Male friend of missing University of Pittsburgh student under investigation

The search for 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, who vanished from a five-star resort in the Dominican Republic, is intensifying as police reveal a male friend she was with is currently under investigation. 

According to La Policia Nacional, the country’s national police force, Konanki was last seen entering the beach early Thursday morning at the Riu Republica Resort in Punta Cana. 

It is unclear who the “young man” is, but police said he was in the water at the same beach, and they were questioning him in an attempt to corroborate his version of events, according to a translation of a Spanish-language statement.

Konanki, who was born in India but is a legal permanent U.S. resident from Virginia, was on a spring break trip with five female classmates, authorities said previously.

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She arrived on March 3 and was last seen around 4:15 a.m. on March 6, on surveillance video, headed onto the beach with her friends, according to local police. 

Dominican news outlet El Nacional reported that Joshua Steven Ribe, a 24-year-old tourist from Iowa, was the last person to see Konanki alive. 

Ribe, who was also a guest at the same resort, reportedly told police several different versions of what happened. 

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Local outlet Noticias SIN reported that Ribe told police he entered the water with Konanki, but the rough surf made him sick so he went back to shore, leaving Konanki in the water.

In another version, he said he felt sick and left Konanki in knee-deep water before he passed out on the beach.

Lastly, according to reporting from Noticias SIN, Ribe claimed he saw Konanki walking on the beach before he fell asleep on the beach.

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It is unclear if Ribe is the male friend that police said is under investigation. 

Local media also reported that Konanki’s clothes were found on the beach.

Her whereabouts remain unknown, but ABC News reported Monday that she may have drowned, citing law enforcement sources.

As the search for Konanki intensifies, INTERPOL is being asked to help. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia has requested a worldwide police alert – known as a Yellow Notice – for missing persons, according to reporting by CBS News. 

Konanki is 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a brown bikini, hoop earrings, bracelets and an anklet.