Joshua Riibe release of police interview transcript in the Dominican Republic reveals him claiming he saved missing University of Pittsburgh student, Sudiksha Konanki from drowning after romantic kiss, while refusing to important critical questions, including ‘if Sudiksha knew how to swim, if she made any cries for help, if he told authorities what happened on the beach.’
What to believe. Which account? A 24 year old Iowa man who has previously given conflicting and contradictory accounts of his last moments with a missing pre-med University of Pittsburg student who mysteriously vanished during a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic last week, has claimed he saved the 20 year old from drowning following a ‘romantic kiss,’ in the water.
Joshua Riibe, 24, has made the latest claims just days after the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, the home state of missing 20 year old, Sudiksha Konanki stated he was now a person of interest in the case. Police were careful to stress that to date the 24 year old Iowa man, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, was not suspected of foul play.
Officials in the Dominican Republic have to date not named the former high school wrestling champ as a suspect or a person of interest in the case, with the Iowa native legally free to fly back to the US whenever he wants.
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#SudikshaKonanki | #JoshuaRiibe was interrogated again. I have translated the interrogation for y’all.
Sudiksha Konanki: Joshua Riibe Evades Key Questions with the Same Answer Eight Times
Punta Cana. – Joshua Steven Riibe, the last person to see the young Sudiksha Konanki, was… pic.twitter.com/vNUryvyqAA
— 𝕏 🕵🏻♀️🦋L̤̮E̤̮G̤̮🅰️C̤̮Y̤̮🦋🕵🏻♀️ 𝕏 (@iamlegacy23) March 14, 2025
Police interview transcript released
Nevertheless officials, both in Virginia and the Dominican Republic have stated Riibe being the last person to have seen Konanki alive as the search for the pre-med student now enters its 8th day amid wide speculation as to her fate and whereabouts.
Konanki’s week-long disappearance has baffled officials and prompted cries from her parents to widen the frantic search for the pre-med student.
The complete transcript from Riibe’s police interview has now emerged, detailing his final moments with Konanki and the chaotic aftermath to her mystery disappearance.
Of note, Riibe refused to answer several critical questions, remaining silent when cops asked if Konanki could swim, if she cried for help and what he confided to a friend after their fateful encounter on the evening of March 5 leading into the early morning hours of March 6, just on 5am, when Konanki was last seen alive.
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Iowa tourist claims saving missing pre-med student from drowning after romantic kiss
Riibe, who claimed having only just met Konanki a few hours earlier while out partying said at some point during the early morning hours of Thursday, March 6, after leaving local bars with Konanki’s party to head off unaccompanied together to the beach, according to the transcript of his interview obtained by Noticias SIN.
He revealed they had kissed in the ocean before the pair almost getting swept away by a wave. Riibe claimed saving Konanki from drowning while almost losing consciousness.
‘We were in waist-deep water. We talked and kissed a bit,’ Riibe said. ‘A big wave came and hit us both. And when the water returned, it swept us out to sea. As soon as we were able to surface, we tried to call for help.’
He explained that hepreviously worked as a lifeguard at a swimming pool and tried to bring them both to safety when he started to feel sick after a night of partying and drinking.
‘I was getting tired. I realized she was getting tired of swimming too. I’ve been a lifeguard. I grabbed her and pulled her out. I held her under my arm and swam to get her out of the water,’ Riibe said.
‘It took me a long time to get her out. It was difficult. I was a lifeguard in a pool, not at sea. I was trying to get her to breathe the whole time. That didn’t let me breathe the whole time and I swallowed a lot of water. I could have lost consciousness several times.’
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Iowa tourist refused to answer critical questions
The 24-year-old said he was able to make it to shore, but claims Sudiksha was still wading in the water when he last saw her.
‘When I finally reached the ground on the beach, I held her in front of me. She wasn’t out of the water, she was knee-deep and walking at an angle out the water,’ he said.
‘The last time I saw her, I asked if she was okay. I didn’t hear her reply because I started vomiting all the water I had swallowed. After vomiting, I looked around. I didn’t see anyone. I thought she had grabbed her things and left.’
He told investigators that he then passed out on the beach and did not hearing anything about Sudiksha until the next day when her friends texted his friend.
‘I felt really bad and tired. I laid down on a beach chair. I fell asleep because I couldn’t go far,’ Riibe said.
‘Then I woke up because of the sun and because mosquitoes were biting me. I went to my friend’s room to get my phone and then went back to my room to sleep.’
While assisting authorities, Riibe refused to answer at least eight different questions into Sudiksha’s disappearance.
When asked if he can verify his statements, what he told his friend, if Sudiksha knew how to swim, if she made any cries for help, if he told authorities what happened on the beach and how he feels about the situation – he had the same response.
‘My lawyers advise me not to answer that question and I follow their advice,’ Joshua Riibe told investigators before going silent according to the dailymail.
Riibe further refused to answer questions when approached by the dailymail.
‘I’m sorry, I can’t say anything, not right now,’ Riibe told the outlet upon being located iinside the five-star Riu Republica hotel in Punta Cana.
The release of the police transcript comes a day after family and locals in Iowa who ‘intimately’ know Riibe insisting that the former high school athlete ‘would not hurt a fly.’
But what was he capable of under the influence or after a few drinks?
As the search for Konanki enters day 8, drones, divers, sniffer dogs and hundreds of officers continued to be deployed in one of the biggest searches in the history of the Dominican Republic, assisted by the FBI and Interpol, which issued a ‘yellow notice’ – a global missing person alert – for the Chantilly, Virginia resident.
Government officials revealed Thursday that the search will carry on at full intensity through at least Sunday, according to Noticias SIN.
Searches are typically stood down after ten days but it could last for as long as six months in a scaled down capacity, the Dominican outlet reported.
