Tragic Mystery: 20-Year-Old US student disappears in Dominican Republic, feared dead

Dominican Republic: A 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student named Sudiksha Konanki has been missing since Thursday morning in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The victim was reportedly on a spring break with five friends and is believed to have died by drowning, revealed sources. 

The 20-year-old was last seen during the early hours of March 6 entering the beach of the hotel she was staying at in Punta Cana, said the police. The group arrived on the island on March 3. According to the investigators, Konanki disappeared sometime after 4:15 am on Thursday, when she and other young people she was with were seen on surveillance video a few meters from the beach entrance. 

Police said that investigators are interviewing the people who were with her to help guide the search. The officials reported that the victim was walking on the beach with six people on March 5 after spending time at a local nightclub following which she is believed to have drowned in the ocean. 

20-year-old drowned, suspects Dominican Republic officials   

The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, said during a news conference on Monday that the authorities have been carrying out a special operation at sea “because the latest information we have from the last individual who was with the young woman — according to reports — is that while they were on the beach, a wave crashed into them and caused some kind of situation.”  

The President said that this makes the investigators fear that the Indian origin student died by drowning however it is not yet confirmed. 

Authorities name 24-year-old Iowa man as a ‘person of interest’ 

Authorities in Virginia have named a 24-year-old Iowa man as a ‘person of interest’ in the mysterious disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office located in the victim’s hometown of Chantilly disclosed that Joshua Ribe who has been identified from the surveillance footage has been interviewed and is a major person of interest in this incident. 

It is said that while most of the group went back to the hotel around 5:55 am, Ribe stayed with her on the beach and both of them were reportedly caught by a big wave. However, he did not report the disappearance of the young girl himself. Reportedly, the victim’s friends realised around 4 pm the next day that she was not around following which they made the report to the police, leading to an extensive search by officials. 

NOW: search teams are back out this morning in the Dominican Republic searching for Sudiksha Konanki, the University of Pittsburg student who went missing in Punta Cana while on spring break with friends @WLWT pic.twitter.com/O6wcuXOtb0

— Rachel Hirschheimer (@rhirschheimer) March 11, 2025

The FBI has also joined the search for Konanki on Tuesday and the police officials said that they are re-interviewing people who were with her before she went missing. Authorities are searching on land as well as water for any signs of the victim and more than 300 people are presently involved in the extensive search.