A man who may be the last person to see a missing student at the University of Pittsburgh in the Dominican Republic said she rescued her from drowsing, according to a transcript of an interview he gave to local authorities.
Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old junior, went to Punta Cana on March 3rd with five female friends for spring break. She was last seen on March 6th around 4:15am after going to the beach with a friend.
The man, whom officials in Conanki’s hometown of Virginia, called “an interested,” told local investigators “he was “talking his hips deep into the water, talking a little and kissing him.”
That’s when the waves crashed and both of them swept “out of the sea,” the man said in an interview on March 12th.
“I kept trying to make her breath, but it didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water,” he said.
Investigators have not described the man as a suspect.
The man told investigators that he previously worked as a lifeguard and brought himself and Conanki back to the coast before she went missing.
“The last time I saw her, I asked if she was okay. I didn’t hear her answer,” he said. “I looked around and saw no one. I thought she grabbed hers and left.”
He told Dominican authorities that he was surprised to find out later that Conanki was missing.
A native of Washington, D.C., Conanki is a biology student in Pitt, out of Chantilly, Virginia, and her loss of attracted the interests of the authorities to her hometown.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, where Conanki’s family lives, does not have jurisdiction over the case, but sent detectives to Punta Cana to help the US side of the investigation, describing the man interviewed as “people of interest.”
Dominican authorities said Thursday that they were not using the term “person of interest” in the case and that no one would be considered a suspect at this point. US authorities say this is a case of a missing person and not a criminal matter.
A Loudoun County Sheriff’s spokesperson told NBC News Friday that he spoke to a man from Joshua Libe on Thursday, the day after the department’s investigators interviewed him.
Libe’s father and lawyer were accompanied during “expanding interviews,” and the man was a “co-op,” officials said.
In a statement Friday, Libe’s parents, Tina and Albert Libe, expressed “deep sadness and solidarity” with Conanki’s family.
“More than anything, we want to contribute to our search efforts and understand the anguish and uncertainty they are experiencing, and share our hopes that Sudhiksha will be found as soon as possible,” they said in a statement.
Joshua Libe, a 22-year-old native of Rock Rapids, Iowa, is a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, studying land research and mapping science.
According to the Riibe family, he is not a suspect, but he is trapped in a hotel room.
“We recognize this is a complicated and painful situation for all involved and believe that the investigation will be carried out with transparency and justice,” said Tina and Albert Libe. “Our only interest is that legitimate processes are respected and we take action along with the fairness that the situation requires.”
Michael Costner and Amita Kelly contributed.
