The US FBI has joined the search for 20-year old Indian student Sudiksha Konanki, who went missing after partying with fellow US university students during their spring break vacation at Riu Republica in the Arena Gorda northern Punta Cana area. Yet, as of the morning of 12 March 2025, nothing concrete has come forth on her whereabouts.
While protocol calls for a 72-hour search, the Dominican government has continued the search six days after the woman went missing in the early morning of 6 March 2025. All resources managed by the government have been made available to find the missing woman or her corpse.
The Dominican government has assigned more than 300 men and women to the land, sea and air search operations. The searchers are combing the Atlantic Ocean following the known currents to locate the most likely drowned body of the young University of Pittsburgh student. Navy, Air Force, Police (including the canine unit), Civil Defense, and Firefighter diver divisions have been sent to the area.
The Dominican searchers have used drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras, specialized boats and land search crews.
What is known is that the young woman was partying with her five girlfriends and two young men they met at the resort and the partying headed for the beach at around 4:50am of 6 March 2025, as a hotel surveillance video shows. The same surveillance video camera shows that at 5:55am all but Konanki and 24-year old Joshua Reef (originally called Joshua Steven Ribe) returned to their hotel rooms.
Reef (Joshua Steven Ribe or Rieb, as he has been mentioned in the media) has said that both entered the beach waters, but a wave swept them. He was able to return to shore, vomited and fell asleep (videos show the group of students had been drinking). When he woke up, Konanki was not there. It is likely he thought she had also made it to shore and returned to her room. As reported, his father has traveled to Punta Cana to assist his son as he cooperates in the investigations.
After dozing on the beach, Reef would return to his room at 8:55am, as seen on the surveillance camera. He did not report the incident at the time.
Unfortunately, Konanki was only reported missing in the afternoon when her girlfriends (who that morning had taken an excursion outside of the hotel) became concerned for her whereabouts. Her parents were notified and the hotel turned to the Tourism Police to investigate.
Colonel Miguel Angel Alvarez, fire chief in Punta Cana, and who handles specialized diver crews for these cases, said in an interview for Zol FM that the rescue organizations were not notified until 12 hours later. He said the Tourism Police notified them of the disappearance at 8pm that day, alerting that a tourist could have been swept into the sea.
He said the delay in starting the search is a key factor now affecting the resolving of the case. “There are many factors intervening… first the time in receiving the notification, the changing weather conditions, and the very fluctuating marine currents that are all over the place, making difficult the locating of the corpse. He said that the first hours are crucial in the case of a missing person. He explained after 48 hours, a corpse may not float.
Also trying to explain why the corpse of the woman has not been swept to shore, Fernando Placeres, president of the Red Cross in Punta Cana, told Listin Diario that based on oceanographic analysis conducted by experts consulted by the rescue teams, the marine current patterns in the area suggest that if Konanki was swept out to sea, she would likely be carried towards Macao, a surfer’s beach that is located to the north of the Riu Republica resort where the young tourists were staying.
Despite almost a week going by, the investigations continue. La Altagracia province district attorney Claudia Lorena Garrido is in charge of the investigations, with the backing of the Attorney General Office headquarters. Agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigations are participating, in parallel carrying out investigations. As reported, the FBI’s involvement came at the request of Garrido, in accordance with international cooperation protocols. Also participating is the international liaison of the United States Embassy at the Police Central Investigation Department (Dicrim), the National Police has reported.
Diego Pesqueira, spokesman for the National Police says all one can do is wait for the investigations to advance based on the evidence in the case.
Noticias SIN reports that all activities continue as normal in Punta Cana. The hotel has said they are cooperating with the authorities and waiting for the investigation to advance to issue a report.
In 2019, when New York couple Orlando Moore and Portia Ravenelle) went missing, US media speculated the twosome had been victims of crime. It later turned out that the American tourist had driven his rental vehicle late at night into the Caribbean Sea, when returning from Samana to catch an early morning flight out of Las Americas. What was notable in this case too, was that the woman had been able to get out of the vehicle, but was seriously injured. She was taken to the Dario Contreras Trauma Hospital but remained unidentified until the tourist case was resolved.
Two weeks after the car fell into the sea, when a corpse was found to the west in the port of Santo Domingo area — about 10 kms away, Moore was identified. This lead also to the identifying of the body of Ravanelle, as the unidentified and unclaimed corpse of a woman at the morgue of the Dario Contreras.
Read more in Spanish:
CNN
Noticias SIN
Hoy
Hoy
El Dia
El Dia
Interview with Colonel Miguel Angel
Listin Diario
N Digital
Diario Libre
7 Dias
Somos Pueblo
El Informe con Alicia Ortega
Joshua Reef – El Show del Mediodia
CNN en Español
El Show del Mediodia
BBC case of Orlando Moore and Portia Ravanelle death of US tourists
12 March 2025