Local authorities maintain that Joshua Riibe is not a suspect and he has not been charged with any crime.
ByErielle Reshef, ABC News
Monday, March 17, 2025 12:23PM
Joshua Riibe, whom police identified as the last known person believed to have seen Sudiksha Konanki, is not being treated as a suspect.
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic — Authorities in the Dominican Republic are focusing on the last person they believe to have seen a missing University of Pittsburgh student alive.
Officials seized the passport of Joshua Riibe, an American college senior, and they say they are examining possible inconsistencies in his story.
Riibe is believed to be the last person to have seen Sudiksha Konanki alive and is facing questions from Dominican prosecutors.
RELATED: Man who last saw missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki thought she had ‘taken her things and left’
Officials confiscated the passport of the 22-year-old from Iowa after he was interviewed by authorities at the Punta Cana hotel where he and Konanki had been staying separately with friends.
Riibe walked investigators through the details of that early morning as he sat for hours with investigators, even going with them and his lawyers to the beach where police believe Konanki vanished.
For days, local authorities have maintained that Riibe is not a suspect and he has not been charged with any crime.
However, police say he is still being considered a witness to a possible drowning.
Sources familiar with the investigation say the lead prosecutor is examining possible contradictions in his story.
RELATED: New details emerge after US college student goes missing while on spring break in Dominican Republic
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.
He alleges that the two were kissing in the ocean when they were slammed by a large wave and started to struggle in the surf.
He claims he tried to save her, saying, “I was holding her under my arm and swimming. It was hard. I was a pool lifeguard, not the ocean. Then, when I finally touched the sand, I put her in front of me. Then she got up to go get her stuff since the ocean had moved us.”
He told prosecutors he passed out on the beach and awoke thinking Konanki had gone inside.
Hotel cameras captured him returning to his room that morning.
Riibe’s lawyer, Beatriz Santana, says what is happening to her client is illegal, as he is under permanent surveillance.
“If he wants to leave the hotel, he cannot do that freely, but with police,” she says. “His passport was seized despite not being officially charged.”
He is expected to face more questioning on Monday.
The Riibe family issued a statement, saying in part, “We express our deep sorrow and solidarity with the family of Sudiksha Konanski during this painful time. Above all, we wish to contribute to the search efforts and understand the anguish and uncertainty they are going through and we share the hope that Sudiksha will be found as soon as possible.”
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