Clothing believed to be missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konaski’s was found on a lounge chair at the Dominican Republic beach were the 20-year-old mysteriously vanished more than a week ago, according to a local report.
Newly-released images show a white netted sarong draped over the beach chair and a pair of beige flip-flops covered with sand next to the leg of the sun lounger, according to CDN, which obtained the photos.
The beachwear, which bears a striking resemblance to the clothing the Virginia native was last seen wearing in surveillance footage taken on the night she disappeared, shows no signs of tampering, authorities told the outlet.
Law enforcement has speculated that the spring breaker left her clothes on the lounge chair before jumping into the ocean and drowning in a brown bikini.
The Indian national was reported missing around 4 p.m. March 6 by the group of friends with whom she traveled to the Caribbean nation.
Local authorities, who initially believed Konaski’s disappearance was a drowning, haven’t ruled out foul play, naming Iowa resident Joshua Riibe, 22, a senior at Minnesota’s St. Cloud State University, a person of interest.
Riibe had traveled to the RIU Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana for spring break – the same five-star resort where the missing woman was staying with her friends.
Surveillance footage of the night Konanki went missing shows her walking with Riibe near the beach around 4:15 a.m. At one point, the pair can be seen holding hands as Konanki’s spring-break friends from college walk nearby.
Konanki and several friends were on the beach before most of the group called it a night and headed back to their hotel, leaving the young woman on the sand along with her male companion, according to Dominican media.
Island officials suspect a power outage at the resort — which shut down surveillance systems — led the two to go to the beach.
Riibe, a former wrestler and football player at Central Lyon High School in Rock Rapids, has since provided police with several conflicting accounts of what happened after the two were alone on the beach.
He last told police he saved Konanki from the rough Caribbean waters before losing her in the darkness of night and parting ways, according to a transcript obtained by Dominican Republic’s Noticas Sin.
Riibe, who local authorities stress is not a suspect, has remained under 24 hour surveillance, with sources with knowledge of the case indicating Friday that a high-ranking member of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is expected to intensify interrogations as the search for Konaski advances.
The college senior has since refused to answer several key questions about the case after his parents, who have pleaded for justice and transparency, lawyered him up.
“Despite his full willingness to cooperate, Josh has been detained under irregular conditions and subjected to extensive questioning without the presence of official translators or legal counsel until Wednesday, March 12,” the Riibes parents said in a statement, WTAE reported.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, the law enforcement agency in Konanki’s hometown in Virginia, also named Riibe as a person of interest but cautioned that he was not a suspect.
The search for Konanki entered the eighth day Saturday, with missing persons posters describing the young woman as 5 foot 3 with black hair and brown eyes.
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