The mystery hunk seen with his arm draped around missing spring breaker Sudiksha Konanki on the morning she vanished has been named by police sources as American Joshua Steven Riibe.
A source close to the investigation told DailyMail.com that Riibe, 24, a powerfully-built former high school wrestler, was ‘being cooperative’. He is still in Punta Cana but is not currently considered a suspect.
Dominican authorities are currently in possession of his passport however there is nothing to stop him lawfully retrieving it and flying back to the US, the source explained.
It’s believed that investigators also have the American’s phone but are waiting for legal authorization to examine the device.
Riibe and Konanki were seen striding towards the beach together at around 4am on March 6.
They were part of a larger group of her friends. At 5:55 am, the others went back to their rooms, leaving Riibe and Sudiksha on the beach.
According to Riibe, the pair went for a swim but were caught by a large wave. Riibe says he clambered back to the shore and then fell asleep. Sudiksha was never seen again.
Her body has not yet been found, but Dominican police remain convinced she drowned.
The mystery hunk seen with his arm draped around missing spring breaker Sudiksha Konanki on the morning she vanished has been named by police sources as American Joshua Steven Riibe
Joshua Riibe, a 24-year-old tourist from Iowa, was seen talking to law enforcement at beach next to the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on Monday.
Authorities continue to investigate the disappearance of student Sudiksha Konanki, who was last seen with him March 6. Riibe has turned over his U.S. passport and can’t leave the country, according to El Nuevo Diario newspaper
Her family are less certain. They are calling for an investigation into human trafficking.
When contacted by Daily Mail, Riibe’s relatives described him as a ‘good kid’ who focuses on his studies.
He lives in Rock Rapids, Iowa, and is a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.
A private investigator who probed murder victim Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance disagrees with the police theory that Sudiksha drowned.
The camera picked up Riibe, barefooted and without his shirt, as he slowly walked back to his room at 8:54 am – around four hours after he went to the beach with Konanki.
A source with knowledge of the investigation says Konanki’s friends left the hotel for an excursion in the morning, and returned at 4pm.
That’s when they noticed she was missing and alerted the authorities.
A source close to the investigation told DailyMail.com that Riibe, 24, a powerfully-built former high school wrestler, was ‘being cooperative’
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, vanished from a beach in Punta Cana on March 6. Dominican authorities believe she drowned
Surveillance video footage obtained by Dominican Republic news outlet Noticias SIN showed Joshua Riibe (left) and Sudiksha Konanki (second from left) following their friends to the beach at the Riu Republica Hotel before Konanki disappeared March 6
Riibe told investigators he and Konanki went into the water and were swept by a wave. He said that he swallowed a lot of water and that they were able to make it back to the shoreline.
He also told investigators that he eventually fell asleep at the beach before he woke up and walked back to his room.
Dominican Republic authorities believe that Konanki, pre-med student, may have drowned, but have yet to retrieve her body as the FBI joined the investigation.
All five people who were seen in the video with Konanki were interviewed a second time, the Dominican Republic National Police said in a statement.
‘Employees of the hotel where the young woman and her companions were staying are also part of this process in order to gather information that allows corroboration of their movements, interactions and any relevant data in this search process,’ the police said.
Authorities were using drones, helicopters and detection dogs in the search for the student
Sudiksha Konanki, who was a pre-med student at the University of Pittsburgh, vanished from the Riu Republica resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on March 6
The US State Department is working with the Indian embassy in the Dominican Republic, which has taken the lead in the investigation as Konanki is an Indian citizen who was a permanent resident of the United States.
While authorities suspect the likeliest scenario is that she drowned in the rough conditions, her family are urging them to consider other lines of inquiry until and unless her body washes ashore.
‘It’s four days, and if she was in water, she would likely have been strewn to shore,’ her father Subbarayudu Konanki said in his complaint.
‘She’s not found, so we’re asking them to investigate multiple options, like kidnapping or abduction.’
The complaint states: ‘While it is possible that Sudiksha drowned, there is a growing suspicion that there may be a crime, specifically the possibility of kidnapping.’
The Riu Republica Resort in Punta Cana, where Konanki and her friends were staying
