The parents of 20-year-old Sudiksha Konanki, an Indian-origin student who went missing after being swept away at Arena Gorda beach in the Dominican Republic, have requested authorities to officially declare her dead. Despite extensive search efforts, her body has not been found.
Sudiksha, a permanent resident of the United States and a student at the University of Pittsburgh, had traveled to the Dominican Republic with five other female students. On March 6, she was last seen at a hotel bar with five women and two men before heading to the beach in the early morning hours.
According to U.S. media reports, CCTV footage captured Sudiksha entering the beach around 4.15 a.m. She was last seen with a man identified as Joshua Steven Riibe, who later recounted the events to prosecutors. Riibe claimed that both he and Sudiksha were struck by a strong wave, leading to a desperate struggle in the water.
"It took me a long time to get her out. It was difficult," Riibe reportedly told prosecutors, as quoted by CNN. "I was trying to get her to breathe the whole time. That didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water. I could have lost consciousness several times. When I finally reached the ground on the beach, I held her in front of me."
Riibe claimed he later vomited and passed out due to exhaustion. When he woke up, he assumed Sudiksha had left with her belongings. "I felt very sick and tired. I lay down on a beach chair and fell asleep because I couldn’t go far," he said. However, he later discovered that she had never returned to her room.
Sudiksha’s parents Subbarayudu and Sreedevi did not contest the claims of Riibe.
Sudiksha’s father, Subbarayudu, expressed that the family has come to terms with the reality of their daughter’s drowning. In a statement, her parents requested an official declaration of death, believing it would help them begin the grieving process.
“While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory,” the letter read, according to Fox News.