The household of lacking College of Pittsburgh pupil Sudiksha Konanki has requested police within the Dominican Republic to declare her useless, a police spokesman stated Monday.
Dominican Republic Nationwide Police spokesperson Diego Pesqueira stated Konanki’s household has despatched the company a letter requesting a declaration of dying.
Konanki, 20, was on spring break with associates within the Caribbean island nation when she disappeared early March 6. Regardless of an intensive search, her physique has not been discovered.
The Konanki household didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Monday evening.
Konanki is a junior in biology on the College of Pittsburgh. She is from Loudoun County, Virginia, the place her household lives.
Konanki was final seen early March 6 after she went to the seashore with associates.
After her associates left the seashore, she stayed behind with folks she met on the journey. She vanished after 4:15 a.m. that day.
The final particular person thought to have seen Konanki has been recognized as Joshua Riibe, 22, a senior at St. Cloud State College in Minnesota who’s from Rock Rapids, Iowa.
Dominican authorities confiscated Riibe’s passport Friday as a part of an investigation, his attorneys informed NBC Information.
NBC Information noticed Riibe with investigators and his legal professional on a seashore in Punta Cana early Sunday. He was seen pointing towards the ocean whereas a bunch of safety officers saved folks away from the world.
Talking solely to NBC Information briefly on the resort the place Konanki had been staying earlier than she disappeared, and earlier than he was noticed by NBC Information on the seashore, Riibe stated, “I’m simply making an attempt to assist them out,” including: “The ocean is a harmful place.”
Riibe “has been confined to the lodge for the reason that investigation started. He’s completely escorted by the police wherever he goes. So no, he isn’t free to go away,” the regulation agency representing him stated in an e-mail Saturday.
Pesqueira, the nationwide police spokesperson, stated no indicators of violence had been discovered on the seashore.
A lodge spokesperson stated purple flags — which point out “that the ocean had a powerful present and really excessive waves” — had been flying when Konanki disappeared.
In an interview final week with Dominican investigators, Riibe stated he was on the seashore with Konanki shortly earlier than she disappeared.
He stated they had been “in waist-deep water, speaking and kissing a bit of,” based on a transcript of the interview obtained by NBC Information. A wave crashed, taking them each “out to sea,” it quotes him saying.
“I saved making an attempt to get her to breathe, however that didn’t permit me to breathe on a regular basis, and I swallowed numerous water,” he stated.
Riibe stated he acquired Konanki again to shore earlier than she disappeared.
“The final time I noticed her, I requested if she was OK. I didn’t hear her reply,” he stated. “I seemed round and didn’t see anybody. I assumed she’d grabbed her issues and left.”
Authorities within the Dominican Republic have stated nobody is taken into account a suspect in Konanki’s disappearance.
U.S. authorities have stated it’s a lacking individuals case and never a prison matter.
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. Extra from NBC Information:
