Sudiksha Konanki[a] (born December 13, 2004; disappeared March 6, 2025) was a 20-year-old Indian citizen with permanent residency in the U.S. She was a pre-medical student at University of Pittsburgh who went missing on March 6, 2025.[2] On spring break with a few of her friends at Hotel Riu Republica in Punta Cana, she was reported to have last been seen with an American on the beach, who has since returned to the U.S., after her disappearance.[3]
On Monday, March 3, 2025, Konanki and five fellow students traveled to the Dominican Republic for spring break, staying at the Riu República hotel.[7] On March 6, at around 3:00 a.m., Konanki was seen drinking with a group of five women aged 20–22 and two men aged 22 at the hotel bar.[8][9]Surveillance footage captured the group heading to the beach at 4:15 a.m. with Konanki seen walking arm in arm with Joshua Steven Riibe (/ˈriːbə/), a 22-year-old college student from Iowa. While the others departed at around 5:00 a.m., Konanki remained with Riibe.[9][10] According to Riibe, a wave swept them out to sea, and he attempted to rescue Konanki. He claimed to have last seen her walking in knee-deep water. After asking Konanki if she was okay, Riibe vomited seawater he had swallowed and was unable to hear her response. Following this, Riibe did not see Konanki and assumed she had left. He then fell asleep on a beach chair.[11][12] Surveillance footage shows Riibe leaving the beach at 8:55 a.m.[13]
Aftermath
On March 18, 2025, Konanki's parents requested the authorities to declare their daughter legally dead.[14] However, this request cannot legally proceed, as the Civil Code of the Dominican Republic — specifically the provisions set forth between Articles 112 and 140 — establishes that a declaration of "legal absence" may be sought only after a period of four years of disappearance. Furthermore, such a declaration may be granted only one year after the request has been formally submitted. In addition, the physical presence of the body before a forensic physician is a mandatory requirement for a legal declaration of death.[15][16][17]
Riibe, who remained detained for over a week at the Riu República hotel after his passport was confiscated by local authorities when he attempted to check out, was interrogated several times by local Dominican attorneys investigating the case, along with Dominican Attorney GeneralYeni Berenice Reynoso.[18][19] His lawyers submitted a writ of habeas corpus on March 18 and Riibe was released after the court hearing. Riibe then received an emergency passport the next day at the BávaroU.S. Consolate and left the island immediately with a friend.[20]
A video purporting to show Konanki drowning in the ocean while a man tries to save her widely circulated on social media. It was debunked by Agence France-Presse, who determined that it was actually taken at the Riviera Beach in Sochi, Russia, and that it depicted a different man and woman.[21]
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