The last person to see Suddiksha Conanki, a missing University of Pittsburgh student, alive, is free to return home, a Dominican Republic judge ruled on Tuesday.
“Joshua Libe is free to leave,” the judge declared following a hearing that continued for hours and hours of deliberation.
The 22-year-old Riibe appears to be in a mess wearing black, but was attacked by television cameras for a court hearing that he was identified as an interested person in the disappearance of 20-year-old Coed Sudiksha Konaki on March 6th before being fired for release to return home.
“I'm really going home, talking to my family, hugging, hugging, saying I'll miss them,” Lib told Judge Elvis Delgado during a heated, closed door hearing. According to Noticias Sin. “I understand that I'm helping you to be here, but 10 days have passed and I can't leave.”
Lib has not been charged with fraud and has not been identified as a suspect in the loss of Conanki, but remains on the island after his passport was seized.
The ruling to release him came after Conanki's parents drowned in the rough surfing of Punta Cana and said they believed the rib was not involved in her death.
“Both authorities have shown how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides of the authorities have made it clear that the interested person is not a suspect from the start,” her father Subaruyudhu told the Post. “It has deep sorrow and heavy heart that we agree with the fact that our daughter owns.”
The ruling to release Libe after both lawyers vehemently promoted Libe's presence in the Dominican Republic, government lawyers said he was never a suspect, but a witness to the mysterious loss of fir.
“It's enough,” his father, Albert Libe, told the judge. “Twelve days have passed.”
A Dominican government lawyer denied that Libe was “detention” and said he was merely a witness in the case and voluntarily handed over his passport to the authorities.
They said he was never “interrogated” by police and was only an “interview,” the outlet said.
However, the judge does not buy the government's argument, accepts his demands, releases him and returns to Iowa.
Authorities have revealed that Carter Joseph, a friend who was with Libe at the resort, also remains a Dominican Republican, but did not say whether he could return home against his will.
Riibe was among more than 50 people interviewed in the incident, officials said.
A student at St. Cloud State College in Minnesota, the student told police that Conanki, who had been on spring break with her friends, went for an early morning swim at the Ryu Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana, when they got caught up in rough surfing, he safely took her to the shore and brought her to the beach before he left for the beach.
Dominican police initially said they believed Conanki had been drowned but did not rule out foul play, and Liebe described him as a person of interest and seized his passport while a massive search for Conanki, including officials from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, was launched.
On Monday, Libe's lawyer, Beatrice Santana, filed a warrant for the popular corpus. This is a legal demand that Iowa be released because he has not been charged with fraud that prompted a court hearing on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Conanki's parents submitted an emotional letter on Monday calling for their daughter to be officially declared dead.
A letter from Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki also sought the Riibe to be allowed to return home.
Riibe testified in court on Tuesday that he met Sreredevi Konanki on the island, and she told him “thank you for saving my daughter for the first time.”
Sudiksha Konanki's loss disappearance captivates the world, with international media reporting on her long search.
A young Virginia student arrived at Punta Cana Resort on March 3rd for spring break with a friend.
Security cameras captured her and Libe at a hotel bar hours before the loss of failure.
The group was later caught on video walking down the beach. There, Libe and Conanki can be seen taking selfies, holding hands and arms.
