Judge grants freedom request for last person seen with missing US student Sudiksha Konanki in Dominican Republic

By Mark Morales, Jessica Hasbun, Chris Boyette and Karina Tsui, CNN

Higüey, Dominican Republic (CNN) — A judge in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday granted a request for freedom for Joshua Steven Riibe, who investigators believe was the last person to see missing US college student Sudiksha Konanki alive nearly two weeks ago.

Riibe argued Dominican authorities inappropriately detained him without charges and challenged their treatment of him since the 20-year-old’s disappearance on March 6.

The court hearing for Riibe came a day after Konanki’s parents asked Dominican Republic authorities that she be officially declared dead after she went missing while on spring break in Punta Cana, arguing investigators believe she drowned and that no evidence of foul play has been found.

Riibe’s hearing in the Dominican Republic city of Higüey related to his habeas corpus petition from last week, in which he asked the court to grant him freedom and claimed that prosecutors, police and the hotel where he was staying violated his rights, in part by restricting his movements without charges filed against him, according to court documents.

During the hearing Tuesday, Riibe – wearing a black button-down shirt and blue jeans – urged a judge to let him return to the United States.

“I really want to go home and see my family,” Riibe testified. “I understand I’m here to help but it’s been 10 days.” Riibe said he was “first detained on Saturday” and believed he was “going to go home that day.”

Riibe, a 22-year-old Iowa resident and a student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, has not been considered a suspect in Konanki’s disappearance and has not been accused of wrongdoing. However, he was being kept in a hotel room under police watch – though not officially detained – during an investigation, a source familiar with the probe told CNN last week. Authorities in the Dominican Republic confiscated Riibe’s passport last week, a different source close to the investigation told CNN.

Dominican Republic Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso interviewed Riibe over the weekend for more than six hours, according the source. A previous statement from Riibe’s parents said their son has been taken to a police station for interrogation multiple times.

Riibe’s parents also claimed he was detained “under irregular conditions” and questioned without official translators or legal counsel until March 12. Prosecutors declined comment when asked by CNN about those allegations.

Michael Chapman, the sheriff of Loudoun County, Virginia, where Konanki’s family lives, told CNN on Sunday that Riibe had been “very forthright with our detectives.” The sheriff said he didn’t see “any inconsistencies” with what Riibe said.

The entire contents of Riibe’s habeas corpus request were expected to be made public at the Tuesday hearing.

At the court hearing, lawyers representing the government argued Riibe is not being held in custody, but said he was interviewed as a “witness” and “has never been accused.” Riibe’s defense lawyer, however, said Riibe “has been restricted in his movement and his freedom” since last week.

Meanwhile, Konanki’s parents have asked for Dominican authorities to declare her dead. Investigators believe Konanki, a University of Pittsburgh student, drowned “and no evidence of foul play has been found,” Subbarayudu and SreeDevi Konanki wrote in a letter obtained by CNN.

“Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence,” Konanki’s parents wrote. “While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.” CNN sought comment from Subbarayudu Konanki about the letter on Tuesday.

“Given these circumstances, and after much deliberation, we request that the police department proceed with the legal declaration of her death,” the letter from her parents, dated Monday, reads.

“Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned,” the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia said in a release Tuesday. “While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible as we continue to review the evidence and information made available to us in the course of this investigation.”

Riibe’s defense attorneys referenced the sheriff’s statement Tuesday as evidence in their case. His father, Albert Riibe, also testified in court, saying his son doesn’t have his passport or cell phone: “They won’t let him leave the hotel.”

“The main thing is we can’t leave our room because in the morning they’ll come and get us for interviews and we have no form of communication,” Joshua Riibe testified.

Riibe’s defense attorney said he’s a “victim” and argued prosecutors asked him the same question multiple times in hopes he trips up in his response.

During his testimony, Riibe recounted his exchange with Konanki’s mother, who hugged and thanked him for saving her daughter the first time. “I’ve done what I can but at this time there’s not much now that I can do,” Riibe said, adding: “I’m just waiting to go home and go back to my life.”

Konanki’s last known moments

Konanki, described by her father as an “ambitious” student who planned to study medicine, arrived in Punta Cana on March 3. She traveled with five other female students from the University of Pittsburgh, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

Riibe said he first met Konanki in the hotel when he and his friend introduced themselves to her group. The two friend groups went together to a bar, where they drank until “someone suggested we go to the beach,” Riibe said in an interview with Dominican prosecutors last week, according to Dominican news program Noticias SIN, citing a transcript of the interview.

In the early hours of March 6, she was seen on surveillance footage drinking with five women and two men in a Riu República Hotel bar. In the video, Konanki is seen wearing a white cover-up as she hugs and talks with her friends. Riibe is seen several feet away, bent over and stumbling on the lawn outside the bar.

Then, at 4:15 a.m., a surveillance camera captured the group, including Konanki, entering the beach, police said.

Just before 5 a.m., surveillance footage shows five women and one man leaving the beach, two sources close to the investigation told CNN. Konanki was not among them.

Riibe told prosecutors he and Konanki were hit by an intense wave and were swept out to sea when the water returned, according to Noticias SIN.

During an interview with prosecutors on March 12, Riibe described a harrowing attempt to save Konanki after they were jostled by the wave and she got tired of swimming, according to Noticias SIN, citing the interview transcript.

“It took me a long time to get her out. It was difficult,” Riibe said, according to Noticias SIN. He said he was trained as a lifeguard but worked at pools, not at the beach.

“I was trying to get her to breathe the whole time. That didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water. I could have lost consciousness several times. When I finally reached the ground on the beach, I held her in front of me.”

He said he last saw Konanki when she was walking in knee-deep water.

“The last time I saw her, I asked if she was OK. I didn’t hear her answer because I started vomiting up all the seawater I had swallowed.”

“After vomiting, I looked around, and I didn’t see anyone. I thought she had grabbed her things and left,” Riibe told prosecutors last week, according to Noticias SIN.

“I felt very sick and tired. I lay down on a beach chair and fell asleep because I couldn’t go far.”

The sun and biting mosquitoes woke Riibe up, he said, and he went to his friend’s room to get his phone and then went to his room to sleep.

“I was sleeping in the room and my friend asked me if I had seen her; I told him no, I thought she had gone to her room,” Riibe said. His friend told him Konanki never returned to her room, which Riibe said “surprised” him.

When Konanki didn’t return to her room, her friends searched for her before notifying authorities, according to the law enforcement source. The group then reported her missing to hotel staff around 4 p.m. Thursday, according to the Riu hotel chain.

Konanki’s sarong-style cover-up was found on a lounge chair on the beach, but there were no signs of violence, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN last week.

Konanki’s disappearance comes nearly two months after four tourists drowned in Punta Cana, according to the Dominican Republic’s civil defense agency, at the same beach where she was last seen. Strong currents swept the tourists off the Arena Gorda beach, where the Riu República Hotel is located, the civil defense agency said January 18 in a Facebook post.

“After I saw her walk away while she was walking in the water, I never saw her again,” Riibe told prosecutors last week, according to Noticias SIN.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Mark Morales reported from Higüey and CNNE’s Jessica Hasbun reported from Santo Domingo; CNN’s Chris Boyette wrote from Atlanta and Karina Tsui wrote from Hong Kong. CNN’s Andy Rose and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.