{"id":26752,"date":"2025-03-19T14:52:23","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T18:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=26752"},"modified":"2025-03-19T14:52:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T18:52:23","slug":"after-speculation-of-foul-play-family-of-sudiksha-konanki-now-believe-their-daughter-drowned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/03\/after-speculation-of-foul-play-family-of-sudiksha-konanki-now-believe-their-daughter-drowned","title":{"rendered":"After Speculation of Foul Play, Family of Sudiksha Konanki Now Believe their Daughter Drowned"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Ron Sachs \/ New York Post | Inset: X<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A 22-year-old American college student is \u201cready to go home\u201d after being linked to the disappearance of a 20-year-old female student. Joshua Riibe of Iowa, is a student at St. Cloud State College in Minnesota who was spending his spring break at RIU Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic when he and University of Pittsburgh student, Sudiksha Konanki, who was also on spring break at the hotel, went for a morning swim. Footage from the hotel showed the pair stop at the bar and then go to the beach arm in arm. It was the last time Konanki was seen.<\/p>\n

According to Riibe, the water had been rough the morning of their swim and he\u2019d had to pull Konanki out. The two had been kissing in the water when they were knocked around by a wave, forcing Riibe to try to pull her safety while he gulped down water. \u201c”The last time I saw her, I asked her if she was OK. I didn’t hear her response because I began to vomit with all the water I had swallowed. After vomiting, I looked around and I didn’t see anything. I thought she had taken her things and left.\u201d \u00a0Riibe then passed out on a beach chair. Konanki\u2019s family now believes she drowned. Riibe was never officially a suspect, but his passport was taken by officials as he remained a person of interest. He stated police escorted him to and from his room and even sat with him during meals. Officials pushed back against claims that Riibe had been interrogated, with Riibe\u2019s father, Albert Riibe, demanding his son be allowed to leave the country and return home. \u201cEnough. It\u2019s been 12 days,\u201d his father said at a hearing. \u201cI understand I\u2019m here to help, but it\u2019s been 10 days and I can\u2019t leave. I\u2019m just doing what I can, and at this point, there\u2019s nothing more I can do,\u201d Joshua Riibe told the judge.<\/p>\n

Konanki\u2019s family also released a statement asking Riibe be allowed to leave. \u201cBoth sides of the authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides of the authorities have clarified the person of interest was not a suspect from the beginning. It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we are coming to terms with the fact our daughter has drowned,\u201d they told The New York Post<\/em><\/a>. Konanki\u2019s mother reportedly met with Riibe and thanked him for saving her daughter \u201cthe first time.\u201d They have asked for their daughter to be declared dead and asked for privacy as their family deals with the loss. \u201cWe still have two young children to care for and they\u2019re at a very tender age. In light of this, we respectfully request some space, time and privacy to focus on healing and helping our children recover as we try to move forward with our lives,\u201d said Subbarayudu Konanki. A judge ruled on Tuesday that Riibe was \u201cfree to leave.\u201d Riibe is now attempting to obtain a new passport. \u201cThe U.S. Embassy is in communication with Mr. Riibe, his family, and his lawyer and is providing all appropriate consular assistance,\u201d the Embassy told ABC News<\/a>. A new passport would allow Riibe to leave the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 22-year-old American college student is \u201cready to go home\u201d after being linked to the disappearance of a 20-year-old female student. Joshua Riibe of Iowa, is a student at St. Cloud State College in Minnesota who was spending his spring break at RIU Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic when he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":26755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAfter Speculation of Foul Play, Family of Sudiksha Konanki Now Believe their Daughter Drowned<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After 12 days in the Dominican Republic, Joshua Riibe is cleared to leave following the disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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