Police have named a person of interest in the disappearance of U.S. college student Sudiksha Konanki, who went missing last week during a spring break trip in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
Joshua Riibe has been named a person of interest in connection with Konanki’s disappearance, according to the sheriff’s office in Loudon County, where Konanki is from. The 24-year-old is not a suspect, however. He was vacationing in Punta Cana and he might have been the last person to see Konanki, police said.
Konanki, a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student, arrived in the Dominican Republic to vacation with friends on March 3, and was last seen early Thursday going to the beach. She and her friends went to the beach with two men around 4 a.m. local time. Konanki’s friends and one man left the beach and returned to the hotel they were staying at around 6 a.m., while Konanki and the other man stayed at the beach. The man with Konanki was spotted leaving the beach and going back to his hotel at 10 a.m. without her. That man has been questioned multiple times, according to CNN. He has told differing accounts, but “translation issues may have been a reason for the differences,” police told CNN.
Konanki’s father has asked authorities to widen the investigation from “not only the possibility of an accidental drowning, but also the possibility of a kidnapping or foul play.”
“It’s four days, and if she was in water, she would likely have been strewn to shore,” Subbarayudu Konanki told a radio station. “She’s not found, so we’re asking them to investigate multiple options, like kidnapping or abduction.”
