Authorities in the Dominican Republic have been interviewing a young man who is believed to have been with a University of Pittsburgh student shortly before she went missing in Punta Cana.
Newsweek has contacted the Dominican National Police for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, was last seen in the early hours on March 6 at a beach near the Riu Republica Hotel where she was staying with five friends, according to the Dominican National Police. She arrived in the country with the friends on March 3.
File photo. Loungers at a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on November 30, 2020. File photo. Loungers at a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on November 30, 2020. Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images
What to Know
Police on Sunday said Konanki, an Indian national and permanent resident of the United States, was captured by surveillance cameras near the beach area with several people at around 4:15 a.m. on March 6.
Shortly before 6 a.m., cameras captured five women and a man leaving the beach while Konanki is believed to have remained alone with a young man, CNN reported, citing a local police source. The man was captured on cameras leaving the beach area shortly before 10 a.m. but Konanki was not seen.
Dominican police said authorities were expanding the investigation to “corroborate the version that he offered in a preliminary manner.”
Others who were last seen with Konanki have also been interviewed to help determine exactly where authorities should search, police said.
What People Are Saying
Konanki’s father Subbarayudu Konanki told CNN that his daughter “went to the beach on March 6 early morning around 4 a.m. with friends and some other guys they met at the resort. After that, her friends came back after some time and my daughter did not come back, did not show up from the beach.”
He added: “My daughter is a very nice girl. She’s ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine.”
Defensa Civil, a search and rescue force, said on Instagram on Sunday that it was coordinating with other institutions to “search for Sudiksha Konanki, the young Indian national who disappeared early Thursday March 6, while walking on a beach in #PuntaCana, La Altagracia province. We have integrated drones and helicopters from the Armed Forces into the work, which began at 6 a.m. this Sunday.”
The University of Pittsburgh said in a statement to WTAE: “University officials are in contact with Sudiksha Konanki’s family as well as authorities in Loudoun County, Virginia, and we have offered our full support in their efforts to find her and bring her home safely.”
What’s Next
Authorities are continuing a search for Konanki by sea, air and land using helicopters, drones, divers, boats and other technology.
