What was meant to be a fun getaway with friends took a dark turn when Sudiksha Konanki, 22, went missing on March 6, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic during spring break with a group of friends. When news broke out, the public felt something dark happened to her, pointing the finger to her friends or someone who saw her last on that day.
Sudiksha Konanki was a University of Pittsburgh student, she was in the South Asian fusion a cappella group Avaaz at college. The timeline of Sudiksha’s disappearance: On March 3rd, was the first day in Punta Cana for Sudiksha, where she’s with five friends. There was a power outage at the resort hotel, Sudiksha was staying at, on March 5th. But March 6th was the day where everything changed. At 2 am, Sudiksha was seen on camera with friends walking to a nightclub, then at 4:15 am, the group went for a walk on the beach. However, the group went back to the hotel at 5:55 am, while Sudiksha stayed with one man who was later identified as Joshua Riibe, a 20 year old college senior in Minnesota, on the beach and went for a swim. At 9:55 am, Joshua was on surveillance leaving the beach. Later that same day at 4 pm, the group reported Sudiksha missing.
The search for Sudkisha was massive, with a team of officials on land and on water. Authorities were treating this case as an accident, believing Sudiksha died from drowning. Most of the public named him as a suspect, but Authorities didn’t see him that way, saying that Joshua is cooperating and being questioned as a witness. Joshua was questioned by a prosecutor on March 13, stating he and Sudiksha were hit by a huge wave which caused them to be pulled into a tide, he saved Sudiksha from drowning, while he was swallowing lots of ocean water, which made him vomit once they reached the sand. In his words,”The last time I saw her, I asked her if she was OK. I didn’t hear her response because I began to vomit with all the water I had swallowed,” he said. “After vomiting, I looked around and I didn’t see anyone. I thought she had taken her things and left.” Joshua then passed out on a beach chair, and was woken up the next day by mosquitoes biting him.
On March 17, Sudiksha’s parents came out with a request to Dominican Republic officials to declare their daughter dead. In the letter, they understood the legal procedures among this request, but was ready to give any necessary documents.
Even though Sudiksha is gone, she will always be remembered by her loved ones. Her case brought awareness for many women on social media, to always be cautious traveling out of state or who you call your “friend.”
