Clothing of missing Pitt student found on Dominican Republic beach
Investigators in the Dominican Republic have found missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki’s clothes on the beach where she was last seen early Thursday morning, according to ABC News.
The outlet, citing two police sources with knowledge of the investigation, reported that Konanki’s clothes were found on a portable beach bed “close to the beach where she went missing.” Police have found no evidence of violence, ABC reported.
The 20-year-old from Loudoun County, Va., went to Punta Cana with a group of five other women, officials said. The group arrived last Monday, according to Dominican police, and Konanki was reported missing Thursday afternoon.
Dominican police said in a Monday night social media post they were re-interviewing hotel employees and those who had been with Konanki. Investigators are working on “an exhaustive analysis” of all of the surveillance footage captured of Konanki and her friends from their March 3 arrival until her early morning disappearance.
According to a translated release, Konanki and her friends were staying at the Riu Republica Resort, and the Pitt student was last seen on a nearby beach shortly after 4 a.m.
Dominican authorities received a call from the U.S. Embassy alerting them to the situation Friday morning. Since then, according to the release, investigators have searched the area near where Konanki was last seen using drones, helicopters, divers, boats and search dogs.
The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office is working with the U.S. State Department and the embassy of India, as Konanki is a permanent U.S. resident and citizen of India.
CNN, citing a source with the Dominican National Police, reported that investigators were interviewing a man in his 20s who might have been the last person to see the Pitt student Thursday morning.
Surveillance footage shows Konanki, her friends and two men walking to the beach near the resort shortly after 4 a.m. Just before 6 a.m., according to the outlet, the footage shows the five friends and one of the men returning from the beach. The other man is seen returning without Konanki around 10 a.m.
The police source told CNN the man has told differing versions of the last time he saw Konanki.
According to CNN: “He told authorities they both went into the ocean but he felt sick, got out of the water and fell asleep on a lounge chair, according to the source. In one version of his story to police, the man said (Konanki) may have been swept away by a wave. In another he said she may have left when he got out of the water. In a third account he said he saw her walking along the beach with the water up to her knees in the direction of where she had left her clothes, the source said.”
Konanki's father, Subbarayudu Konanki, told WTOP News in Washington, D.C. on Sunday that he wanted authorities to widen the scope of the investigation.
“It's four days, and if she was in water, she would likely have been strewn to shore,” Mr. Konanki told the radio station. “She's not found, so we're asking them to investigate multiple options, like kidnapping or abduction.”
Officials on Sunday told ABC News they believe Konanki drowned, but officials from the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that was speculation likely “based on her last known location near the beach” and there was “no evidence to support that conclusion.”
