HIGÜEY, Dominican Republic — A Dominican Republic court is expected to decide Tuesday whether the last person believed to have seen missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki can leave the country and return to the United States.
Authorities think Joshua Riibe, a 22-year-old senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, was the last person seen with Konanki before she went missing early March 6.
The 20-year-old vanished while on a spring break trip with five female friends.
Riibe told the judge that authorities have not allowed him to leave his hotel room without their supervision, including for meals. The Rock Rapids, Iowa, native added that his passport and phone have been confiscated by authorities.
“I cant go anywhere, and I really just want to be able to go home,” Riibe said.
Attorneys for Riibe previously said that since the investigation began, he had been confined to the resort where Konanki had been staying before she disappeared.
The Dominican Republic National Police did not confirm or deny that Riibe’s passport was confiscated or that he was unable to leave the hotel. On Tuesday, prosecutors denied that Riibe was being detained at the hotel.
Riibe said that Konanki’s family met him at the hotel in recent days and described their interactions as positive, saying the family hugged him goodbye when they left the resort.
“‘Thank you very much for helping save my daughter the first time,’” he recalled Konanki’s mother telling him.
Upon entering the courthouse, Riibe was immediately swarmed by international media, but declined to answer questions.
At times, the hearing, which stretched on for hours, was contentious. Riibe appeared to remain calm and focused.
In an interview with local authorities last week, Riibe said he was on the beach with Konanki shortly before she disappeared, according to a transcript of an interview obtained by NBC News.
According to the transcript, which NBC News translated from Spanish, he said he and Konanki were “in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little” before a wave crashed, taking them both “out to sea.”
“I kept trying to get her to breathe, but that didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water,” Riibe said.
Despite the struggle, Riibe told investigators he managed to help Konanki get to shore before she vanished.
“The last time I saw her, I asked if she was OK. I didn’t hear her answer,” he said. “I looked around and didn’t see anyone. I thought she’d grabbed her things and left.”
Riibe added that he was surprised to later learn about her disappearance.
Speaking with reporters outside their home in Loudoun County, Virginia, on Tuesday, Konanki’s parents said authorities told them they believed their daughter drowned.
“It is with deep sadness, sadness and heavy, heavy heart, we are coming to the terms with the fact that our daughter has drowned,” Subbarayudu Konanki said. “This is incredibly difficult for us to process.”
Konanki’s father added that both U.S. and Dominican authorities showed the family how high ocean waves were at the time of the woman vanished. They did not comment on Riibe’s hearing or name him specifically, but said that authorities “clarified that the person of interest is not a suspect from the beginning.”
On Monday, Konanki’s parents sent a letter to the National Police to request authorities declare her dead, according to police.
“Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence,” they wrote. “While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.”
Dominican authorities said Thursday that no one is considered a suspect and that they do not use the term “person of interest,” as the sheriff’s office in Loudoun County has described Riibe. The sheriff’s office has sent officials to assist authorities in Punta Cana but has no jurisdiction over the investigation.
Konanki — a junior studying biology at the University of Pittsburgh — was on spring break and staying at the Riu República, a five-star hotel in Punta Cana.
The morning she disappeared, her friends left the beach to return to the hotel. According to authorities, Konanki stayed behind with people she met on the trip.
Police have said no signs of violence were found at the beach. Red flags, which indicate “that the sea had a strong current and very high waves,” were flying when Konanki disappeared, according to a hotel spokesperson.
Kirsch, Jones and Catire reported from Higüey, Lavietes from New York.
