By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-12 12:17:06 | Updated at 2025-03-12 16:20:54
4 hours ago
A hulking wrestler has been named a person of interest in the mysterious disappearance of a US student in the Dominican Republic.
Joshua Riibe, 24, is being probed by Loudon County Sheriff's Office in Virginia after Sudiksha Konacki, 20, vanished March 6 during a break in Punta Cana.
The sheriff's office said: 'This is not at this time a criminal case, which would be different.'
Riibe is not considered a suspect by authorities in the Dominican Republic, with officials there saying they believe Konacki likely drowned.
A source close to the investigation told DailyMail.com that Riibe, 24, a former high school wrestler, was ‘being cooperative’. He is still in Punta Cana but is not currently considered a suspect by local authorities.
Dominican authorities are currently in possession of his passport however there is nothing to stop him lawfully retrieving it and flying back to the US, the source explained.
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, disappeared from a five-star resort in Punta Cana on Thursday while on Spring Break from the University of Pittsburgh
The mystery hunk seen with his arm draped around missing spring breaker Sudiksha Konanki on the morning she vanished has been named by police sources as American Joshua Steven Riibe
Joshua Riibe, a 24-year-old tourist from Iowa, was seen talking to law enforcement at beach next to the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on Monday
It’s believed that investigators also have the American man’s phone but are waiting for legal authorization to examine the device.
Riibe and Konanki were seen striding towards the beach together at around 4am on March 6.
They were part of a larger group of her friends. At 5:55 am, the others went back to their rooms, leaving Riibe and Sudiksha on the beach.
Riibe told investigators he and Konanki went into the water and were swept by a wave.
He also told investigators that he eventually fell asleep at the beach before he woke up and walked back to his room.
Security cameras reportedly picked up Riibe, barefooted and without his shirt, as he slowly walked back to his room at 8:54 am - around four hours after he went to the beach with Konanki.
A source with knowledge of the investigation says Konanki's friends left the hotel for an excursion in the morning, and returned at 4pm.
That's when they noticed she was missing and alerted the authorities.
When contacted by Daily Mail, Riibe's relatives described him as a 'good kid' who focuses on his studies.
He lives in Rock Rapids, Iowa, and is a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.
The US State Department is working with the Indian embassy in the Dominican Republic, which has taken the lead in the investigation as Konanki is an Indian citizen who was a permanent resident of the United States.
While authorities suspect the likeliest scenario is that she drowned in the rough conditions, her family are urging them to consider other lines of inquiry until and unless her body washes ashore.
'It's four days, and if she was in water, she would likely have been strewn to shore,' her father Subbarayudu Konanki said in his complaint.
'She's not found, so we're asking them to investigate multiple options, like kidnapping or abduction.'
