The “person of interest” in the disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki, the 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student who went missing in the early hours of March 6 during spring break in the Dominican Republic, claims he saved them both from drowning before she ultimately vanished.
Joshua Riibe, a 22-year-old Iowa native, told prosecutors during a fourth interview this week that he and Konanki were on the beach when they got swept out to sea by a dangerous wave, reported CNN, citing Dominican news agency Noticias SIN.
Riibe recounted the “difficult” time he had after the pair were overcome by the wave and Konanki struggled to keep swimming.
“It took me a long time to get her out,” Riibe reportedly said, noting he had previous experience as a lifeguard but only worked at pools. “I was trying to get her to breathe the whole time. That didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water.”
Riibe said he eventually managed to get them back to the safety of the shore, then “never saw” Konanki again.
“I asked if she was OK [but] I didn’t hear her answer because I started vomiting up all the seawater I had swallowed,” he recalled. “After vomiting, I looked around, and I didn’t see anyone. I thought she had grabbed her things and left.”
Noting he “felt very sick and tired,” Riibe said he fell asleep on a beach chair and only learned the next day that Konanki never made it back to her hotel room.
Both Riibe and Konanki were separately vacationing with friends and staying at the Riu República Hotel in Punta Cana. The two groups met and went to a bar together, where they were drinking into the early hours of March 6 until “someone suggested we go to the beach,” Riibe said.
Konanki was last seen on surveillance footage entering the beach near the hotel around 4:15 a.m., Dominican officials previously said. She was seen with seven others, her five female friends and two men. The footage shows the other women and one of the men leaving the beach just before 5 a.m.
While Riibe has been confirmed a person of interest, authorities note he is not considered a suspect and has not been charged with any crimes. Konanki’s friends have also been questioned but not charged.
A member of a civil defense canine unit searches for Sudiksha Konanki, a university student from the U.S. who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Monday. (AP Photo/Francesco Spotorno)
Riibe, citing the advice of his lawyer, reportedly refused to answer eight questions during his interview with law enforcement, according to Noticias SIN. Those questions included how authorities can verify the truth of his statement, what he thinks about Konanki’s disappearance, whether she knew how to swim, whether she screamed while in the water or whether he informed authorities or the hotel about the near-drowning.
Officials in Loudoun County, Va., where Konanki is from, have cautioned the public against “drawing any unsubstantiated conclusions.”
Her family has asked Dominican authorities to investigate all possibilities, “including whether this is a case of kidnapping or human trafficking,” her father told CNN.