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Punta Cana, Dominican Republic – The beach section where Pittsburgh Sudiksha Konanki University disappeared disappeared Spring vacations Last week it is the same place where four European tourists drowned in January.
It is known that it is dangerous with rough waves and strong and unpredictable currents, said Luis Vilchez, a Dominican lawyer who is not involved in the case.
“Each beach located in the Macao area, where this is located, and in Uvero Alto, are beaches in Punta Cana, where you must be careful, because when those waves are strong, they drag you into the sea,” he told Fox News Digital.
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, from northern Virginia, was first reported that she disappeared on March 6 after disappearing from a beach in the Dominican Republic. (Brochure, left; Dominican Civil Defense, Right)
In January, several people drowned and others were rescued from the beach behind the same complex where Konanki, the Riu Republica in Punta Cana, was last seen. The first three recovered were identified as European tourists, two from Poland and another from Portugal.
The remains of a third Polish citizen were found on land the next day, according to Bavaro Digital, a local newspaper.
Vilchez said that there were red warning flags that flew the morning of Konanki’s disappearance, a sign that surf conditions were especially rough at that time. But she and her friends may have been unsuspecting victims after a night of drinking on March 5 in the early morning of the next day.
The American university student Sudiksha Konanki disappeared while on vacation with friends in Punta Cana on March 6, 2025. (Fox News Graphics)
Around 4:15 am, Konanki was part of a group of six women and two men seen in a surveillance video that approached the beach. Six of them returned around 6 in the morning, leaving Konanki alone on the beach with a 22 -year -old Iowa named Joshua Riibe.
Riibe, a spring partner from St. Cloud State University In Minnesota, it cooperates with the authorities and has not been appointed suspect, returned only around 10 in the morning, Konanki is the only person who is not counted.
“Drunk people in the middle of the night will not take that into account,” said Vilchez. “While waves on that specific beach can be dangerous on normal sometimes, they are even more when the red flag is raised.”
The American university student disappears in the Dominican Republic: Timeline
Konanki and his friends were seen at the hotel bar with drinks before heading to the beach behind the complex, according to the authorities.
Military personnel seek Sudiksha Konanki, a student at the University of Pittsburgh who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, March 10. (AP/Francesco Spotorno)
“In the video, both are seen walking on the side; they could not walk straight,” Digital’s Fox News told Fox, referring to Konanki’s last known Konanki vigilance video showing her to the beach with a group of friends. “If they had gotten into the water at that time, a wave could have easily done everything it says.”
Riibe supposedly told the authorities that the two had been swept by a strong wave and carried along the coast, according to a transcription of one of his interviews with the police. After fighting to return to Earth, he said he vomited to swallow salt water.
Researchers have expanded the search area as the American university student Sudiksha Konanki is still missing after she disappeared from a beach in Punta Cana on March 6, 2025. (Fox News Graphics)
“I asked if I was fine. I didn’t hear his answer because I began to vomit all the sea water I had swallowed,” Riibe said. “After vomiting, I looked around and I didn’t see anyone. I thought I had grabbed his things and left. I felt really bad and exhausted. I went to bed in a beach, I fell asleep because I could not go far and then woke up due to the sun and mosquito bites. I went to my friend’s room to get my phone, then I went to my own room to sleep.”
Then he fell asleep in a beach chair and was seen returning to the hotel around 10 in the morning.
Experts previously told Fox News Digital The Beach is known for their strong currents and can be unpredictable, changing without warning.
The authorities are looking for the US student. Sudksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
“Punta Cana is in the passage of Mona, which connects the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico”, Andrew Wulfck, a Fox’s weather meteorologist And digital content producer, he explained. He examined the coastal records of the time of Konanki’s disappearance.
“As is common where there are two river routes, waves can be erratic and difficult to forecast, unlike the most predictable patterns often seen on the beaches along the east coast of the United States.”
While some experts have had problems with their history, Vilchez said that he believes that he would not have spent time to dirty game and hides the evidence.
“At 6 in the morning there are people who go down to Sunbathe,” he told Fox News Digital. “If I had killed her, I wouldn’t have had time to take her anywhere without being seen.”
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The complex and its neighboring competitors have cameras, he said, even on the beaches on both sides of the Riu.
“A drunk boy would not have had the mental ability to drown and throw it into the current, and be lucky that this body has not been found for now,” he said.
People on the beach at the Riu Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
Riibe is cooperating with the authorities and has not been appointed suspect. But in a statement on Friday, their parents said they were concerned about the “irregular conditions” he faced during the first six days of the investigation.
“Despite his full will to cooperate, Josh has been arrested in irregular conditions and has undergone extensive interrogation without the presence of official translators or legal advisor until Wednesday, March 12,” said his parents, Albert and Tina Riibe, through their lawyers.
“He has stayed in his hotel room under police surveillance and has been repeatedly taken to the police station since March 6, where he has been interrogated for long hours. This situation has generated a serious concern within his family, which has led us to retain legal advisors to initiate legal actions that guarantee their safety and protection of their rights throughout this process.”
The authorities are looking for the US student. Sudksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
The family said they were willing to continue cooperating with search efforts and wanted to share their “deep pain and solidarity” with Konanki’s family.
“Above all, we want to contribute to search efforts and understand the anguish and uncertainty they are happening, and we share the hope that Sudiksha is as soon as possible,” they said. “Joshua Riibe is deeply dismayed by His disappearance and has cooperated completely in the search and clarification of the facts from the beginning. “
Konanki’s whereabouts is still unknown, and the authorities say they are working in a case of missing persons and It is not a criminal investigation, But they have left all the possibilities open. On the other hand, experts also say that the bodies tend to float back to the coast in two or three days. She disappeared on March 6.
People enjoy time on the beach at the Riu Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
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The Dominican Police are leading the investigation, with the assistance of multiple US agencies, including FBI and national security. The researchers of the Sheriff’s Office of the Loudoun County in the hometown of Konanki sent two detectives to Punta Cana with the permission of the Dominican authorities. They interviewed Riibe on Thursday, carried out some independent works on the field and headed back to the United States on Friday.
“Mr. Riibe is not suspicious in any way,” said Sheriff’s spokesman for Fox News Digital.
