PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – The highest prosecutor within the Dominican Republic interviewed Iowa 22-year-old Joshua Riibe at his resort in Punta Cana for hours Saturday, personally questioning the lone publicly identified eyewitness within the disappearance of Virginia 20-year-old Sudiksha Konanki.
Yeni Berenice Reynoso, the Dominican lawyer common, grilled Riibe in individual to wrap up per week that included a number of interviews with detectives from a number of companies, together with La Policia Nacional, the nation’s police drive, and detectives from Loudoun County, Virginia, Konanki’s hometown.
Reynoso’s workplace didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark. Each Riibe and Reynoso’s entourage had been seen coming and going from a room within the Riu Republica resort for hours Saturday night, and his legal professionals later confirmed he was being questioned by the AG herself.
Whereas Riibe has not been named a suspect, nor has any crime been alleged, authorities have described him as a “key element” within the lacking individual investigation. He has been joined within the nation by his mother and father. Riibe, Konanki and their buddies had been staying on the resort for spring break.
MISSING AMERICAN IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: NO SUSPECTS AS SEARCH FOR SUDIKSHA KONANKI REACHES ONE WEEK
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, from northern Virginia, was first reported lacking on Thursday, March 6, after disappearing from a seaside within the Dominican Republic. (Handout photograph/Defensa Civil Dominicana)
Riibe’s mother and father on Friday stated he had been subjected to “irregular treatment” for greater than per week.
“Despite his full willingness to cooperate, Josh has been detained under irregular conditions and subjected to extensive questioning without the presence of official translators or legal counsel until Wednesday, March 12,” his mother and father, Albert and Tina Riibe, stated by their attorneys.
AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENT DISAPPEARS IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: TIMELINE
U.S. school pupil Sudiksha Konanki went lacking whereas on trip together with her buddies in Punta Cana on March 6. (Fox Information Graphics)
“He has remained in his hotel room under police surveillance and has been repeatedly taken to the police station since March 6, where he has been interrogated for long hours. This situation has raised serious concern within his family, which has led us to retain legal counsel to initiate legal actions ensuring his safety and the protection of his rights throughout this process,” they stated.
Authorities additionally revealed Saturday that Riibe’s passport has been confiscated.
MISSING AMERICAN IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: NO SUSPECTS AS SEARCH FOR SUDIKSHA KONANKI REACHES ONE WEEK
The police station in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Kirill Clark)
Konanki was final seen coming into the seaside behind the resort with a gaggle that included her feminine buddies from the College of Pittsburgh, in addition to two males, certainly one of whom has been recognized as Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud State College in Minnesota.
Dominican regulation, much like that within the U.S., requires detained individuals to be launched inside 48 hours if they aren’t charged.
A State Division spokesperson stated U.S. authorities had been conscious of the scenario, however couldn’t touch upon specifics on account of “privacy and other considerations.”
“The Division has no increased precedence than the security and safety of U.S. residents overseas,” the spokesperson stated.
A supply near the investigation informed Fox Information Digital on Friday that Riibe stays a “key element” within the investigation who would face “intensified” questioning. The supply stated authorities are additionally taking a more in-depth have a look at cellphone information from Konanki and different witnesses, together with the individuals she was seen with coming into the seaside earlier than she vanished.
Folks on the seaside on the Riu República resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on Friday. (Fox Information Digital)
Konanki, Riibe and their buddies had been seen coming into the seaside behind the Riu Republica five-star resort round 4:15 a.m. on March 6. All of them besides Konanki returned.
Six of them had been seen leaving the seaside round 6 a.m. Riibe returned alone simply earlier than 10 a.m. Konanki was reported lacking by her buddies at 4 p.m. that day and stays lacking.
UNPREDICTABLE OCEAN CURRENTS, BEACHFRONT POSE MAJOR SEARCH CHALLENGE
A drone flies overhead as native authorities seek for lacking school pupil Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox Information Digital)
Riibe, based on a leaked transcript of certainly one of his police interviews obtained by Fox Information, informed police that he and Konanki had been struck by a powerful wave and swept offshore. They battled the present, and he introduced her again to land. Then he stated he final noticed her strolling away in knee-deep water towards her belongings, as he threw up after which fell asleep on a seaside chair
When he awoke, she was gone, he stated.
The identical resort noticed 4 European vacationers drown in a single incident in January. Their stays had been all recovered inside 48 hours.
Native authorities seek for Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Friday. (Fox Information Digital)
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The seek for Konanki has expanded up the shoreline, involving a whole lot of personnel, helicopters, planes, boats, dive groups, K9s and drones, together with new AI-equipped fashions.
“Above all, we wish to contribute to the search efforts and understand the anguish and uncertainty they are going through, and we share the hope that Sudiksha will be found as soon as possible,” Riibe’s mother and father stated Friday. “Joshua Riibe is deeply dismayed by her disappearance and has fully cooperated in the search and clarification of the facts from the very beginning.”
