Newly emerged footage exhibits lacking College of Pittsburgh scholar Sudiksha Konanki and the individual of curiosity in her case at an outside bar earlier than she disappeared from a Punta Cana seaside earlier this month.
Konanki, 20, could be seen in a pair of movies obtained by native outlet Noticia SIN – together with one through which she and pals are hanging at a resort bar close to a struggling man who seems to be an individual of curiosity Joshua Riibe.
The co-ed, who was on spring break within the Dominican Republic, vanished within the early hours of March 6, sparking a determined search and swirling questions on what occurred to her.
In one of many clips, the pre-med pupil and her three pals are on the bar earlier than one of many women, which the native outlet recognized as Konanki, places her hand to her mouth and rapidly excuses herself to hunch over a patch of grass a number of ft away.
The identical woman then walks again to the bar and excitedly jumps up and down earlier than hugging considered one of her girlfriends, the video exhibits.
In the meantime, a younger man believed to be Riibe could be seen individually bent over and struggling exterior the bar as one other younger man comforts him. The person — who stumbles backward at one level — seems to be carrying the identical clothes Riibe wore in beforehand launched surveillance footage of him and Konanki strolling arm-in-arm lower than two hours earlier than she vanished.
The pair don’t work together within the footage from the bar and appear to be in separate teams.
A second video exhibits a gaggle of 4 women, together with Konanki, palling across the foyer of the RIU Resort & Resort hours main as much as her disappearance.
Whereas native authorities initially mentioned they believed the Indian nationwide drowned within the ocean throughout tough surf within the early morning after taking a dip with Riibe, they haven’t dominated out foul play.
Riibe, a 22-year-old senior at St. Cloud College, is underneath police monitoring and has confronted grilling by investigators. His passport has additionally been pulled so he can’t go away the nation till authorities enable him to.
Whereas thought-about an individual of curiosity, the Iowa native has not been accused of wrongdoing or charged with against the law within the Virginia scholar’s disappearance.
He claimed he pulled Konanki out of the ocean after which handed out after inadvertently gulping down seawater.
When he woke again up, he went again to his resort room and assumed she additionally left the seaside.
Riibe’s dad and mom pleaded for transparency from cops final week, claiming their son has been detained underneath irregular situations.
Extra reporting by Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
