The mystery man spotted with his arm around missing spring breaker Sudiksha Konanki on the morning of her disappearance has been identified by police sources as American Joshua Steven Riibe. According to a source involved in the investigation, Riibe, a 24-year-old former high school wrestler with a strong build, has been "cooperative" with authorities.
He is still in Punta Cana but still is not officially considered a suspect at this time. Dominican officials are currently in possession of his passport, but the source clarified to the Daily Mail that there is no legal barrier that will prevent him from reclaiming it and returning to the United States at any point.
Mystery Hunk Who Last Saw Sudiksha
Authorities are also believed to be in possession of Riibe's phone but are awaiting legal approval before they can examine its contents, the Daily Mail reported. Riibe and Konanki were last seen walking toward the beach together around 4 a.m. on March 6.
They were part of a larger group of friends, but by 5:55 a.m., the others had returned to their rooms, leaving Riibe and Sudiksha alone on the beach, the outlet reported.
Riibe claims they decided to go for a swim but were caught in a strong wave. He says he managed to make it back to shore before falling asleep, while Sudiksha was never seen again.
Her body has not yet been found, but Dominican authorities strongly believe she drowned.
This came as it was revealed that the FBI has now joined the search for Sudiksha. Police said that they are re-interviewing people who were with Sudiksha in the early morning hours of March 6 at a beach in front of the Riu República Hotel.
A private investigator, who previously looked into Natalee Holloway's 2005 murder case, does not agree with the police's conclusion that Sudiksha drowned. "I don't think that she drowned in the ocean," private investigator TJ Ward told Fox News.
"I totally believe that somebody knows something where she is, or somebody took her away, or somebody's holding her somewhere."
"If she had gone into the water, she would've washed up somewhere with a tide the way that comes into the island," he added.
Konanki's family has also questioned the possibility of drowning and urged authorities to investigate other, more troubling possibilities. "It's four days, and if she was in water, she would likely have been strewn to shore," her father father, Subbarayudu Konanki told WTOP News.
Family Still Confident
Although the video timestamp displayed 5:16 a.m. local time, Noticias SIN confirmed that the surveillance system's clock was incorrectly set an hour ahead. This means the group was actually filmed at 4:16 a.m.
Additional footage captured Johnson and another woman holding hands as they walked back from the beach at 5:05 a.m., ten minutes before the remaining two women left.
Riibe was later seen by the cameras at 8:54 a.m., barefoot and shirtless, slowly making his way back to his room.
According to a source familiar with the investigation, Konanki's friends left the hotel for an excursion that morning. When they returned around 4 p.m., they realized she was missing and promptly reported it to authorities.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department is collaborating with the Indian embassy in the Dominican Republic, which is leading the investigation, as Konanki was an Indian citizen and a permanent resident of the United States.
Konanki, a pre-med student, was on track to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh in 2026, according to her LinkedIn profile.
