The family of American student Sudiksha Konanki is holding onto the evidence that shows their daughter must be gone forever after exhaustive Dominican Republic search efforts.
Student Sudiksha Konanki vanised from the RIU República Hotel in Punta Cana as she turned 20 on March 6 during University of Pittsburgh spring break.
The group of adults chose the RIU República Hotel which welcomes only guests age eighteen and older since they traveled together with five young friends.
During their vacation on the tropical getaway the group spent time fully enjoying the active beach environment.
They chose to spend the evening with two young men they had encountered at the resort and walked together on the beach.
At the time of the operation Joshua Riibe served as a 22-year-old former lifeguard based in Iowa. The group entered the ocean to swim during late hours at 4:15 a.m. despite not being aware of the strong currents in that location.
The unsteady sea currents made the waters dangerous in just a short period. The coastal wave-force brought Sudiksha and Joshua further into the water while separated from their companions.
Joshua recalled that he tried to help Sudiksha swim back to shore yet surpassed his limits. He reported taking water into his mouth followed by vomiting before he became unconscious on the shore.
Credit: (Law and Crime Network)
When Sudiksha disappeared both Joshua and he became unconscious before regaining consciousness. He ran to their companions before they started searching desperately between the beach and the shore.
As dawn broke, concerns escalated. All the items Sudiksha had with her when she went missing were located on a beach chair yet she remained unaccounted for.
A large search operation consisted of AIR drones and K-9 units and underwater divers who thoroughly inspected the sear waters after authorities notified them.
The massive search efforts during this time did not lead to any prompt solutions.
The Dominican Republic received Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki when they arrived to find out what happened to their missing daughter.
Before seeking their answers they asked law enforcement to probe every possible solution ranging from criminal activity to any other potential source.
During this time police captured Joshua then took away his passport. Though he was never charged with a crime, authorities labeled him a ‘person of interest’ in the case.
Sreedevi met Joshua in court during a hearing to express gratitude for his efforts to save her deceased daughter. Through that brief moment of grieving together the family showed their profound emotional state.
The passing days tore down any possibility that Sudiksha was still alive. Her parents made a sad announcement as the twelfth day of her absence began.
We accept the devastating reality that our daughter drowned with great melancholy and profound grief. It is excruciatingly hard to accept this reality according to Subbarayudu Konanki.
The family requires Dominican authorities to confirm the physical passing of Sudiksha. “Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence,” they wrote.
All the investigations turned up empty of any suspicious indications. The clothes Sudiksha wore were located close to the area where she disappeared leading the investigators to believe she died from drowning.
The Konanki family needs solitude to mourn while putting their attention on their surviving two children following the loss of Sudiksha.
The authorities released Joshua Riibe from his police monitoring status which allows him to depart from the country.
“I’ve done what I can, but at this time there’s not much now that I can do,” Riibe stated. “I’m just waiting to go home and go back to my life.”
The ocean’s unpredictable dangers demonstrated themselves through Sudiksha Konanki’s disappearance.
The people who know Sudiksha Konanki mourn her passing along with her family and friends while they wish for her life to illuminate the path her future was meant to follow.
Feature Image Credit: (Youtube/FOX 5 Washington DC) and (Law and Crime Network)