A University of Pittsburgh student’s disappearance has sparked nationwide concern for college spring breakers. Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old, went missing in early March 2025 while enjoying a trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Authorities searched by air, land and sea for Konanki but have yet to locate her. Despite this, Konanki’s parents officially asked local police to declare their daughter as dead.
Below, get updates on Konanki’s disappearance.
When Was the Missing College Student Last Seen in Punta Cana?
According to CNN, Konanki was last seen on surveillance footage at around 4:15 a.m. local time on March 6. She was spotted with seven other people entering the beach by the Riu República Hotel. Her disappearance was reported to Dominican National Police the following day, March 7, through a call by the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo.
She was seen with Joshua Steven Riibe, a 22-year-old American who is not considered a suspect in the case and has not been accused of any wrongdoing, along with friends in the footage.
An urgent search is underway for missing American student Sudiksha Konanki, who vanished near a beach resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic while on spring break with friends. @eriellereshef reports. pic.twitter.com/SWJCp9KMO5
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 10, 2025
Who Is Sudiksha Konanki?
Konanki, a pre-med student at the University of Pittsburgh, arrived in Punta Cana with her friends on March 3. Her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, spoke out about his daughter in a public statement, per CNN.
“My daughter is a very nice girl,” he said. “She’s ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine.”
Konanki’s family is originally from India and has lived in the U.S. since 2006. They are permanent residents and live in Virginia.
What Happened to Sudiksha Konanki?
Per Konanki’s father, she “went to the beach on March 6 early morning around 4 a.m. with friends and some other guys they met at the resort. After that, her friends came back after some time and my daughter did not come back, did not show up from the beach.”
“So far, the authorities, multiple authorities here in the Dominican Republic have searched in the waters,” he added, according to CNN. “They searched using helicopters and other tools. They also searched in the near bay, bushes, trees. They went multiple times around the same areas.”
A local police source told the outlet that surveillance footage captured five women and one man leaving the beach at the Riu República Hotel at 5:55 a.m., and Konanki was believed to have stayed at the beach with another young man. At 9:55 a.m., the young man was captured leaving the beach in later surveillance video, but Konanki was nowhere to be seen. Konanki’s father encouraged police to investigate whether his daughter’s disappearance is a kidnapping or a case of human trafficking, he told CNN.
New information emerged about Konanki getting caught in the ocean and struggling to make it back to the beach.
Who Is Joshua Riibe?
Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota majoring in land surveying and mapping sciences, is from Rock Rapids, Iowa, according to a university spokesperson.
According to PEOPLE, Riibe was first named a person of interest in Konanki’s disappearance. A spokesperson from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office told the publication that no charges have been filed against Riibe, but he was “a person of interest in what is still a missing person investigation.”
In his fourth interview with prosecutors on March 12, Riibe described how he and Konanki were on the beach when an intense wave swept them out to sea. He recounted struggling to save Konanki while also fighting exhaustion himself.
“It took me a long time to get her out. It was difficult,” Riibe said, according to Dominican news agency Noticias SIN. He explained that although he was trained as a lifeguard, he had only worked at pools, not at the beach.
“I was trying to get her to breathe the whole time. That didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water. I could have lost consciousness several times. When I finally reached the ground on the beach, I held her in front of me.”
Riibe went on to describe the final moments he spent with Konanki, saying, “The last time I saw her, I asked if she was OK. I didn’t hear her answer because I started vomiting up all the seawater I had swallowed. After vomiting, I looked around, and I didn’t see anyone. I thought she had grabbed her things and left. I felt very sick and tired. I lay down on a beach chair and fell asleep because I couldn’t go far.”
Riibe has been cooperating with law enforcement, but his parents stated that he was detained “under irregular conditions” and questioned without official translators or legal counsel until March 12. He has remained under police surveillance in his hotel room and has been taken to the police station for multiple interrogations. As a result, his family has hired a lawyer “to initiate legal actions ensuring his safety and the protection of his rights.”
Is Sudiksha Konanki Dead?
Konanki has not been found yet by police in Punta Cana, but her parents asked authorities to declare her dead. According to a letter written by the Konankis obtained by The New York Post, they wrote, “Following an extensive search, Dominican authorities have concluded that Sudiksha is believed to have drowned.”
“Given these circumstances, and after much deliberation, we request that the police department proceed with the legal declaration of her death,” the parents wrote. “Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence. While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.”
