The last person to see missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki claimed he saved her from the rough Caribbean waters before losing her in the darkness of night.
Minnesota college senior Joshua Riibe, 22, refused to answer several key questions as he described his final moments with Konanki before she vanished in the Dominican Republic eight days ago.
“I was a lifesaver. I grabbed her and pulled her out,” Riibe told the Public Ministry, according to a transcript obtained by Dominican Republic’s Noticas Sin.
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Riibe, who was named a person of interest in the case, had traveled to the RIU Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana for spring break — the same five-star resort where Konanki was staying.
The 22-year-old St. Cloud State University student is believed to be the last person to see Konanki as surveillance footage captured the pair walking arm-in-arm along the beach after 4 a.m. March 6.
They had waded out to waist-deep water, where they talked and kissed until the surf became too strong for them.
“A big wave came and hit us both and as the water returned, it came back and swept us out to sea,” Riibe told investigators.
Riibe claimed the duo cried for help when they returned to the surface, but their calls went unanswered as no one else was on the beach during their middle-of-the-night escapades.
He said he and Konanki were tired from swimming in the rough water, but he fought to get them out of the dire situation.
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He described putting Konanki under his arm and swimming back to the beach, but was met with resistance.
“It took me a long time to get her out, it was difficult. I was a lifeguard in the pool, not in the sea,” he said.
The former high school wrestler says he swallowed a lot of sea water during the daring rescue.
“I could have lost consciousness several times,” Riibe told officials.
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Riibe said he managed to get the two of them back to a safe spot in the water closer to the beach.
He recalled hearing Konanki saying she was going to get her belongings as the water had pushed them away from the area they had set up.
The 20-year-old was still in knee-deep water, walking at an “angle.”
“The last time I saw her, I asked her if she was OK,” Riibe said. “I didn’t hear her answer because I started vomiting all the sea water I had swallowed.
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“After I threw up, I looked around and didn’t see anyone. I thought she had grabbed her things and left.”
Riibe says he didn’t feel well, sat in a beach chair and fell asleep before he was awoken by the sunrise and the mosquitoes biting him.
He claimed he returned to his hotel room, briefly talking to his friend before falling back to sleep.
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During questioning by officials, Riibe declined to answer eight crucial questions about the case, giving the same 14-word response to each inquiry: “My lawyers advise me not to answer that question and I follow their advice.”
Police had sought more information and insight from Riibe regarding several aspects of his night with Konanki. The questions he declined to answer were:
- How can we verify that everything you have said corresponds to the truth?
- Could you tell us what you told your friend Carter Joseph, when he asked about the missing girl Konanki – Sudiksha?
- What do you think about Sudiksha’s disappearance?
- Did young Sudiksha know how to swim or not?
- Do you remember if young Sudiksha made any gestures or cries while she was in the sea?
- Did you inform the authorities or the hotel what had happened to you and the girl on the beach?
- Did you tell your friend what had happened with you and the girl on the beach?
- How do you feel about this situation?
Konanki was reported missing around 4 p.m. March 6 by the group of friends with whom she had traveled to the Caribbean nation.
Officials initially believed her disappearance was a drowning, but announced Wednesday that they hadn’t ruled out foul play.
Riibe’s recountingappears to line upwith an investigative police report that stated the Indian national was hit by a large wave while swimming at night, according to the reportcited by ABC.
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The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, the law enforcement agency in Konanki’s hometown in Virginia, named Riibe as a person of interest but cautioned that he was not a suspect.
Riibe’s aunt defended her nephew, maintaining he couldn’t have done it, saying he “wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Island officials suspect a power outage at the resort — which shut down surveillance systems — led the two to go to the beach.
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On March 5, hours before she was last seen, Konanki made two cryptic Venmo transactions.
Payments of unknown amounts were sent to two different users.
One only had an emoji of a sailboat in its description, while the other referenced popular Punta Cana nightclub Coco Bongo.
