‘Person of interest’ in missing Dominican Republic tourist case speaks out
Global News
Joshua Riibe, the person of interest, 'is permanently escorted by the police anywhere he goes,' the law firm working with him said, adding he is 'not free to leave' the resort.
Joshua Riibe, the man believed to be the last person who saw Sudiksha Konanki — who disappeared in the Dominican Republic on March 6 — broke his silence after having his passport seized by authorities.
Last week, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, where Konanki is a biology student, told NBC News that a person of interest had been identified by U.S. investigators.
Surveillance footage of Konanki showed the missing student arm-in-arm with Riibe while two women walked behind them as they left the building. Riibe, 22, a university student from Minnesota, has now been “confined” to the Riu Republica in Punta Cana, where he was last seen with Konanki before she disappeared.
“He is permanently escorted by the police anywhere he goes,” the law firm Riibe is working with told NBC News, adding that he is “not free to leave.”
“I’m just trying to help them out,” Riibe said in reference to authorities’ search for Konanki. “The ocean is a dangerous place.”
Riibe, who has not been charged with any crime, told authorities on March 12 that he spent time on the beach “kissing” Konanki before her disappearance, according to the interview transcript obtained by NBC News. (Global News has not independently viewed the transcript.)
Riibe told local investigators that he and Konanki were “in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little,” when a large wave crashed into them and swept them both “out to sea,” according to the transcript.
“I kept trying to get her to breathe, but that didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water,” Riibe reportedly said.
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