The student family missing in the Dominican Republic believes that they have drowned: npr

The search for military personnel on March 10, 2025 for Sudiksha Konanki, a university student from the USA who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Francesco Spotorno/AP hide the caption

Switch the image signature

Francesco Spotorno/AP

The family of Sudiksha Konanki, the University of Pittsburgh Junior, which was missing with friends at the beginning of March during a Spring Break trip, believes that, according to Loudoun County, Virginia, who died from a random drowning.

“The disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki is tragic and we cannot imagine the grief that your family felt,” said the sheriff of Loudoun County, Sheriff Michael Chapman, in a statement on Tuesday. Konanki's family, including their parents and two younger siblings, live in Loudoun County.

On March 10, a member of the Civil Defense Canine Unit is looking for Sudiksha Konanki, a student from the USA who has disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, the previous week.

“Sudiksha's family has expressed her conviction that she has drowned. While a final decision to submit such an explanation in the authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every possible way, since we will continue to be checked, since we will continue to be checked.”

The director of media relationships of the sheriff, Thomas Julia, said in an e -mail to NPR that even if the Dominican authorities of Konanki recognize death as accidental drowning, “we believe that there are still parts of this investigation that should be completed as part of the ordinary duty of care when examining a missing person.”

The 20 -year -old Konanki traveled to Punta Cana at the beginning of this month. Three days after her trip, Konanki entered a group with a group at 4:15 a.m., around this time when she disappeared, said the National Police of Dominican.

The international authorities have initiated an extensive examination of the circumstances in connection with Konankis. The Dominican police and the Sheriff Department of Loudoun County have worked on the investigative and recovery efforts together with several other US federal authorities, including the US Foreign Ministry, the FBI of the US State Department, the administration of the US US Ministry.

The University of Pittsburgh, where Konanki studied biosciences and chemistry at the pre -medical doctor, also said in an explanation in an explanation that she had worked together with the investigation.

A student of Minnesota College, 22-year-old Joshua Riibe, was mentioned as a person last week of interest in the case. The case was not treated as a criminal investigation and Ribe was not a suspect, but he remains in Punta Cana after the order of the local authorities, said Julia.

The authorities suspect that Ribe might have been the last person who saw Konanki alive, and her family feared that there may have been a bad game, said Julia.

But a family letter to the Loudoun's police yesterday “seems to take care of another point of view, at least for the The purpose of exertion of the closure for the parents and other children “and supports the theory of accidental drowning, said Julia.

NBC News reported that Riibe told the investigators that he and Konanki had drunk together and hiked into the currents of the ocean where they were swept at sea.

According to a checked transcript -nbc, Ribe said a former lifeguard swimmer reported that he could at some point save Konanki from the mighty streams, but shortly afterwards she lost an overview of her. NPR did not confirm the reporting independently, and the Dominican Central Directorate of Tourism Police did not immediately answer a request for these transcripts.

The inhabitants of Riibes hometown Rock Rapids, Iowa, expressed their support for the St. Cloud University's students about an explanation by the Sheriff office of the Lyon County.

“Josh has an unshakable dedication to his faith and a real kindness of others. He illustrates the values ​​of compassion, respect and integrity, which are of fundamental importance for our church and our community.”

Comments are closed.