The parents of Sudiksha Konanki, a University of Pittsburgh student who went missing from the Dominican Republic on March 6, left and spoke after telling authorities to declare their daughter dead.
Their statement said on Monday, “Dominican authorities concluded that Sudiksha is believed to have owned,” after sending a letter to Dominican National Police, La Policia Nacional.
“Both authorities show us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident,” Sudikesha's father, Sab Belayudu Konanki, told reporters on Tuesday, adding that her death was “difficult to deal with.”
Sudiksha Konanki was reported missing from the resort where she was staying at Punta Cana on March 6th. It was later revealed that the 20-year-old college student, who is considered a witness to Conanki's loss, had swam during a red flag warning with a male hotel guest who is not a suspect or anyone of interest.
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Sudiksha Konanki's parents speak out after their daughter's death. (FOX 5 DC)
“It has a deep sadness and a heavy heart that we are building the conditions on the condition that our daughter is gone,” Subbarayudu said Tuesday.
“We've been experiencing too much pain lately and it made me sad. I couldn't believe this.”
Witness, 22-year-old Joshua Libe of Iowa He told Dominican authorities While they were swimming, a huge wave struck over them while they were swimming, according to the translated transcript of his interview with police, which he shared with Fox News.
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Suddiksha Conanki, 20, from northern Virginia, was reported missing on Thursday, March 6 after disappearing from a beach in the Dominican Republic. (handouts, left, and Defensive Citizen Dominicana, right.)
He says he tried to help her, and finally sees her walking through the deep waters of her knees. He then began vomiting the seawater, realizing that Conanki was no longer visible, and thought she had returned to her hotel room. Libe said he fell asleep in a chair on the beach before he finally returned to his room.
Hotel surveillance footage shows Riibe returned to his hotel room around 9am on March 6th.
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Joshua Libe will arrive at the courts of the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, March 18th, 2025 with his father, Albert Libe. Libe is a key witness to the disappearance of Sudisha Conanki, an American college student who went missing while swimming in Pantakana Beach on March 6th. (Fox News Digital)
Police have made it clear that no one interested is a suspect,” Subbarayudu told reporters.
“Put your daughter in your prayers,” he said, adding that he and his wife are being cared for by other children when they “try to move on” in their lives. He said Sudhiksha was “very bright” and “want to chase the medicine,” so she had signed up for the premed in Pitt.
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On Friday, March 14th, 2025, I was enjoying my time at the beach at RIU Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Fox News Digital)
Subbarayyudu also said he and his wife believe the authorities are “100%”.
The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office in Virginia, where Conanki is born, issued a statement Tuesday sharing her family's belief that she owned.
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Local authorities went missing Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on Wednesday, March 11, 2025. (Santiago Baez from Fox News Digital)
“The final decision to make such a declaration depends on the authorities of the Dominican Republic, but we will support the Conanki family in every way to continue to review the evidence and information that has become available during the course of this investigation,” the Sheriff's Office said.
Lib, considered one of the last people seen along with Conanki, heard on Tuesday about a habeas corps warrant or his challenge to the Dominican Republic's decision to confiscate his passport and retain him in the country since March 6th.
On Tuesday, March 11, 2025, people spent their time at the beach at RIU Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Conanki, 20, was last seen on March 6th on the beach outside the five-star RIU Republica resort in the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez from Fox News Digital)
The judge finally agreed with Libe that he was illegally detained and has another hearing scheduled for March 28th.
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Riibe, advanced St. Cloud State University, Minnesota Those who have not been charged with the crime but are considered important witnesses in the case have been under surveillance at the resort since Conanki was reported missing.
His family calls his continued presence in the country “irregular.”
Fox News' Michael Lewis, Mara Robles and Nate Foy contributed to this report.
