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Sudiksha Konanki disappearance case: Sheriff clears the last person to see her alive
According to Dominican authorities, Joshua Riibe has been detained and is believed to be the last person to see Konanki. He has not been named as a suspect.
The sheriff in missing Indian student Sudiksha Konanki's hometown, dismissed any suspicion that Joshua Ribbi, the last person to see her alive, was involved in Konanki's disappearance.
“Is he in any way complicit in any of this? And even if he’s not complicit in any way, and we don’t believe he is, we’ve interviewed him, and he was very cooperative,” Loudoun County sheriff’s spokesman Thomas Julia told The New York Post.
However, the US investigators are urging the Dominican authorities to continue the probe into Konanki's case.
According to Dominican authorities, Riibe has been detained and is believed to be the last person to see Konanki. He has not been named as a suspect.
Also Read | Sudiksha Konanki's clothes found on lounge chair at Dominican Republic beach where she disappeared
Despite this, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, which sent investigators to the Dominican Republic, has interviewed Riibe and concluded that he is not complicit in Konanki's disappearance.
Riibe, a 22-year-old senior from Iowa, was the last known person to be with Konanki after meeting her at a bar in Punta Cana during her spring break trip on March 6.
What is Riibe's account of events?
Joshua Riibe, a 22-year-old college senior from Iowa, said he last saw Konanki while kissing her as the two swam in the ocean but soon after drunkenly passed out on the beach and could not say what happened to her.
“We believe he just struggles with his memory in the pre-dawn hours when you’re in a particular state of mind after going through a near-drowning yourself, you may indeed have passed out,” Julia told The Post.
While the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office does not suspect Riibe of wrongdoing, they are pushing for Dominican authorities to thoroughly complete their investigation.
Parents of missing Indian student ask that she be declared dead
The parents of Sudiksha Konanki, a US college student who vanished almost two weeks ago in the resort town of Punta Cana have asked authorities to declare her legally dead.
In a letter to Dominican police dated Monday, Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki state that after an extensive search, local authorities believe that Sudiksha, a 20-year-old student at the University of Pittsburgh, drowned.
Also Read | Why missing Indian student Sudiksha Konanki's parents want her declared dead?
“Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence,” they wrote. “While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honour her memory.”
Sudiksha Konanki and five female friends had travelled to the Caribbean nation on March 3 for spring break. Police said she disappeared at a beach by her hotel before dawn on March 6.
