PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – Joshua Riibe, the key witness in the spring break disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki, successfully argued in a Dominican court Tuesday that his de facto house arrest at a five-star resort was against local law.
But although he’s been cleared to return to the United States, Dominican authorities didn’t give him back his passport. He could continue to pursue its return in court or seek a provisional replacement from the U.S. embassy.
Riibe, 22, is believed to be one of the last people who saw Konanki, 20, before she vanished in the early hours of March 6 from the beach behind their resort, the Riu Republica in Punta Cana.
He successfully argued in court Tuesday that as a witness, not a suspect, police control over his movements over an 11-day span was unlawful. A source told Fox News Wednesday that Riibe checked out of the Riu Republica resort and moved last night.
He is still in the Dominican Republic, the source said, and the investigation points to an accidental drowning, not foul play.
Riibe’s family declined to comment.
The State Department confirmed Tuesday it was providing Riibe with consular assistance, but has declined to discuss specifics of the case, citing privacy concerns.
A witness and not a suspect, Riibe had been holed up in the Riu Republica under strict police monitoring for 11 days before a judge ruled the situation violated Dominican law.
“Being held in a hotel instead of a police facility doesn’t change the legal reality — if he is restricted from leaving the country without official legal basis, that’s still a violation of international human rights standards,” said Jason Pack, a retired FBI supervisory special agent and former Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Team Leader.
“The U.S. State Department typically monitors cases where American citizens are detained abroad, especially if it appears they are being denied due process.”
If an American citizen loses a passport in Punta Cana, the U.S. embassy in Santo Domingo advises that the U.S. consulate agency in Bávaro offers emergency assistance – and it’s in the same office complex as Riibe’s attorneys at Guzman Ariza.
While Pack’s former team focused on missing and abducted children, he said the same tactics apply in the case of a missing adult like Konanki.
“Ever since my passport was taken, it’s very rare I’m alone,” Riibe testified before a Dominican judge Tuesday. He later added, “I can’t go anywhere. I really want to be home. Hug my family and friends.”
Surveillance video shows he and Konanki went to the beach with a group around 4:15 a.m. on March 6, the morning she vanished. Most of them were seen leaving around 6 a.m. Riibe and Konanki remained on the beach. Riibe came back by himself hours later, and Konanki’s whereabouts remain unknown nearly two weeks later.
According to a leaked transcript of an interview with police, Riibe told investigators he and Konanki were both pulled away from the shore by a strong current, and they struggled to make it back. He last saw her walking in knee-deep water before he vomited and fell asleep on a beach chair.
Her parents, in a letter to Dominican authorities, asked for her to be declared dead Monday, citing the lack of evidence of foul play and Riibe’s continued cooperation with investigators.
Riibe, for his part, agreed to multiple police interviews but expressed frustration at a hearing Tuesday about his confinement to the resort, where he was monitored by police around the clock for more than a week despite a Dominican law that says a person can be confined for a maximum of 48 hours without being charged with a crime.
Authorities have not called Riibe a suspect and have not accused him of wrongdoing, but in a hearing that repeatedly devolved into screaming between prosecutors and Riibe’s attorneys, the government unsuccessfully sought to have his constant monitoring kept in place.
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The judge sided with Riibe, finding his situation unlawful.
The judge told him to return for a hearing on March 28, but according to one expert, it’s a formality, and he doesn’t actually have to appear in person.
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