The Disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki

Name: Sudiksha Konanki
Age: 20 years old
Last Seen: March 6, 2025
Location: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Status: Still missing

Case Information

20 year old Sudiksha Konanki was last seen in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on March 6, 2025. Surveillance footage last captured her walking toward the beach at 4:15am.

Background

Sudiksha Konanki was born on December 13, 2004, to parents Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki. A permanent US residence since 2006, she lived in South Riding, Virginia.

She graduated from Northern Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, and was studying pre-med at the University of Pittsburgh at the time of her disappearance.

Disappearance

On March 3, 2025, Sudishka Konanki arrived in Punta Canta, Dominican Republic with five other female students from the University of Pittsburgh. They were staying at the RIU Republica Hotel.

Around 3:00 am on March 6, 2025, Konanki and her friends met with two male students, including 22 year Joshua Riibe from Iowa. The two friend groups went to the bar together and drank until someone suggested they go to the beach. 

At 4:15 am on March 6, 2025, surveillance footage from the hotel captured the group, with Konanki walking arm-in-arm with Joshua Riibe, heading towards the beach.

Around 5:00 am, surveillance footage shows five women and one man leaving the beach. Riibe told authorities he and Konanki stayed, and that they were in knee-deep water when large wave swept her further out to sea.

He says he was able to rescue her, but lost track of where she went because he was vomiting and passed out. Konanki hasn’t been seen since.

“The last time I saw her, I asked if she was OK. I didn’t hear her answer because I started vomiting all the seawater I’d swallowed. After vomiting, I looked around and didn’t see anyone. I thought she’d grabbed her things and left. I felt really bad and tired. I lay down on a beach chair and fell asleep because I couldn’t go far. Then I woke up because of the sun and mosquito bites. I went to my friend’s room to get my phone, and then I went to my room to sleep,” Riibe told investigators.

Surveillance footage shows Riibe leaving the beach at 8:55 am.

Riibe says he learned the next morning that she was missing, after a friend asked if he had seen her. She was officially reported missing by her friends around 4:00 pm.

Investigation

Konanki’s clothes were discovered on a portable beach bed close to the area on the beach where she went missing.

Law enforcement in the Dominican Republic consider Riibe a witness, not a suspect. They believe Konanki drowned, and that no evidence of foul play has been found. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office calls Riibe a person of interest.

On March 19, 2025, a judge in the Dominican Republic granted a request to free Joshua Riibe. Riibe’s passport had been confiscated, and he had been kept in a hotel under police watch since Konanki disappeared.

He received an emergency passport the next day and immediately left the island with a friend.

Officials said Konanki’s friends who were with her around the time of her disappearance were questioned by police and have not been charged with any crimes.

On March 18, 2025, Konanki’s parents asked police in the Dominican Republic to proceed with the legal declaration of her death.

In the Dominican Republic police don’t generally declare someone deceased without finding their body or evidence of a crime. In this case they have neither. The Civil Code of the Dominican Republic, specifically the provisions set forth between Articles 112 and 140, establishes that a declaration of “legal absence” may be sought only after a period of four years of disappearance.

The Loudon County Sherriff’s Office released the following statement on March 18, 2025;

Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned. While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible as we continue to review the evidence and information made available to us in the course of this investigation.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office is offering support to Konanki’s family through their Victim Advocate Unit to help them navigate the process of establishing grounds for presumption of death and following judicial procedure.

The state of Virginia’s code says 7 years need to pass before a missing person is presumed dead. It also states if a person disappears in a foreign country and the body is not found, then the Department of State can issue a report of presumptive death.

On June 10, 2025, Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman asked for Dominican Republic authorities to share all the evidence they have in Konanki’s case. Chapman says there is still important data that has not been shared with them by authorities, including a review of Riibe’s cell phone and any text messages he may have sent after Konanki’s disappearance. 

Appearance

Sudiksha has black hair, brown eyes, and stands 5’3 tall.

Clothing & Accessories:
She was last seen wearing a brown bikini, big round earrings, a metal designer anklet on her right leg, yellow and steel bracelets on her right hand, and a multicolored beaded bracelet on her left hand. 

Resources & Further Information

The Disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki – Wikipedia
Tequila, A Big Wave, and A Missing Student: What Spring Breaker Told Police – NBC Washington
The Best Way to Honor Sudiksha Konanki Is To Rethink College Party Cultuer – Daily Tar Heel
LCSO Update On Sudishka Konanki Case – Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office
Why The Parents of Missing University Pittsburgh Student Sudiksha Konanki Want Their Daughter Declared Dead – CNN
Judge Grants Freedom Request For Last Person Seen With Missing US Student Sudiksha Konanki in Dominican Republic – CNN
Virginia Sheriff Requests Evidenc From Sudiksha Konanki Case – News Nation
Attorney Explains Why Family of Missing Pitt Student Sudiksha Konanki Would Want Her Declared Dead – CBS News