The parents of Suddiksha Konanki, a missing University of Pittsburgh student, said on Tuesday they gave up hope that their daughter was still alive and believed she drowned on a spring break trip in the Dominican Republic.
Conanki, 20, disappeared on a trip with five friends from Punta Cana. She is believed to have been last seen on the beach on early March 6th.
A few weeks of international investigation into her loss of failure have few answers. Conanki’s parents were speaking to reporters outside their home in Loudon County, Virginia, and said the drowsing was an explanation for her loss.
“We agree with the fact that our daughter is owned,” said Sabu Belayudu Conanki, Conanki’s father, in tears. “This is very difficult for us to handle.”
Conanki’s father told us and the Dominican Republic authorities had told the family that it refers to the sea condition on the morning when her daughter owned and she disappeared.
“Both sides of the authorities show us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident,” he said. “And both authorities have made it clear that anyone interested has no doubts from the start.”
Conanki’s father appeared to refer to Joshua Libe, an American, the last person believed to have been seen with Conanki the morning she disappeared.
According to an interview transcript obtained by NBC News, Libe, 22, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, told local authorities in an interview last week that she was on the beach with Conanki.
According to a transcript translated from Spanish by NBC News, he and Conanki were “talking a bit in the deep waters of their waists, kissing them a little” waves crashed, stealing both “to the sea.”
Although he has not been charged with a crime, Libe and his lawyers said the local government has confiscated his passport and has been under supervision in a hotel where Conanki has disappeared since March 6th.
National police said there were no suspects in the loss of Conanki.
A Dominican judge ruled on Tuesday that the Libes no longer needed to remain under police supervision. However, the judge said his court was not a suitable venue for resolving the issue of Libe’s passports.
As Eduardo Belazuquez, a prosecutor at the Dominican Republic AG office, returned to court on Tuesday prior to the judge’s decision, NBC News asked him about Libe’s passport, which the prosecutors claim they don’t have.
“I don’t know my passport,” Bellazukes said. Looking for an answer, he replied – “I don’t speak Spanish… uh, English, sorry.”
Conanki’s mother seemed too sad to speak on Tuesday, but thanked the international media for her “help and cooperation.”
“We had been experiencing too much pain lately, and we were saddened to believe this,” Conanki’s father said. “Sorry, I can’t, our hearts are broken so I can’t talk about anything about it.”
Jesse Kirsch reported from Higui and Matt Lavietes of New York.
