PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic — The family of Sudiksha Konanki, a missing University of Pittsburgh student, has asked Dominican Republic police to declare her death, a police spokesman said Monday.
Diego Pesqueira, a spokesman for the Dominican Republic’s National Police, said Conanki’s family had sent a letter to the agency requesting a declaration of death.
When Conanki, 20, disappeared on early March 6th, she had spring break with friends in the Caribbean island nation. Despite a large search, her body has not been found.
The Conanki family did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday night.
Conanki is a junior in biology at the University of Pittsburgh. She is from Loudoun County, Virginia, where her family lives.
Conanki was last seen on the beginning of March 6th after going to the beach with a friend.
After her friends left the beach, she fell behind with people she met on the trip. She disappeared that day at 4:15am.
The last person who thought he had seen Conanki was identified as Joshua Libe, 22, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, from Rock Rapids, Iowa.
Dominican authorities confiscated Libe’s passport as part of an investigation on Friday, his lawyer told NBC News.
NBC News discovered investigators and his lawyers on a beach in Punta Cana early Sunday. He was seen pointing to the ocean, and a group of security guards moved people away from the area.
A brief conversation with NBC News at the resort where Conanki was staying before disappearing, and before he was discovered by NBC News on the beach, Libe added, “I’m just trying to help them,” adding, “The ocean is a dangerous place.”
“Since the investigation began, Riibe has been limited to hotels. He is being escorted by police everywhere forever, so he cannot leave freely,” the law firm representing him said in an email on Saturday.
National Police spokesman Peskeira said no signs of violence were found on the beach.
A hotel spokesperson said the red flag, indicating that “there was a strong current and very high waves in the ocean.”
In an interview with Dominican investigators last week, Libe said she was on the beach with Conanki just before she disappeared.
According to a transcript of an interview obtained by NBC News, he said he was “in the deep waters of his hips, talking a little and kissing him.” The waves crash and he quotes them as both “out of the sea.”
“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.
Libe said Conanki returned to the coast before she disappeared.
“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.”
Dominican Republic authorities said they would not be considered a suspect in the loss of Conanki.
US authorities say it is a case of a missing person and not a criminal matter.
Jesse Kirsch, Carlos Catil and Debra Jones reported from Punta Cana, while Phil Helsel reported from Los Angeles.
