An American linked to the disappearance of a University of Pittsburgh student has been spotted by NBC News with investigators, his father and his attorney on a beach in Punta Cana in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Joshua Riibe was seen pointing toward the sea while a group of security kept people away from the area.
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WATCH HERERiibe might have been the last person to see Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh junior who went to Punta Cana on March 3 with five female friends for spring break. She was last seen around 4:15 a.m. on March 6 after going to the beach with friends.
Riibe's passport was confiscated on Friday by Dominican authorities as part of an ongoing investigation, his attorneys told NBC News.
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SIGN UP Regional Red Cross Director Fernando Placeres told NBC News on Sunday that he had no information about whether a body had been found.
Speaking exclusively to NBC News briefly at the resort where Konanki had been staying before her disappearance, Riibe said, “I’m just trying to help them out,” adding, “The ocean is a dangerous place.”
Riibe “has been confined to the hotel since the investigation began. He is permanently escorted by the police anywhere he goes. So no, he is not free to leave,” the law firm representing him told NBC News in an email Saturday.
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The Dominican Republic’s national police did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
BREAKING—Joshua Riibe tells @NBCNews “I’m just trying to help them out…The ocean is a dangerous place,” when approached at Riu Republica.
— Jesse Kirsch (@JesseKirschNews) March 15, 2025
MORE: His attorneys tell us “His passport has been confiscated…he is not free to leave.”
No immediate comment from DR national police.
In an interview this week with local investigators, Riibe said he was on the beach with Konanki shortly before she disappeared.
He said they were "in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little," according to a transcript of the interview obtained by NBC News. A wave crashed, taking them both "out to sea."
"I kept trying to get her to breathe, but that didn't allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water," he said, telling investigators that he used to work as a lifeguard.
Riibe said he got Konanki back to shore before she went missing.
"The last time I saw her, I asked if she was OK. I didn't hear her answer," he said. "I looked around and didn't see anyone. I thought she'd grabbed her things and left."
He told authorities in the Dominican Republic that he was shocked to later learn she was missing.
The sheriff's office in Loudon County, Virginia, where Konanki is from and where her family lives, has described Riibe as a "person of interest." The sheriff's office has no jurisdiction over the investigation but has sent detectives to Punta Cana to assist in the U.S. side of the investigation.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic said Thursday they do not use the term "person of interest" in the case and at this point, no one is considered a suspect.
U.S. authorities say this is a missing persons case and not a criminal matter.
Riibe, 22, from Rock Rapids, Iowa, is a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.
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