American last to see missing Pitt student alive in Dominican Republic lands in U.S.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — An American who was the last person believed to have been seen with missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki landed back in the U.S. on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after he said authorities forced him to stay in the Caribbean nation and confiscated his passport.

Joshua Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, was the last person believed to have been seen with Konanki on the morning she disappeared, March 6.

On Wednesday evening, NBC News spotted Riibe at Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo, the nation’s capital. He boarded a plane and took off and landed in the U.S.

He was with a man who Riibe’s attorney’s have identified as his father. They were accompanied by a woman at the check in area who stayed behind as they went through the security screening. 

NBC News spotted an airport employee assisting in boarding.

Riibe’s departure ends what his attorneys allege was a days-long detainment in the Dominican Republic as investigators questioned him in connection with Konanki’s disappearance.

Riibe, 22, has been kept under police supervision at the hotel where Konanki was staying on a spring break trip when she vanished, according to Riibe and his attorneys. Riibe’s passport was also confiscated by local authorities, they said.

Riibe has not been charged with a crime nor have any suspects been named in Konanki’s disappearance, according to the Dominican Republic National Police.

His departure comes a day after a Dominican judge ruled that he was no longer required to be under police supervision.

Riibe would have needed to go to the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo to obtain an emergency U.S. passport in the country.

“The US Embassy is in communication with him and his family and his lawyer, and we are providing consular assistance as well,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said at a briefing Wednesday before Riibe’s departure.

NBC News reached out to Riibe’s attorneys, Dominican Republic National Police and the country’s Attorney General about Riibe’s departure.

The attorney general replied: “I cannot confirm that information.” The other parties have not yet responded.

Konanki’s disappearance has captivated widespread attention in recent weeks.

Konanki, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh, was on spring break with five friends at a beach resort in Punta Cana when she went missing in the early hours of March 6. That morning, her friends returned to the hotel from the beach, but Konanki stayed behind with people she met from the trip, authorities said.

Riibe, who is from Rock Rapids, Iowa, told local investigators in an interview last week that he was on the beach with Konanki shortly before she disappeared, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by NBC News.

The transcript states that Riibe and Konanki were “in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little” before a wave crashed, taking them both “out to sea.”

Police have said they found no signs of violence at the beach. A spokesperson for the hotel where Konanki was staying also said that red flags, which indicate “that the sea had a strong current and very high waves,” were flying on the morning she went missing.

Speaking with reporters outside of their home in Loudoun County, Virginia, Konanki’s parents said that they’ve given up hope that their daughter is still alive.

“We are coming to terms with the fact that our daughter has drowned,” Konanki’s father, Subbarayudu Konanki, said through tears. “This is incredibly difficult for us to process.” 

The parents called on local police to declare their daughter dead earlier in the week. Konanki’s father added Tuesday that they came to reason that their daughter drowned based off of the information U.S. and local authorities gave them.

“Both sides of the authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of [the] incident,” he said. “And both sides of the authorities also clarified that the person of interest is not suspect from the beginning.”