Dominican Republic Judge Exonerates Joshua Riibe in Sudiksha Konanki Disappearance – One America News Network
OAN Staff Abril Elfi
6:10 PM – Monday, March 31, 2025
A Dominican Republic judge has officially acquitted Joshua Riibe of any involvement in the case regarding the disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki.
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Judge Edwin Rijo has delivered a comprehensive written verdict and ordered the closure of Riibe’s case.
During a hearing on March 18th, it was determined that Riibe could exit the country after an 11-day period of being held.
“Joshua Riibe is free to leave,” the judge stated, following an extensive hearing and deliberation process.
While Riibe is not facing murder charges, he had been monitored at the resort since Sudiksha went missing.
The 22-year-old asserts that he was effectively detained at the RIU Hotel & Resort, with law enforcement confiscating his phone and shadowing him whenever he left his room — even dining with him.
“On March 18th, after the habeas corpus hearing led to our client’s release, the Prosecutor’s Office of La Altagracia informed him of their readiness to return his passport,” declared Riibe’s legal team. “Although Joshua was grateful for this decision, he opted to apply for a new passport at the U.S. Consulate for privacy reasons, which was issued promptly.”
The decision to release Riibe followed the statement of Konanki’s parents, who now believe she drowned in the turbulent waves off Punta Cana and that Riibe was not involved in her passing.
“Both sides of the authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides clarified that the person of interest was not a suspect from the beginning,” her father Subbarayudu shared with The New York Post. “It is with profound sadness that we are coming to terms with the reality that our daughter has drowned.”
Attorneys for the Dominican government contested the claim that Riibe was being “detained,” asserting that he was merely a witness in the matter and had willingly surrendered his passport to the authorities. They also emphasized that he was not “interrogated” by police, but “interviewed,” according to the outlet.
Despite the government’s stance, the judge ruled in favor of Riibe’s request to depart the country, thus allowing him to return home to Iowa.
“The law is the law,” asserted Delgado.
On March 6th, 20-year-old Sudiksha Konanki disappeared during her spring break in the Dominican Republic.
Footage from surveillance cameras captured her walking to the beach with seven others around 4:15 a.m. However, the majority of the group was seen returning around 6 a.m., leaving her alone with Riibe, who later returned to the hotel hours afterward without her.
“When I finally touched the sand, I placed her in front of me. Then she got up to retrieve her belongings since the ocean had moved us,” Riibe recounted to the prosecutor. “She was still in the water; it only reached her knees. She was stepping at an angle in the water.”
“The last time I saw her, I asked if she was alright. I didn’t hear her response because I began to vomit from the seawater I had swallowed,” he explained. “After I was done vomiting, I looked around and didn’t see anyone. I assumed she had taken her things and left.”
Riibe stated that he vomited, collapsed on a beach chair, woke up hours later, and then made his way back to his hotel room.
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