A retired FBI particular agent shared his evaluation and demanding steps investigators might be taking within the seek for a lacking American faculty scholar who vanished from a seashore within the Dominican Republic.
“The FBI can’t take over this investigation but will use diplomatic channels to push Dominican authorities to prioritize key investigative steps, provide forensic assistance, and coordinate intelligence-sharing that could uncover new leads,” Jason Pack informed Fox Information Digital.
Pack, a retired FBI supervisory particular agent, former chief of the FBI’s Little one Abduction Speedy Deployment Group and performing authorized attaché, defined how U.S. authorities are doubtless working behind the scenes to help within the seek for Sudiksha Konanki, 20, a College of Pittsburgh scholar who vanished from a seashore within the Dominican Republic within the early morning hours on March 6.
“Authorities should be cross-referencing surveillance footage with phone data and banking transactions to identify her last known movements,” Pack mentioned. “They should also be using cognitive interview techniques on key witnesses to detect inconsistencies rather than accepting surface-level statements.”
AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENT SUDIKSHA KONANKI’S DISAPPEARANCE IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: TIMELINE
Native authorities seek for lacking scholar Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was final seen on March 6 on a seashore outdoors the five-star RIU Republica Resort within the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox Information Digital)
Pack added that there are “critical investigative steps” that have to occur now and the essential position that the FBI’s Behavioral Evaluation Unit (BAU) and forensic consultants ought to take.
“The BAU can help profile possible suspects, while the FBI’s forensic teams can assist with DNA analysis, digital forensics and geolocation tracking; resources that local authorities may not have at their disposal,” Pack defined.
With regard to supporting the Konanki household, Pack says the FBI’s Sufferer Providers Division is probably going already engaged with the household, offering them with investigative updates, steerage on coping with international regulation enforcement and assist as they navigate this disaster.
Native authorities seek for lacking scholar Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on March 11, 2025. (Santiago Baez for Fox Information Digital)
Police mentioned Konanki, who’s a resident of Loudon County, Virginia, traveled with 5 different individuals from the College of Pittsburgh to the Riu República Resort in Punta Cana in the course of the faculty’s spring break, which started March 2 and ended Sunday.
She was final seen on surveillance digital camera with 5 different individuals getting into the seashore on the five-star resort after 4:15 a.m. Thursday, the Dominican Nationwide Police beforehand mentioned in a press release.
Footage obtained by Noticias SIN confirmed Konanki seemingly clinging to a person because the group made their manner towards the seashore.
It was the final time authorities tracked Konanki earlier than the Virginia resident disappeared.
Former FBI particular agent and Fox Information contributor Nicole Parker shared her evaluation on the seek for Konanki and mentioned what she thinks is most essential as an investigator is to find out who she was final seen with.
Parker mentioned that since investigators have Konanki’s cellphone and pockets, they are going to be combing by way of all of that info and determining every little thing they’ll concerning the man she was final seen with.
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Authorities haven’t named any suspects within the ongoing investigation. On Tuesday, the Dominican Nationwide Police mentioned it’s “re-interviewing targeted individuals who were in the victim’s proximity at the time of her disappearance.”
A joint investigation into Konanki’s disappearance is being carried out by the U.S. Embassy within the Dominican Republic, the Dominican Nationwide Police and the Dominican Prosecutor’s Workplace. The FBI can be helping.
Fox Information Digital’s Michael Ruiz and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
Stepheny Value is a author for Fox Information Digital and Fox Enterprise. She covers matters together with lacking individuals, homicides, nationwide crime instances, unlawful immigration, and extra. Story ideas and concepts could be despatched to stepheny.worth@fox.com
