The Iowa man previously named as a person of interest in the disappearance of Pittsburg university student Sudiksha Konanki faced another obstacle on his way home because his newly issued U.S. passport lacked the proper stamp. Joshua Riibe, 22, was detained in Puerto Rico during a stopover late Wednesday, according to NotiCentro.
Video footage captured his father, Albert, urging him to "Ask for your lawyer!" It was unclear how long Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) detained the returning traveler at Luis Muñoz Marín Airport. Riibe was questioned because his newly issued passport—provided by the U.S. Consulate in the Dominican Republic to expedite his departure—was missing the required exit stamp.
Yet Another Roadblock
Frustrated by yet another delay in bringing his son home, Riibe's father lashed out at reporters at the airport, telling them, "Leave us alone," NotiCentro reported. "I'm just a dad, who had his son taken away, and I don't understand, we just spent two weeks trying to stay together, and now ... I don't understand," he complained.
Riibe was preparing to return to Rock Rapids, Iowa, after spending two weeks being questioned about the disappearance of Konanki, a 20-year-old pre-med student. He was the last person seen with her during an early morning swim in rough waters at the RIU Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana on March 6.
He told authorities that he had pulled Konanki to safety but then, in a drunken state, passed out on the beach—after which she was never seen again.
While officials labeled him a person of interest, they never charged him with any wrongdoing or identified him as a suspect. However, they still confiscated his passport and phone.
During a tense court hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors pushed back against claims that Riibe was being unlawfully detained, despite objections from his legal team.
No More Hassles
Judge Edwin Delgado approved Riibe's request to be released from police monitoring, permitting him to leave the resort while still preventing him from leaving the island. On Wednesday, he boarded a flight back to the U.S. and is now on his way back to his hometown of Rock Rapids.
This came after the heartbroken parents of Konanki on Tuesday that they now believe she drowned during her spring break trip to the Dominican Republic. Konanki's parents who spoke to The New York Post on Tuesday said that they don't suspect any foul play in their daughter's death.
"Both sides of the authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides of the authorities have clarified the person of interest was not a suspect from the beginning," Subbarayudu Konanki, the missing coed's father, said from the family home in Virginia, as the search for her body continues.
Konanki's parents had initially pushed for Dominican authorities to widen their investigation into her disappearance and consider the possibility of foul play. The pre-med student from the University of Pittsburgh had checked into the upscale RIU Hotel & Resort on March 3 for spring break but went missing on March 6 following a late-night swim with Riibe.
