On Thursday, March 6, Shiduksha Konanki went missing while on spring break with her friends in Punta Cana. They were staying at Riu República Hotel, which is located right on the beach. Konanki was reported missing when she didn’t come back from the beach early in the morning.
Konanki is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh. She is 20 years old and is originally from India, but the Konanki family has been in the United States since 2006. They now live in Loudoun County, Virginia. During an interview, her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, told CNN, “My daughter is a very nice girl. She is ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine.”
According to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department, Konanki arrived in the Dominican Republic on March 3 with five other students from the University of Pittsburgh. After going to a club on Wednesday, March 5, Konanki and a group of people went to the beach at about 4 a.m. local time on Thursday. She was the only one who went missing.
The Dominican Republic National Police is working closely with authorities from the U.S. Department of State, FBI, DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, and the University of Pittsburgh police to investigate.
The last time Konanki was seen on the beach on security camera footage was around 4:15 a.m. Thursday, the Dominican Republic Public Ministry told ABC News. Police found her sarong-style cover-up on a lounge chair at the beach. There were no signs of violence.
According to CNN, Konankis’s father filed a missing person report at around 5:43 p.m. that same day.
Her father also urged authorities to pivot from the assumption that his daughter drowned and consider other options, including kidnapping.
As of right now, there is one person of interest in the case. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia confirmed to Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 that Joshua Riibe is now considered a person of interest, but not a suspect. The reason they are considering him a person of interest is because video footage showed he was the last person to see Konaki prior to her disappearance. In the video, they were seen to be holding hands while walking.
Joshua Riibe is 24 years old. Friends and relatives insist that the former high school wrestler and football player would never have done anything wrong. According to the New York Post, his aunt told the Daily Mail, “He is a great kid. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Riibes neighbor, Laurel Schreiver said, “I bet my life on it, Josh did not hurt that girl.”
As soon as Konanki’s parents heard their daughter went missing they traveled to the Dominican Republic to help search for her and get answers. Authorities are still searching for Konanki. The Dominican Republic National Police said they are going to question everyone involved in the incident again.
