CNN visited the beach where a missing American student spent her final moments. Here’s what we saw
Beneath a predawn sky, adorned with shimmering stars and clouds lazily floating past the moon, Sudiksha Konanki stepped into the warm, inviting waters of the Caribbean Sea.
2025-03-27 13:33:47 - VI News Staff
Far from the pounding thrum of party music and the clamor of tipsy conversations, Konanki and Joshua Steven Riibe waded waist-deep into the water and shared a kiss, based on an account of the events Riibe relayed to investigators.
The kiss may have been one of her last moments alive, as Dominican Republic authorities believe the 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh college student drowned in the early hours of March 6, her parents have said.
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, was an ambitious, premed student at the University of Pittsburgh when she went missing while on spring break in the Dominican Republic. (Subbarayudu Konanki)
That evening, the winds were gentle and the water was warm — hovering at a pleasant 80 degrees, according to CNN Senior Meteorologist Brandon Miller. But the water was rough in Punta Cana on the night Konanki went missing, the sheriff’s office in Virginia’s Loudoun County, where Konanki’s family lives, told CNN it was advised, though whether any warnings were in place has not been confirmed.
On Thursday, CNN returned to the beach where Konanki may have taken her final breath. The ocean, still wild, churned with waves so swift and strong, even CNN’s 6’3” reporter was almost swept off his feet when they occasionally crashed across the sand.
Two weeks after she vanished, the beach bore little sign of the search for Konanki, save for the brief appearance of a solitary police helicopter. No physical evidence indicative of a crime has been found and Riibe has not been considered a suspect in Konanki’s disappearance or accused of wrongdoing.
A pair of Dominican Republic National police officers patrolled the beach stretching past the Riu República Hotel and the nearby resorts. They said they are familiar with petty crimes, but nothing ever like the disappearance of a student.