the time that he really left the seashore, so it is actually arduous to say. It would be speculative on my half to imagine or presume something at this level.”

Konanki’s household looking for closure

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Workplace advised CBS Information that Konanki’s household has requested that she be declared deceased, expressed gratitude to investigators for his or her work, and expressed a need for closure following her disappearance within the Dominican Republic.

The household offered the request in writing to the sheriff’s workplace, in accordance with spokesperson Thomas Julia. Julia mentioned the household made the same request to Dominican authorities.

Konanki’s household didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. CBS Information has discovered that their written request referenced Riibe’s cooperation with investigators and a scarcity of proof collected thus far that might recommend foul play was concerned in Konanki’s disappearance.

Chapman mentioned the household has expressed their perception that she drowned.

“Whereas a closing determination to make such a declaration rests with authorities within the Dominican Republic, we are going to assist the Konanki household in each means attainable as we proceed to evaluation the proof and data made accessible to us in the midst of this investigation,” he mentioned.

Riibe faces questioning, says he’s cooperating

Riibe has been in Punta Cana for questioning for the reason that investigation received underway. 

Authorities confiscated Riibe’s passport and he has been confined to a lodge with police escorts wherever he goes, in accordance with the regulation agency representing him, Guzmán Ariza. Yeni Berenice Reynoso, the Dominican lawyer basic, was interrogating Riibe instantly, attorneys with Guzmán Ariza mentioned. A listening to for Riibe’s launch was set to happen Tuesday, after his attorneys pushed in authorized paperwork for his freedom given the absence of any prison cost.

Riibe and his dad and mom, Tina and Albert Riibe, prolonged “deep sorrow and solidarity” with Konanski’s household in a press release launched by his lawyer. 

“Above all, we want to contribute to the search efforts and perceive the anguish and uncertainty they’re going by and we share the hope that Sudiksha will probably be discovered as quickly as attainable,” the assertion mentioned. “Joshua Riibe is deeply dismayed by her disappearance and has totally cooperated within the search and clarification of the info from the very starting.”

Chapman advised “CBS Mornings” that Riibe was “very forthcoming” with sheriff’s detectives who traveled to the Dominican Republic to talk to him, and didn’t “appear to hesitate on answering any of the questions that we threw his means.”

Chapman famous there was “nothing that might actually make us really feel as if there was something unfaithful coming from Joshua.” 

Initially from Iowa, Riibe is a school senior at St. Cloud State College in Minnesota, the place he’s pursuing a level in land surveying. 

His household of their assertion described him as “a beloved son, brother, and good friend, recognized for his sort nature, humorousness, and dedication to his group.” 

In addition they shared considerations concerning the “irregular situations” of his detainment in Punta Cana, the place, they mentioned, he had been “subjected to intensive questioning with out the presence of official translators or authorized counsel till Wednesday, March 12.” The household retained a lawyer “to provoke authorized actions making certain his security and the safety of his rights all through this course of,” in accordance with the assertion.

Intensifying search efforts

Greater than 300 police and different officers, with assist from the FBI, are looking out the air, sea and land to find her, Dominican President Luis Abinader mentioned. The Dominican Republic Nationwide Police mentioned they’ve assembled a brand new “high-level fee” to supervise the case, and Interpol has issued a world police alert on the request of investigators.

“We’re involved,” Abinader mentioned at a information convention on March 10. “All authorities companies are looking out … as a result of the newest data we’ve from certainly one of them, from the final one who was with the younger lady, what he says in accordance with the reviews is {that a} wave, whereas on the seashore, crashed into them.”

Dominican Republic Nationwide Police mentioned in a press release March 11 that they have been “re-interviewing focused people who have been within the sufferer’s proximity on the time of her disappearance.” Investigators mentioned the people included “lodge workers the place Konanki and her companions have been staying, with the purpose of gathering data to corroborate her actions, interactions, and any related particulars for the investigation.”

contributed to this report.