Joshua Riibe's chilling 6 words as man last seen with missing Sudiksha Konanki speaks out for 1st time – The Mirror US
A man named a "person of interest" in the disappearance of University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki in the Dominican Republic has spoken out for the first time.
Joshua Riibe, who is believed to have been the last person to have seen Sudiksha, 20, was spotted on Sunday at the Punta Cana beach she vanished on earlier this month during a spring break trip. He was seen pointing out toward the sea as a group of security officials kept people away from the area, NBC reports.
The 22-year-old from Rock Rapids, Iowa, told the outlet: “The ocean is a dangerous place" as he insisted: “I’m just trying to help them out." Sudiksha was last seen at around 4.15am on March 6 heading to the beach with a group of friends.
Surveillance cameras showed her arm-in-arm with a man believed to be Riibe. Her friends were later captured leaving the beach as Riibe remained behind alone with Sudiksha.
Cameras then captured him returning to his hotel room without her. Sudiksha was reported missing by her friends at around 4pm, 12 hours after she was last seen. Riibe has not been named a suspect or accused of any crime in the case by Dominican authorities but has been named a "person of interest" by the sheriff's office in Loudoun County, Virginia, where Sudiksha's family lives.
On Friday, his passport was confiscated by Dominican authorities as part of the investigation, his attorneys said. Riibe “has been confined to the hotel since the investigation began. He is permanently escorted by the police anywhere he goes. So no, he is not free to leave,” the law firm representing him told NBC.
Riibe has allegedly told conflicting versions of what happened during interviews by authorities and has refused to answer several questions. However, he provided a detailed account during an interview with local investigators last week as he said he was on the beach with Sudiksha shortly before she disappeared.
He claimed the pair had been "in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little," before a wave crashed into them, taking them both "out to sea". Telling investigators that he used to work as a lifeguard, Riibe described attempting to save Sudiksha but said that he "swallowed a lot of water".
Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, claimed he got her back to shore before she vanished and thought she'd left the beach. Recalling his final moments with her, he said: "When I finally reached the ground on the beach, I held her in front of me.
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"She wasn't out of the water, she was knee-deep and walking at an angle out the water… The last time I saw her, I asked if she was okay. I didn't hear her reply because I started vomiting all the water I had swallowed.
"After vomiting, I looked around. I didn't see anyone. I thought she had grabbed her things and left." He said he was shocked to later learn she was missing.
Dominican authorities have said they believe Sudiksha drowned. Regional Red Cross Director Fernando Placeres said Sunday that he had no information about whether a body had been found.
