‘Person of interest’ Joshua Riibe gives DR cops an ultimatum as they question him again in Sudiksha Konanki’s disappearance
The “person of interest” in the disappearance of University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki says the Dominican Republic must let him go home.
Joshua Riibe, a 22-year-old Iowan who has been “in custody” and repeatedly grilled by authorities in the Caribbean country over the missing coed, can’t be detained any longer without being charged, his attorney Beatriz Santana said in a motion filed Monday, local outlet Noticias SIN reported.
Authorities have not said Riibe as a suspect in Konanki’s disappearance, nor have any charges been discussed after he was the last person to see her alive in Punta Cana while on spring break.
But, officials have seized Riibe’s passport and have kept him holed up at the RIU Hotel & Resort as the investigation enters its 11th day.
“If he wants to leave the hotel he cannot do that freely, but with police,” Santana told ABC Eyewitness News. “His passport is seized despite not being officially charged.
According to Noticias SIN, a hearing on the lawyer’s “habeas corpus” motion is scheduled for 2 pm Monday.
Surveillance cameras at the upscale resort captured Konanki, Riibe and their friends boozing it up at the hotel bar, and later spilling out onto the beach.
Konanki and Riibe were left alone in the early morning hours of March 6, with the Iowa student telling police they were caught in the rough surf but said he managed to pull her out before he passed out on the beach – and woke to find she was gone.
Authorities in the DR initially believed Konanki drowned but said they have not ruled out foul play.
More than 300 law enforcement personnel are involved in the search for Konank, including from the FBI, the US Department of Homeland Security and deputies from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in the missing student’s hometown in Virginia.
Riibe, a student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, was grilled by high-ranking officials into the early morning hours Sunday, while police re-created the incident with Riibe on Monday, Dominican Today reported.
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