SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The parents of a U.S. college student who vanished almost two weeks ago in the resort town of Punta Cana have asked authorities to declare her legally dead.
In a letter to Dominican police dated Monday, Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki state that after an extensive search, local authorities believe that Sudiksha, a 20-year-old student at the University of Pittsburgh, drowned.
“Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence,” they wrote. “While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.”
A police official not authorized to speak about the case confirmed Tuesday that authorities received the letter.
Michael Chapman, sheriff of Loudoun County in Virginia, where the Konankis live, said in a statement Tuesday that officials have been working with Dominican authorities and continue to review evidence in the case.
“The disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki is tragic, and we cannot imagine the grief her family has been feeling,” he said. “Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned. While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible."
Sudiksha Konanki and five female friends had traveled to the Caribbean nation on March 3 for spring break. Police said she disappeared at a beach by her hotel before dawn on March 6.
Authorities have interviewed people who were with Konanki before she vanished, including Joshua Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud University in Minnesota.
Riibe has been detained by Dominican police and is believed to be the last person to see Konanki. He has not been named as a suspect.
On Tuesday, a judge ordered Riibe's release, saying he can cooperate with authorities without being detained.
“All parties say that he has cooperated in everything that has been asked of him,” Judge Edwin Rijo said, adding that Riibe is a witness and as such, cannot be detained.
Riibe had appeared in court Tuesday afternoon following a request from his attorney that he be released. So many journalists showed up to cover the hours-long hearing that it was moved to a bigger courtroom.
Before the ruling, prosecutors told the judge that Riibe was not under arrest and that he was free to move around the hotel where he is staying. They said Riibe told them he lost his passport, although Riibe said in court that officials seized his passport and cell phone.
“I really want to be able to go home and talk to my family, give them hugs,” Riibe told the judge via a translator. “I understand that I’m here to help. I’ve done that. It’s been 10 days.”
According to the transcript of an interview with prosecutors, reported by Dominican media as well as NBC and Telemundo, Riibe told police he was drinking with Konanki on the beach and they were kissing in the ocean when they got caught in a current. Riibe said he was a former lifeguard and helped bring her ashore.
He told investigators he vomited upon reaching the beach and that Konanki said she was going to fetch her things. When he looked up, she was gone. He said he was later surprised to hear of her disappearance.
In their letter, the Konankis wrote that “the individual” last seen with their daughter is cooperating and that no evidence of foul play has been found.
Sudiksha Konanki was born in India and later became a U.S. permanent resident.
Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan contributed.
FILE - Military personnel search for Sudiksha Konanki, a university student from the U.S. who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Monday, March. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Francesco Spotorno, File)
An extraordinary legal showdown took place last weekend over President Donald Trump’s invocation of an 18th-century wartime act to deport hundreds of immigrants, most of them Venezuelans, to a prison in El Salvador.
It involved a series of legal filings, White House announcements, court hearings, deportation flights and a mocking social media post from a Central American leader who proudly calls himself the " world’s coolest dictator."
Here is a timeline of events surrounding the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. All times are Eastern.
__2:16 a.m.: Two legal advocacy groups — the ACLU and Democracy Forward — file suit on behalf of five Venezuelans held in immigration detention who fear they’ll be falsely labeled members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and deported under the Alien Enemies Act, which lawyers expect to be invoked soon.
__9:40 a.m.: Judge James E. Boasberg issues a temporary restraining order preventing the government from deporting the five plaintiffs. He schedules a 5 p.m. hearing on whether to expand it. The Trump administration swiftly appeals the order.
__Roughly 4 p.m.: The White House posts the order invoking the Alien Enemies Act.
__5 p.m.: Boasberg convenes a hearing and asks the government attorney, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, if the government plans to deport anyone under Trump’s new proclamation “in the next 24 or 48 hours.” Ensign says he doesn't know and asks for time to find out, as the ACLU warns planes are apparently about to depart. Boasberg gives Ensign about 40 minutes to find out and recesses the hearing at 5:22 pm.
__5:26 p.m.: An airplane with the tail number N278GX, believed by activists to be carrying deportees, leaves Harlingen, Texas, near the border with Mexico, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
__5:45 p.m.: Another airplane with the tail number N837VA, believed by activists to be carrying deportees, departs Harlingen.
__About 5:55 p.m.: Boasberg reconvenes the hearing. Ensign says he still has no specifics. The ACLU again warns that planes are leaving. Boasberg says he has to issue a new order to avoid anyone being immediately deported.
__Around 6:45 p.m.: Boasberg tells Ensign: “Inform your clients of this immediately, and that any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.” He verbally issues his order, which stands for 14 days, and notes that immigrants protected by it will remain in U.S. custody.
__7:26 p.m.: Boasberg's written order is released.
__7:36 p.m.: The plane with the tail number N278GX lands in Honduras.
__7:37 p.m.: An airplane with the tail number N630VA, believed by activists to be carrying deportees, departs Harlingen. Government lawyers later say this plane held no one deported under the Alien Enemies Act.
__8:02 p.m. The plane with the tail number N837VA lands in El Salvador.
__9:46 p.m.: The plane with the tail number N630VA arrives in Honduras.
__10:41 p.m.: The plane with the tail number N278GX departs Honduras.
__12:05 a.m.: The plane with the tail number N278GX arrives in El Salvador.
__12:41 a.m.: The plane with the tail number N630VA leaves Honduras.
__1:03 a.m.: The plane with the tail number N630VA arrives in El Salvador.
__7:46 a.m.: El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, tweets a New York Post headline saying Boasberg had ordered planes turned around and adds “Oopsie … Too late” and a laughing/crying emoji.
__8:13 a.m.: Bukele tweets footage of the deportees arriving and being processed into his country’s showcase prison.
__8:39 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posts Bukele’s tweet.
__9:29 a.m.: White House Communications director recirculates Bukele’s laughing post
__5 p.m.: A hearing begins over what Boasberg has called the “possible defiance” of his court order. Trump administration lawyers tell Boasberg that his verbal directions did not count, only his written order needed to be followed, that it couldn’t apply to flights outside the U.S. and that they could not answer his questions about the trips due to national security issues. Boasberg calls the arguments "one heck of a stretch.” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, warns that “I think we're getting very close” to a constitutional crisis.
__8:05 a.m.: Trump blasts Boasberg on his social media platform, Truth Social, for ruling against his deportation plans. "This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
__11:56 a.m.: Chief Justice John Roberts issues a rare public statement rejecting calls to impeach judges. “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” he writes. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Associated Press writer Tim Sullivan contributed.
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks along the southern border with Mexico, on Aug. 22, 2024, in Sierra Vista, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
