The Iowa man who was previously named a person of interest in the case of missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki in the Dominican Republic is returning to the United States. Joshua Riibe, 22, got a new passport from the U.S. consulate on the Caribbean island and is now traveling home with his father after being held there for two weeks, his attorneys said.
Riibe had been pleading with the authorities to be allowed to go back to the US. "The prosecutor's office of La Altagracia informed [Riibe] of their readiness to return his passport," the Dominican law firm of Guzman Ariza said in an email to The New York Post.
Back Home With a New Passport
"While Joshua appreciated this decision, he chose, for privacy reasons, to apply for a new passport at the US Consulate, which was promptly issued. We are pleased to announce that Joshua and his father are currently traveling back to their home in the United States," the email read.
The announcement brings an end to the ordeal for the young St. Cloud State College student, who had been held in the Dominican Republic since March 6, when University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki vanished. The two had gone for an early morning swim in rough waters near the RIU Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana.
Riibe told authorities that he managed to pull Konanki to safety before losing consciousness on the beach—after which she was never seen again.
Authorities considered him a person of interest in the case but never formally named him as a suspect in Konanki's disappearance, even though they 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.
