PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – A key witness in connection with American college student Sudiksha Konanki’s disappearance told Dominican Republic police that he and the 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student were swimming when a big wave hit them, and they were swept away, according to a translation of a transcript shared with Fox News.
Joshua Riibe of Iowa completed a nearly four-hour interview on Wednesday with Dominican Republic police as a witness in connection with Konanki’s disappearance and answered more than 50 questions about what happened before she vanished on March 6. Riibe is being considered by Dominican authorities as a witness in the case, not as a person of interest or suspect.
Riibe allegedly refused to answer eight questions, including his thoughts on the disappearance and why he did not tell the hotel or authorities about the incident. Police have said there are no suspects and this is a missing person case, not a criminal case. Riibe, 24, told police that he met Konanki that night, as they were both staying at the RIU Republica resort for spring break.
Riibe’s lawyer, Beatriz Santana, declined to comment on the case or her client’s interviews with police. Riibe’s family also issued a statement, saying, “At this point in time, Our Family is going through a very difficult time right now, and we’re experiencing a lot of sadness and pain. We kindly ask for privacy as we navigate this challenging moment together… We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.”
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Sudiksha Konanki, 20, from northern Virginia, was first reported missing on Thursday, March 6, after disappearing from a beach in the Dominican Republic. (Handout, left, and Defensa Civil Dominicana, right.)
“At this point in time, Our Family is going through a very difficult time right now, and we’re experiencing a lot of sadness and pain. We kindly ask for privacy as we navigate this challenging moment together… We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.”
In the early morning hours of March 6, they walked from a hotel bar to the beach outside the RIU Republica. Konanki had arrived in Punta Cana on March 3 and had been staying there with five other female friends from the University of Pittsburgh. Riibe arrived on March 1.
“On the way to the beach, she was giving me small kisses on the face,” Riibe told police, according to a translated transcript.
On the beach, he and Konanki went in the water while two of her female friends stayed ashore. Riibe and Konanki were talking when a “big wave” hit them, Riibe said. There was a red-flag warning on the beach at the time, indicating a warning for people not to go swimming in rough surf.
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People enjoy time on the beach at the RIU Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was last seen on March 6 on a beach outside the five-star RIU Republica Resort in the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
“[W]ith the water’s pullback, it dragged us further into the sea,” he said. “As soon as we surfaced, we tried to call for help, but no one was there.”
When asked what happened next, Riibe said he was “getting tired” and “realized she was also getting tired of swimming.”
“I have been a lifeguard, so I grabbed her and started pulling her out. I was holding her under the arm and swimming to get her out of the water.”
“It took me a long time to get her out. It was difficult,” Riibe continued. “I was a lifeguard in a pool, not in the ocean. I was trying to keep her breathing the whole time, which didn’t allow me to breathe properly, and I swallowed a lot of water. I could have lost consciousness at some point. When I finally touched the sand on the shore, I put her in front of me. Then she went to collect her belongings because the ocean had moved them.”
Local authorities search for missing US student Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was last seen on a beach outside the five-star RIU Republica Resort in the Dominican Republic on March 6, 2025. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
Riibe said Konanki was walking “knee-deep” in the water when he last saw her.
“I asked if she was okay. I didn’t hear her response because I started vomiting all the seawater I had swallowed,” Riibe said. “After vomiting, I looked around and didn’t see anyone. I thought she had grabbed her things and left. I felt really bad and exhausted. I lay down on a beach chair, fell asleep because I couldn’t go very far, and later woke up because of the sun and mosquito bites. I went to my friend’s room to get my phone, then went to my own room to sleep.”
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Local authorities search for missing US student Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was last seen on March 6 on a beach outside the five-star RIU Republica Resort in the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
Riibe also told police he “expected to see her the next day” and thought he would “run into her around the area.”
“After I saw her walking away in the water, I never saw her again.”
Riibe said he was sleeping in his room when his friend asked him if he had seen Konanki, to which Riibe replied no.
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Sudiksha Konanki in a Facebook selfie photo. The 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh junior has been missing since March 6, when she vanished during a spring break trip to a five-star resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Sudiksha Konanki/Facebook)
“I thought she had gone to her room. Her friends texted my friend since he had one of their numbers,” Riibe said.
The Iowa man said his friends went to the beach the next day and found his “belongings” because he “never picked them up,” other than a pair of shoes and a room key that he said “someone had stolen.”
Exterior view of a police station at Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Kirill Clark)
Riibe told police he had been drinking vodka with 7Up and tequila shots, adding that the group of women he had been with purchased “pink tequila shots” that they drank as a group.
He did not answer eight questions on the advice of his attorneys, according to the transcript, including the following:
1. How can we verify that everything you have said is true?
2. What did you tell your friend when he asked about the missing girl, Konanki-Sudiksha?
3. What do you think about Sudiksha’s disappearance?
4. Did Sudiksha know how to swim or not?
5. Do you remember if Sudiksha made any gestures or screamed while in the sea?
6. Did you inform the authorities or the hotel about what happened with you and the girl on the beach?
7. Did you tell your friend what happened between you and the girl on the beach?
8. How do you feel about this situation?
Beach loungers sit on the sand by the sea at the RIU Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was last seen on March 6 on a beach outside the five-star RIU Republica Resort in the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, where Konanki lives, has said Riibe “is not a person of interest nor a suspect for purposes of a criminal investigation. This was initiated as and is still a missing person investigation, and for that purpose he is a person of interest to our agency.”
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital on Friday it spoke with Riibe on Thursday.
“Detectives from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) conducted an extensive interview with Mr. Joshua Riibe on Thursday afternoon, March 13, 2025. His father and attorney accompanied Mr. Riibe, and he was cooperative. The search and investigation by the Dominican National Police are continuing. The LCSO does not plan to have any further updates today,” a spokesperson said.
Riibe’s family said in a statement: “At this point in time, Our Family is going through a very difficult time right now, and we’re experiencing a lot of sadness and pain. We kindly ask for privacy as we navigate this challenging moment together… We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.”
Military personnel search for Sudiksha Konanki, a University of Pittsburgh student from the U.S. who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Francesco Spotorno)
In January, four tourists drowned near Punta Cana, when a red flag warned of strong currents and rough seas, according to The Associated Press.
Konanki was last seen on surveillance footage walking from RIU Republica to the beach with seven other people, including five females and two males, around 4:15 a.m. on March 6. She was last seen on the beach around 4:50 a.m., according to the Dominican Republic prosecutor’s office and the hotel.
Hotel surveillance footage then shows a group of six people, including five women and one man, returning to the hotel from the beach around 5:55 a.m.
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The young man previously seen with Konanki is seen on surveillance footage entering the interior of the hotel around 9 a.m. on March 6.
Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office at 703-777-1021. To remain anonymous, call the Loudoun Crime Solvers at 703-777-1919.
