The last person to see missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki alive is now free to return home, a judge in the Dominican Republic ruled Tuesday.
“Joshua Riibe is free to leave,” the judge declared following a hearing that lasted several hours and hours more deliberation..
Riibe, 22, dressed in black and looking disheveled, was mobbed by TV cameras as he appeared for the court hearing on his bid to be released to return home after being identified as a person of interest in the March 6 disappearance of 20-year-old coed Sudiksha Konaki.
“I really want to be able to go home, talk to my family, give them hugs, tell them I miss them,” Riibe told Judge Elvis Delgado during the heated closed-door hearing, according to Noticias SIN. “I understand I’m here to help, but it’s been 10 days and I can’t leave.”
Riibe has not been charged with wrongdoing and has he been identified as a suspect in Konanki’s disappearance, but remains on the island after his passport was seized.
The ruling to release him came after Konanki’s parents said they now believe that she drowned in the rough surf off Punta Cana and that Riibe wasn’t involved in her death.
“Both sides of the authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides of the authorities have clarified the person of interest was not a suspect from the beginning,” her father Subbarayudu told The Post. “It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we are coming to terms with the fact our daughter has drowned.”
The ruling to release Riibe came after lawyers for both sides sparred bitterly over the circumstances Riibe’s presence in the Dominican Republic, with lawyers for the government saying he was never a suspect, but a witness in the mysterious disappearance.
“Enough,” his father, Albert Riibe, told the judge. “It’s been 12 days.”
Lawyers for the Dominican government denied Riibe was being “detained,” and was only a witness in the case – and said he voluntarily turned his passport over to authorities.
They said he was never “interrogated” by police, only “interviewed,” the outlet said.
But the judge didn’t buy the government’s argument, granting his request and freeing him to return home to Iowa.
Authorities revealed that a friend who was with Riibe at the resort, Carter Joseph, also remains in the Dominican Republican but did not say if he is held against his will and can now go home.
Riibe was among more than 50 people interviewed in the case, officials said.
A student at St. Cloud State College in Minnesota, he told police he and Konanki, who was on spring break with her friends, went for an early morning swim at RIU Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana when they were caught in rough surf – but said he brought her safely to shore before passing out on the beach.
Dominican police initially said they believed that Konanki drowned but did not rule out foul play – and described Riibe as a person of interest and seized his passport while a massive search was launched for the Konanki that included FBI and US Department of Homeland Security personnel.
On Monday, Riibe’s lawyer, Beatriz Santana, filed the writ of habeas corpus – a legal demand that the Iowan be released because he has not been charged with wrongdoing, which prompted Tuesday’s court hearing.
Meanwhile Konanki’s parents on Monday submitted a moving letter asking that their daughter be officially declared dead..
The letter from Subbarayudu and SreeDevi Konanki also asked that Riibe be allowed to return home.
Riibe testified in court Tuesday that he met with SrereDevi Konanki on the island, and that she told him, “Thank you for saving my daughter the first time.”
Sudiksha Konanki’s disappearance captivated the world, with international media reporting on the lengthy search for her.
The young student from Virginia arrived at the Punta Cana resort on spring break with her friends on March 3.
Security cameras captured her and Riibe at the hotel bar hours before her disappearance, with the pair possibly both seen throwing up.
The group later was caught on video walking out to the beach, where Riibe and Konanki are seen holding hands and arm-in-arm taking a selfie.
