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

[Himako14]

Drowning is more common that we think. I have heard of people drowning in the lakes or rivers that they knew well. Swimming in an ocean is dangerous; much more so, when people are drunk and it is night.

SBM but this!

The ocean is already a dangerous place to be swimming. When you add in alcohol, night and darkness, currents, and possible inexperience in ocean swimming, it turns into a nightmare. I also keep reading this resort has a reef, which means coral. A sharp piece of coral can cut a person.

Also as someone who has experienced drowning, you can be confused in the day or two after it. Not saying all do, but I did.

JMO MOO

 

[Cryptic]

For example, I know what it means to ghost someone and I know the Spanish word for ghost, but I'd need to look up how a native Spanish speaker would phrase it.

That is an excellent example.

I also have no idea how to culturally translate "ghost someone" in Spanish. Nor can I say "texts" in cultural Spanish.

Off the top of my head, I would translate "ghosting" as: El commencaba rehusar responder a los mensages escritos cellulares. / He started refusing to reply to the written cellular messages.

Technically ok in a literal sense. But too formal and clearly not cultural. My best effort would resemble the Dominican translator's best effort of: "He gathered his possessions from the beach". Except the Dominican's effort is less stilted than mine and works better.

 

[Warwick7]

"Loudoun County detectives traveled to the Dominican Republic to question the young man last Thursday, and have since returned to the U.S., according to the sheriff’s office."

Search for missing Loudoun Co. student widens as family of person of interest expresses sorrow - WTOP News

Eleven days after the disappearance of Virginia resident Sudiksha Konanki, the search for her continues and the person believed to be the last to see her will be questioned.

wtop.com

 

[JTribley]

.

I am a normal swimmer, and yet i once almost drowned in the sea because a wave covered me and dragged back. Getting water inside your mouth and lungs is serious, and what was concerning was that adults around me didn't notice that I was drowning as they were frolicking in the waves, so I had to wrestle with the sea. I lost my swimming cap.

Drowning is more common that we think. I have heard of people drowning in the lakes or rivers that they knew well. Swimming in an ocean is dangerous; much more so, when people are drunk and it is night.

The situation sounds even more sad because they both had friends, and it was a resort. Perhaps everyone was drunk around them.

This is the situation when everyone has to do some soul-searching. To the resort and the DR where legal age for drinking is 18: if there is an accident leading to no light/water, people will probably be drinking more and be driven to the sea because swimming pools are closed. Perhaps a guard on the beach could have helped? Don't overestimate people's reasoning when they are young and drunk. They won't see the red signs. What will inevitably happen now is loss in tourism.

I totally agree with this, it is so easy to drown. In tourism myself in Jamaica, and I can only say that our large all inclusive properties especially (like RIU) all have “night security watchmen” - their ONLY job at night is to walk the beaches (apart from the obvious gate security checks incoming) for anyone coming in from the sea, and for anyone wanting to walk in and take advantage of the all inclusive food and beverage (meaning NON guests.) At any hour of the night, there will be one to two security “watchmen” walking the beach. As well as if, anything should go wrong, they would call the Manager on Duty which larger properties especially have on schedule all night.

 

[pukasonqo2]

Thanks for the support. That is an excellent example.

I also have no idea how to culturally translate "ghost someone" in Spanish. I cant even say "texts" in cultural Spanish.

Off the top of my head, I would say: El commencaba rehusar responder a los mensages escritos cellulares. -or- He started refusing to reply to the written cellular messages.

Technically ok. But way too formal, not cultural and not truly catching the meaning.

I am a native Spanish speaker but being living in Australia for 30 yrs
The translation you use as an example would be: (el) se negó a contestar a sus textos/mensajes
I haven’t been able to find a direct translation of ghosting either, might ask my niece back home

Back to Sudiksha, I can’t imagine what her parents are going through; I did some reckless stuff back in my day and it wasn’t until I had kids myself that I understood my parents

 

[Cyber sleuth]

SBM but this!

The ocean is already a dangerous place to be swimming. When you add in alcohol, night and darkness, currents, and possible inexperience in ocean swimming, it turns into a nightmare. I also keep reading this resort has a reef, which means coral. A sharp piece of coral can cut a person.

Also as someone who has experienced drowning, you can be confused in the day or two after it. Not saying all do, but I did.

JMO MOO

I think that confusion could be expected but if you had witnesses a romantic partner/ friend drowning, wouldn’t you remember? How long do you think it would take you to alert for help?
I just have issue with him account of massive confusion and sleeping. No witnesses to him sleeping. His behavior after leaving the beach, not reporting her drowning to anyone. His behavior upon finding out she was missing was “surprised” per the reporting. Him going back to sleep after retuning to the hotel.
He is sober enough to remember details leading up to her disappearance then things get hazy. He claims he saw her leaving to gather her clothes. But she obviously didn’t.
She disappeared between 5-630 am and he was with her. He’s not a baby he’s a grown adult and a large strong one at that with lifeguard training and extensive wrestling background.
I think he knows what happened to her and IMO he isn’t being 100% truthful. Without her discovery we may never truly know and with each passing day evidence could be destroyed.
AMO

 

[amo124]

Personally, I think he was so drunk he does not really remember everything. Maybe he remembers snippets of things but not a detailed account of what happened.

 

[minazoe]

black out drunk...there is a small chance that someone nabbed her on the way back to the hotel...they need to recreate in order to see where they could take her and be concealed from camera's etc.
if there are no working cameras in that area then they need to find out how it could have happened if she was abducted and re-search that hotel...and once again how do we know they were always on that beach? what if her body is in the hotel? I know I keep saying this but it sounds like the whole resort was in chaos and the hotel is ginormous. mOO

 

[Curiousobserver]

Personally, I think he was so drunk he does not really remember everything. Maybe he remembers snippets of things but not a detailed account of what happened.

And it appears he passed out for a couple of hours. She could have gone anywhere in that time, including back in the water. I fear we are never going to know for sure.

 

[Warwick7]

A statement from the chief prosecutor is expected tomorrow.

St. Cloud State student's passport held amid questioning into missing woman in Punta Cana

22-year-old Joshua Riibe is believed to be the last person to have seen University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki before she went missing nearly 10 days ago.

kstp.com

Does anyone have a time on this??

 

[arielilane]

@CStewartNews


Statement from "Friends of Joshua Riibe Family" posted on the Lyons County Iowa Sheriff's page in support of the "person of interest" in Sudiksha Konanki missing person case in the Dominican Republic.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1901652487595024405

 

[Himako14]

I think that confusion could be expected but if you had witnesses a romantic partner/ friend drowning, wouldn’t you remember? How long do you think it would take you to alert for help?
I just have issue with him account of massive confusion and sleeping. No witnesses to him sleeping. His behavior after leaving the beach, not reporting her drowning to anyone. His behavior upon finding out she was missing was “surprised” per the reporting. Him going back to sleep after retuning to the hotel.
He is sober enough to remember details leading up to her disappearance then things get hazy. He claims he saw her leaving to gather her clothes. But she obviously didn’t.
She disappeared between 5-630 am and he was with her. He’s not a baby he’s a grown adult and a large strong one at that with lifeguard training and extensive wrestling background.
I think he knows what happened to her and IMO he isn’t being 100% truthful. Without her discovery we may never truly know and with each passing day evidence could be destroyed.
AMO

It’s possible he had a hallucination and thought he saw her. If he thought he saw her out of the water, why report a drowning? It would explain some of his behavior.

As for the lifeguard experience, my assumption is that he was a pool lifeguard. Open water life guarding is a bit different. That being said I know one old technique about rescuing that may make sense, like early 90s. If someone is struggling too much and drowning you in the process, some old lifeguards would push the drowning person’s head under the water to shook them. If he was drunk and knew it that could have happened.

JMO

 

[nightowl2728]

I think that confusion could be expected but if you had witnesses a romantic partner/ friend drowning, wouldn’t you remember? How long do you think it would take you to alert for help?
I just have issue with him account of massive confusion and sleeping. No witnesses to him sleeping. His behavior after leaving the beach, not reporting her drowning to anyone. His behavior upon finding out she was missing was “surprised” per the reporting. Him going back to sleep after retuning to the hotel.
He is sober enough to remember details leading up to her disappearance then things get hazy. He claims he saw her leaving to gather her clothes. But she obviously didn’t.
She disappeared between 5-630 am and he was with her. He’s not a baby he’s a grown adult and a large strong one at that with lifeguard training and extensive wrestling background.
I think he knows what happened to her and IMO he isn’t being 100% truthful. Without her discovery we may never truly know and with each passing day evidence could be destroyed.
AMO

I agree, it just doesn't make sense to me that you experience a life or death experience with someone (someone that you at least kissed) and then don't check up on them after not knowing what happened. He was in such awful condition from the water that he puked and passed out, but he assumes she just walked back to the hotel and was fine? Doesn't think to check if her clothes are still there?

My guess at this point, unless it's something much more nefarious, is that they either hooked up before going in the water or he was hoping they would after, the water was more rough than they expected due to their poor judgement from being drunk, and she got swept out. He's probably a stronger swimmer based on his lifeguarding experience. Maybe he attempted to save her, but realized he may die trying to, and saved himself. Passed out on the beach from mental and physical exertion, woke up a bit later in a panic realizing what happened... maybe tried to wait for her/look for her by the water. Realized she was gone. Was consumed by guilt of letting a woman he just hooked up with drown. In shock.

Stumbles back to the hotel hung over. Falls asleep and is too selfish or dumb to alert anyone to look for her. Feels guilty knowing he saved himself and not her. Hoping maybe she turns up, not letting himself think of the worst. He's just a spring breaker from Iowa that got caught up in a tragedy. There's nothing he thinks he can do now, but his ego and self preservationist thinking tells him not to tell anyone he saw her drown (maybe just the hotel roommate, but he won't tell LE what he told the roommate). Obviously the dumbest thing he can do, but he's still in shock.

The situation spirals out of control and here we are... that explains some gaps in his statements to LE... he's never going to admit he watched her drown and didn't tell anyone

EDIT: But I think that's what LE wants, so they can tell her family she drowned, and wasn't kidnapped, etc. He would probably just just charged with lying to LE, not murder

All MOO/speculation

 

[Mica]

black out drunk...there is a small chance that someone nabbed her on the way back to the hotel...they need to recreate in order to see where they could take her and be concealed from camera's etc.
if there are no working cameras in that area then they need to find out how it could have happened if she was abducted and re-search that hotel...and once again how do we know they were always on that beach? what if her body is in the hotel? I know I keep saying this but it sounds like the whole resort was in chaos and the hotel is ginormous. mOO

Here’s an older photo of the RIU Republica Resort. To the left of the photo appears to be a road. If it is indeed a road, and it is still there today, it would be an easy access point for somebody to remove SK from the area.

 

[minazoe]

Here’s an older photo of the RIU Republica Resort. To the left of the photo appears to be a road. If it is indeed a road, and it is still there today, it would be an easy access point for somebody to remove SK from the area.

looks like there are multiple ways to enter and exit the property and all the buildings.

 

[Dee10]

This came out this morning on CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/us/sudiksha-konanki-missing-student-punta-cana-monday/index.html

"Punta Cana, Dominican RepublicCNN —
Authorities in the Dominican Republic have confiscated the passport of the man who is the last person known to have been with missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, according to a source close to the investigation.

Dominican Republic Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso interviewed the man, Joshua Steven Riibe, over the weekend for more than six hours and the questioning is expected to continue Monday with a local prosecutor, the source said."

 

[Hanoi2009]

So, I am really, really pale and despite being half Italian, lack all ability to tan—when details about JR passing out for four hours on the beach at sunrise started to come out, along with the release of images of him from hotel CCTV returning from the beach alone, my knee jerk reaction was to think about how badly this moderately pale kid from Iowa must have gotten sunburned. I don’t mean to come across as callous: I am routinely stopped by well intentioned strangers on sunny days who offer an unsolicited caution that I put on sunscreen, so UV radiation risk is just a part of my day to day.

So it seemed easy, in my mind, to be able to corroborate or refute his claim that he was unconscious for four hours on a beach lounge, because he would either have a sunburn consistent with the position he passed out in, or he wouldn’t.

There are so many sources making reports on this story (many major news outlets in the US still misreport his age as being 24) and I wasn’t there in person to inspect his body for sunburn severity and distribution, but I was able, fairly quickly, to find at least one article in which the reporter described JR (sort of offhandedly) as being very sunburned.

To another good point you probed, I came across testimonials of people who had vacationed at the hotel in question and one theme that came up more than once related to beach safety had to do with the party culture promoted by the hotel. Certain features of the hotel policies and entertainment culture, were cited among other reasons for making this beach dangerous. Something about plying spring breakers with alcohol on a beach with no lifeguard, is the way my brain paraphrased it and stored it away.

In recent days, even after the disappearance of SK, reports have stated that the wild and crowded atmosphere on the beach at that hotel has continued without any real abatement.

There are no lifeguards on duty at that beach and unfortunately, I suspect that signs that someone on the beach has become deeply inebriated or passed out, mst often do not attract attention in a way that increases safety on the beach for everyone.

I wanted to reply to this in part to bump the questions you are asking because I would love to find out the answers and I think the questions are important

I also wondered about the sunburn! Was wondering how strong the sun would be at that time of day and if he was passed out in the shade and/or under some palapa or cover of some kind.

 

[Hanoi2009]

I’m a little disgusted about the fact that Josh is being held in Punta Cana 10 days later.
Has his family not contacted the US Embassy in the DR to get assistance?
Both Josh and Sudishka had their arms wrapped around each other when walking to the beach and both were very obviously intoxicated and inebriated. They are both weaving during their walk on recorded video. They both are shown throwing up outside of the bar.
Josh experienced a traumatic event and he experienced some amount of shock over the situation and was also “blacked out” during part of the aftermath.

I had a wallet stolen when traveling and played the event over and over in my mind trying to figure out when it happened- when it was grabbed from my purse. I reported the theft at the police station.
It was literally weeks later when I remembered being knocked into in the store by a sales lady. It finally dawned on me exactly who took my wallet and when.
I had tried so hard to pinpoint it at the time but I think the shock of being robbed stopped me from being able to unlock the mystery. Only weeks later did my mind remember being bumped into and exactly who reached for my wallet and when.

If there is any revelation Josh is going to have it could be weeks away or it may never come to his mind.
Needless to say he will be forever haunted and tormented by this terribly sad situation.

I don’t think holding him in the DR is doing any good and I think it is bordering on very unjust and unacceptable. He has now missed a week of his college classes and has been repeatedly questioned and very likely harassed excessively.
If he is criminally charged later the US will allow him to be extradited.
I’m very sure this will never happen.
I think he is completely innocent of any criminality in this case.
I would be incensed if this was my son or male relative being held in these circumstances.

All IMHO

Yes! Most states can hold you for about 48 hours but then have to charge you or release you. I get that this is international, but what more can he tell them? With no body and no evidence to refute his story, I think he should be allowed to leave. He stayed voluntarily to help, but I don't think there is any more to be said at this point. Interviewing him for six more hours? After all these days? Strange. JMO

 

[Hanoi2009]

See the photo showing JR's back in this NY post article and then compare the color of his back to the color of his legs:

Last person to see missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki speaks out as DR seizes his passport

The Iowa native says he has been cooperating with authorities as they continue the search for the 20-year-old Indian national.

nypost.com

View attachment 571514

Every time I have seen this, I thought it was a red shirt with a white logo on the back!!

 

[NoeticSoul]

This came out this morning on CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/us/sudiksha-konanki-missing-student-punta-cana-monday/index.html

"Punta Cana, Dominican RepublicCNN —
Authorities in the Dominican Republic have confiscated the passport of the man who is the last person known to have been with missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, according to a source close to the investigation.

Dominican Republic Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso interviewed the man, Joshua Steven Riibe, over the weekend for more than six hours and the questioning is expected to continue Monday with a local prosecutor, the source said."

Yikes. Hope he has a good attorney there. I feel bad for the kid if he really didn't do anything nefarious and is telling different tales out of shame and/or embarrassment that he saved himself and not her, and of his drunkenness. imo