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Updated on: March 18, 2025 / 9:46 AM EDT / CBS News
The family of missing college student Sudiksha Konanki has asked authorities that she be declared deceased, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia told CBS News, almost two weeks after she disappeared while visiting Punta Cana for spring break.
The family provided the request in writing to the sheriff’s office, according to spokesperson Thomas Julia. Julia said the family made a similar request to Dominican authorities.
They also expressed gratitude to investigators for their work, and a desire for closure following Konanki’s disappearance, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said.
Konanki’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The student, 20, was last seen in the early morning hours of March 6 on a beach near the resort town’s Riu República hotel where she and her friends and had been staying. Surveillance video from the night she disappeared showed Konanki walking toward the beach with a group of three women and two men, one of whom authorities identified as 22-year-old Joshua Riibe, who is presumed to be the last person to see her alive. She and Riibe stayed behind on the beach after the four others left, a police source told CBS News, citing video footage.
Riibe told police he and Konanki were swept into the ocean by a large wave and struggled in rough waters. He said he believed Konanki made it out of the water but was not certain, according to a person with direct knowledge of Riibe’s statements to U.S. investigators.
Konanki lives in the D.C. suburb Loudon, Virginia, and attends University of Pittsburgh. Her disappearance sparked a missing persons investigation and massive search effort by authorities in the Dominican Republic and the United States, with agencies probing land, sea and air in hopes of locating her. The Dominican Republic National Police said they created a new “high-level commission” to oversee the case, while Interpol issued a missing person alert to police around the world.
Authorities in the U.S. and the Dominican Republic have repeatedly emphasized that this is not a criminal investigation. Dominican Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso said investigators are exploring whether Konanki may have drowned but have not ruled out the possibility of foul play.
Since Konanki vanished, Reynoso has directly interrogated Riibe, a student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota who is originally from Iowa, his attorney Guzmán Ariza told CBS News. Authorities confiscated Riibe’s passport while holding him for questioning in Punta Cana and assigning him “permanent” police escorts, Ariza said.
Anna Schecter, Andre Tinoco and Manuel Bojorquez contributed reporting.
Emily Mae CzachorEmily Mae Czachor is a news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social and criminal justice. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
