DR, Sudiksha Konanki, 20, Punta Cana, 6 March 2025 #2

[TheTeachNeedsTheLearnTho]

IMO this story has made it clear how people are wrongfully convicted and how fast people are to assign guilt with 0 evidence. Kind of mind blowing imo

There was definitely a period of time, right after the highest ranking Member of the DR Government released that statement where he seemed to dig his heels in regarding the status of the DR as a safe destination for tourism. All the sudden I did wonder at the potential incentive for Joshua Riibe to be found culpable, in some way and understood that there could be a political motivation to drag their feet in making his departure easy. I don’t want to imply that the DR deserves stigma. MOO

 

[TheTeachNeedsTheLearnTho]

Sorry for using this channel for a stupid question, but do y’all know how to contact moderators? Don’t worry, only had a question about my own posts

 

[Cryptic]

IMO this story has made it clear how people are wrongfully convicted and how fast people are to assign guilt with 0 evidence. Kind of mind blowing imo

Questioning his changing story (possible due to alcohol, possible due to, well, something else) is not "assigning guilt".

Two things are equally detrimental to a legal system:

1. Assigning guilt simply based on a fragmented oral testimony.

2. Operating under a philosophy: "No physical evidence of foul play? Then you can never question the husband's, boyfriend's hook up's fragmented oral claims- ever"

 

[TheTeachNeedsTheLearnTho]

He was detained not arrested

Really? I guess that makes more sense. JMO Thanks for clarifying

 

[Charlot123]

*Arresting him for being on the beach with a peer, both intoxicated seems absurd to me. It's tragic, but we have no evidence of a crime. They both used poor judgment drinking and going to the water, sure. But their friends were all drunk and near water, and so do countless young, and not so young, people every year. If something turns up to show foul play and/or to implicate him, OK, different story.

Now that he is home and not arrested which is right…the question whether he was that drunk and why he didn’t ask for help still stays. I don’t think we have enough information to accuse him. But I think the public will always have questions.

As always, I hope Sudiksha’s body will be found and best of support to her family and relatives.

 

[SMK777]

Joshua Riibe, last to see missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki alive, ‘resting up’ at Iowa home — with plans for returning to school unclear

Joshua Riibe, last to see missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki alive, ‘resting up’ at Iowa home — with plans for returning to school unclear

“It was a really sad situation. Josh is resting up right now,” his mother said Saturday.

nypost.com

 

[Sundog]

Joshua Riibe, last to see missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki alive, ‘resting up’ at Iowa home — with plans for returning to school unclear

Joshua Riibe, last to see missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki alive, ‘resting up’ at Iowa home — with plans for returning to school unclear

“It was a really sad situation. Josh is resting up right now,” his mother said Saturday.

nypost.com

I hope he is able to return to complete his studies at St. Cloud. He is a senior, IIRC, and this is likely his last semester. Perhaps the university can work with him to complete most of his work from off-campus. And maybe anything that needs to be done in person can be completed over the summer semester if needed, so that by then there is less focus on him by the media.

 

[SMK777]

I hope he is able to return to complete his studies at St. Cloud. He is a senior, IIRC, and this is likely his last semester. Perhaps the university can work with him to complete most of his work from off-campus. And maybe anything that needs to be done in person can be completed over the summer semester if needed, so that by then there is less focus on him by the media.

Agreed. He's been ruled out as a suspect -- or rather, investigators determined there was no foul play on his part --and needs to be able to move on.

 

[citygirl]

Agreed. He's been ruled out as a suspect -- or rather, investigators determined there was no foul play on his part --and needs to be able to move on.

I really feel for this boy. He’s tarnished guilty or not. OTOH where is this poor girl? Mystified.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

I really feel for this boy. He’s tarnished guilty or not. OTOH where is this poor girl? Mystified.

Hopefully she turns up alive, like that model in Dubai who appeared very much worse for wear on the side of the road. Hopefully not as injured.

 

[SMK777]

I really feel for this boy. He’s tarnished guilty or not. OTOH where is this poor girl? Mystified.

Her parents believe she has drowned and wanted her declared dead, according to the article. Very sad.

He was allowed to leave soon after Konanki’s grieving parents asked Dominican authorities to let him go and to also declare their daughter legally dead, saying they were convinced she drowned even though her body has not been located.

Joshua Riibe, last to see missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki alive, ‘resting up’ at Iowa home — with plans for returning to school unclear

“It was a really sad situation. Josh is resting up right now,” his mother said Saturday.

nypost.com

 

[LittleSeaTree]

Thinking of Sudiksha today, who should be back at school preparing for the last push of classes.




From the article: "Puerto Rican television station WAPA showed Riibe's father, Albert Riibe, shouting, 'Ask for your lawyer,' after he was escorted down a hallway.

'Please, just no comment,' Albert Riibe told a reporter. 'No comment is what I said multiple times and I am pretty sure that means no comment.'


'I'm just a regular human. I don't know how to do this stuff. I am just a dad who had his son taken away and I don't understand,' the exasperated parent added before he stormed off. 'We just spent two weeks trying to stay together and now I don't understand, I just ...'


I hope they are home, supporting each other, and staying off social media. I can't imagine that he will even go back to school. MOO

Sad, but good for him for spelling it out like that, imo

 

[Only4Justice]

I really feel for this boy. He’s tarnished guilty or not. OTOH where is this poor girl? Mystified.

I agree! I keep thinking of her. You would think she would have washed up by now if she drowned.

 

[Ghostwheel]

Sorry for using this channel for a stupid question, but do y’all know how to contact moderators? Don’t worry, only had a question about my own posts

I didn't see a response. The best way is to hit the Report button on one of your posts and state that you have a question and what it is.

 

[Angelcat13]

Now that he is home and not arrested which is right…the question whether he was that drunk and why he didn’t ask for help still stays. I don’t think we have enough information to accuse him. But I think the public will always have questions.

As always, I hope Sudiksha’s body will be found and best of support to her family and relatives.

I think it’s sad - though understandable- that/if “the public will always have questions”. If he is innocent- which it appears that authorities AND her family believe - then the rest of the world should let him be. This - and some counseling and a lot of love - will be what helps keep this young man alive and OK so he has the chance to spread the kindness, forgiveness, etc that was shown to him by Sudishka’s family.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

I really don't know what to make of this case. It seems like a fairly standard case of drowning by misadventure, but several experts seem to be of the belief that her body would have washed ashore by now. What is the shark situation like there? Could she have been eaten, as horrible as that thought is.

I'm leaning towards Riibe being innocent of any act that caused harm or death to Sudiksha. I think it was a case of 2 niave, drunken, young adults not taking precautions to ensure their safety. Feeling invincible, inhibitions down while on holiday, they embarked on a big drinking session which led to bad choices. I don't doubt that his memory is perhaps patchy, with pockets of blackouts, and him not being 100% certain of the events that occurred, or their timeline. I'm sure this will haunt him, the not knowing - or not trusting - his memory of the events and the fact that things may have turned out differently if different choices or actions were chosen. I don't blame either of them, most of us can admit we made stupid choices as young adults, and/or gotten very drunk which left us incredibly vulnerable.

I do hope that this may be a bit of a wake up call to young adults (or anyone for that matter) that binge drinking or getting very drunk can have dire consequences, and to maybe rethink their choices. I fear it won't though.

 

[Charlot123]

I think it’s sad - though understandable- that/if “the public will always have questions”. If he is innocent- which it appears that authorities AND her family believe - then the rest of the world should let him be. This - and some counseling and a lot of love - will be what helps keep this young man alive and OK so he has the chance to spread the kindness, forgiveness, etc that was shown to him by Sudishka’s family.

Practically speaking, the only way there would be no questions remaining is if Sudiksha were found very soon. Currently, if she is found in the water (I wish it), it would be a closure, but likely, not an informative one.

If she is never found, and it is not impossible because an ocean is an ocean, after all, then the questions will remain forever, give or take.

I listened to the experts, those who say that she should have been found and those with more nuanced opinion. JMO: think of this; since March of 2014, the world has been searching for Boeing M370. A huge Boeing 777, a fully loaded plain, with the place of its disappearance approximated. Yet, no such luck. It is the “underwater” factor. So given that the whole world can not find a plane, I imagine how a petite 20-year-old carried by the riptide might never be found, because it is an ocean. It would be horribly unlucky but it can happen.

However, in a way, Riibe has been “let go.” And he owes it to Sudiksha’s family. The fact that they, in their incredible kindness, closed that question for Riibe, let him go and thanked him, means a lot. No lawyer would have been able to do anything had their attitude been different.

I feel that I understand why they did it. Great people, all in all. I don’t know if I would be able to, though.

So my admiration of their moral generosity has no bounds. And I always wish the same for them, that Sudiksha is found.

 

[Lusitana]

Considering the information that has been made public, I don't find any detail about that night weird or suspicious. It sounds like pretty ordinary behaviour for college students of that age, on spring break, and drinking. What happened to her is really sad and could've been avoided if they were a bit more careful, but this happens all the time. Her parents are obviously suffering and it's a shame this happened.

I think he most likely doesn't even know/remember what happened and told the authorities something he thought might have happened, or maybe he remembers a little bit. That was his mistake, he should've just said that he was too drunk and doesn't remember. I bet he's going to think about her and what happened for the rest of his life.

 

[swanniee11]

Sorry for using this channel for a stupid question, but do y’all know how to contact moderators? Don’t worry, only had a question about my own posts

I would report my own post and ask your question

 

[LittleSeaTree]

I really don't know what to make of this case. It seems like a fairly standard case of drowning by misadventure, but several experts seem to be of the belief that her body would have washed ashore by now. What is the shark situation like there? Could she have been eaten, as horrible as that thought is.

I'm leaning towards Riibe being innocent of any act that caused harm or death to Sudiksha. I think it was a case of 2 niave, drunken, young adults not taking precautions to ensure their safety. Feeling invincible, inhibitions down while on holiday, they embarked on a big drinking session which led to bad choices. I don't doubt that his memory is perhaps patchy, with pockets of blackouts, and him not being 100% certain of the events that occurred, or their timeline. I'm sure this will haunt him, the not knowing - or not trusting - his memory of the events and the fact that things may have turned out differently if different choices or actions were chosen. I don't blame either of them, most of us can admit we made stupid choices as young adults, and/or gotten very drunk which left us incredibly vulnerable.

I do hope that this may be a bit of a wake up call to young adults (or anyone for that matter) that binge drinking or getting very drunk can have dire consequences, and to maybe rethink their choices. I fear it won't though.

Well said! Regarding sharks-I was just thinking, though, what about clothing? i.e.: I suppose some would be ingested, sorry to say that of course, but would bits show up ? I guess depends how far out it may have happened if that’s what occurred, ugh. Sorry to say and sorry if someone already has!