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The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office has identified a person of interest in the disappearance of 20-year-old Sudiksha Konanki, of South Riding, Virginia, who was last seen six days ago during a spring break trip in the Dominican Republic.
According to sheriff’s spokesman Thomas Julia, the person of interest is the young man last seen with Konanki, pictured on hotel surveillance video, obtained by Noticias SIN, a Dominican media outlet.
After an evening party at the Riu Republica hotel, where Konanki was staying with five friends from University of Pittsburgh, video shows the young man holding hands with Konanki, as the group walked toward the beach at 4:50 a.m., early Thursday morning.
Several hours later, video showed the young man returning to the hotel, barefoot, alone.
He told police he and Konanki went swimming, but after being hit by a large wave, he felt ill, left the water and fell asleep on a beach lounge chair. Local police said he told conflicting reports about the last time he saw Konanki before falling asleep.
“This is still a missing person case,” rather than a criminal case, Julia said.
Two detectives from Loudoun County are now in Punta Cana, working in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, in re-interviewing the people who were with, or may have seen Konanki during the hours before she was last seen.
WTOP is not naming the young man, since he hasn’t been named a suspect. No arrests have been made in connection with Konanki’s disappearance. Requests to speak with him and his family have not been acknowledged.
Dominican National Police say any allegation of foul play “does not correspond with the preliminary conclusions obtained during the re-interviews conducted under the direction of the Public Prosecutor’s Office as part of the investigation.” While the local police investigation continues, their current belief is that Konanki accidentally drowned.
