Authorities in Dominican Republic have revoked the passport of the man they have named as a person of interest in the case of missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki.
Officials there are continuing to question Joshua Riibe about the whereabouts of Konanki.
Dominican officials told ABC News on Sunday that authorities have confiscated the passport of Riibe, 22. He also was reportedly questioned extensively.
The law firm representing him told NBC News that Riibe has been confined to the hotel since the investigation began. He is escorted by police wherever he goes.
Authorities maintain Riibe is not considered a suspect, but are examining possible contradictions in his story, ABC News reported.
According to a transcript obtained by ABC News, Riibe told prosecutors he and Konanki met the night before she disappeared. He said they were drinking with friends before heading to the beach on their own around 4 a.m.
Konanki was last seen at the Hotel Riu Republica.
Video surveillance cameras captured her, five other women and two men heading to a nearby beach about 4:15 a.m. March 6, CNN reports. When the others returned just before 5 a.m., Konanki and Riibe were not in the group, CNN said, citing two sources close to the investigation.
According to ABC News, Riibe told authorities he and Konanki, 20, kissed in the ocean right before they were both hit with a large wave. He claimed he tried to pull him and Konanki out of the water to safety.
He said when they were in knee-deep water, he let Konanki go and she walked away to get her things from the sand. Riibe said he began to vomit after the amount of water he took in. He allegedly fell asleep on the beach.
Riibe was seen with investigators and claimed to be helping them with the investigation, NBC News reported Sunday night.
Interpol has issued a yellow alert for Konanki on Thursday.
“The Interpol yellow notice was done quickly to help in the event Ms. Konanki sought to leave or was taken from the (Dominican Republic) to another nation,” Thomas Julia, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office in Loudon County, Va., where Konanki lives, told TribLive.
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