International police organization Interpol has now issued a “yellow notice” alert for 20-year old student Sudiksha Konanki who went missing from her spring break vacation in the Dominican Republic last week. Konanki, a citizen of India and permanent resident of Chantilly, Virginia, is a student at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Interpol usually issues yellow notice alerts for cases involving unexplained disappearances. The FBI has also joined the investigation along with local law enforcement authorities in the Dominican town of Punta Cana, where Konanki was last seen.
Konanki and her friends travelled to the Dominican Republic for their spring break. She was last seen in the early hours of March 6, going to a beach near the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana with a group of friends. After reviewing surveillance footage, local authorities believe that Konanki stayed back at the beach, alone with Joshua Riibe, an American whom she met on the island. CNN reports that video surveillance showed Riibe leaving the beach area a few hours later, without Konanki. Riibe remains a person of interest in the case, but not a suspect.
In an email statement to USA Today, a spokesperson for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s office confirmed that they issued the request for the yellow notice as “another means” of assisting in the investigation.
This is a developing story.