Authorities in the Dominican Republic seized the passport of Joshua Libe, the man who last saw Suddixsha Conanki, a student at the University of Pittsburgh, disappearance, Fox News learned.
Riibe's lawyers said Saturday that Riibe's travel documents were photographed by authorities “a few days ago.” He has not been appointed suspect for losing first, a 20-year-old student, but authorities have said he is a “person of interest” in the matter, and believes it is the case of a missing person.
“It was confiscated by authorities when he tried to check out a few days before the investigation began,” said the lawyer for Guzman Aliza, a Republican law firm in Dominican. “He hasn't accessed it since.”
Libe, a native of Rock Rapids, Iowa and a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, has not been charged with a crime, but the 22-year-old has been scrutinising Conanki's loss disappearance on March 6th.
A key witness of American College student loss disaster tells police how they met and what happened on the beach
Sudiksha Konanki, a US university student, went missing on March 6, 2025 while on vacation with a friend at Punta Cana. (Fox News Graphics)
Conanki, a resident of Loudoun County, Virginia, was staying at the Ryurepubrica Hotel in Punta Cana with five fellow pit students before she disappeared. She was last seen on surveillance cameras entering the beach with five others last Thursday at 4:15am.
All group members except Conanki returned around 6am, but the 20-year-old stayed on the beach with Libe.
On Wednesday, Riibe completed nearly four hours of interviews with detectives, answering more than 50 questions about the event leading up to Conanki's loss of failure.
Missing Americans in Dominican Republic: No suspects reach a week of search for Sudicsha Konanki
Riibe's parents, Albert and Tina Riibe, condemned the investigation of his son, saying that he was “detained under irregular conditions and was extensively questioned until Wednesday, March 12th without the presence of an official translator or legal counsel.”
“He remained in his hotel room under police surveillance and has been repeatedly taken to the police station since March 6th, where he has been interrogated for a long time,” said a statement shared through a lawyer for Riibes. “This situation raised serious concerns within his family and has led to the maintenance of legal counsel to begin legal action to ensure his safety and protection of his rights throughout this process.”
Riibe reportedly spoke various stories about Conanki's disappearance to local authorities. According to Local outlet Noticias Sin, Libe told police that he swam with Conanki but fell ill from the waves and left after leaving Conanki in the water.
Sudiksha Konanki appears in undated photos on her Tiktok profile. She was last seen on March 6th at a resort beach in Punta Cana. (@sudikshakonanki/tiktok)
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In the second version of the story, he reportedly said he left Conanki in the deep waters of his knees before he got sick on the beach. In the third story, Libe says he saw Conanki walking down the beach before he went to sleep.
Fox News Digital's Bryan Llenas, Oudrey Conklin and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
