What we know about the US college student missing in Dominican Republic

By Zoe Sottile, Rafael Romo, Jessica Hasbun and John Miller, CNN

(CNN) — A 20-year-old college student has gone missing while on vacation in the Dominican Republic, sparking a search that spans land, air and sea.

Sudiksha Konanki, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh, was last seen on surveillance camera with seven other people entering the beach at the Riu República Hotel in Punta Cana after 4:15 a.m. Thursday, the Dominican Republic National Police said in a statement.

She was reported missing after she failed to return from the beach.

The search includes authorities from the Dominican Republic, the United States and India, with search dogs, drones and helicopters being deployed in the effort to find Konanki.

Here’s what we know about Konanki and the ongoing search.

‘Ambitious’ student

Family members describe Konanki as a bright, ambitious student who plans to become a doctor.

“My daughter is a very nice girl,” her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, told CNN. “She’s ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine.”

She was visiting Punta Cana for spring break ahead of premed studies, her father said.

Originally from India, the Konanki family has been in the US since 2006 and are permanent residents living in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Those in her hometown are praying for her safe return.

“It’s already four days and everybody’s so worried,” family friend Shekar Pendem, who has known Konanki since she was 3, said in an interview with CNN affiliate WUSA.

US Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, whose district includes Loudoun County, described Konanki’s disappearance as “the worst nightmare.”

“I’ve got two daughters, and I just think about a scenario like this happening to them,” he said in an interview with WUSA. “It’s, you know, really heartbreaking.”

Konanki arrived in the Dominican Republic on March 3 with five other female students from the University of Pittsburgh, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office said her father filed a missing person report around 5:43 p.m. Thursday, after which the office immediately engaged with the State Department and federal law enforcement to reach out to the Dominican Republic National Police.

In a statement, the FBI said it is assisting its international partners but directed questions to the Dominican Republic authorities, who are leading the investigation.

Last hours before disappearance

In the last hours before she was reported missing, Konanki was seen drinking and going to the beach with friends, who later returned to their hotel without her.

Early Thursday morning, Konanki was seen on surveillance footage drinking with five women and two men in the Riu República Hotel lobby, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

Then, around 4:15 a.m., the group was seen entering the beach at the hotel, police said.

“Her friends came back after some time and my daughter did not come back, did not show up from the beach,” Konanki’s father told CNN.

Around 4:55 a.m. Thursday, surveillance cameras captured five women and one man leaving the beach, two sources close to the investigation told CNN. Konanki was not among them.

Surveillance video shows the man leaving the beach area at 8:55 a.m., the two sources close to the investigation said, with no sign of Konanki. A source initially said the surveillance video times were one hour later than 4:55 a.m. and 8:55 a.m., based on time stamps from the video. But hotel staff eventually told investigators the time stamp was an hour ahead of actual time, the two sources said.

When Konanki didn’t come back to her room, her companions searched for her, according to the law enforcement source. The group reported her missing to hotel staff around 4 p.m. Thursday, the Riu hotel chain said in a statement.

Konanki’s sarong-style cover-up was found on a lounge chair on the beach. There were no signs of violence, a Dominican Republic law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Authorities have been interviewing a man in his 20s who they believe was the last person to see Konanki last week, though he is not considered to be a suspect at this time, the law enforcement source said.

He was being kept in a hotel room under police watch as the probe continues, but he is not officially detained, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

He told authorities they both went into the ocean but he felt sick, got out of the water and fell asleep on a lounge chair, according to the source.

Another law enforcement source briefed on the investigation said the man was interviewed by police several times and provided different details but there were no significant inconsistencies in his recounting of the events that night.

A source familiar with the investigation had earlier told CNN the man had given them different accounts of what happened the last time he saw her. The law enforcement source who said there were no significant inconsistencies in the man’s recounting said translation issues may have been a reason for the differences.

No ‘stone unturned’

Konanki’s disappearance has commenced an intensive search effort, with authorities from the US, the Dominican Republic, and India contributing to the hunt for the missing student.

The Dominican Republic National Police said in a Monday post on X that they were re-interviewing people who had been with Konanki and employees of the hotel where they were staying, and are working on an “exhaustive analysis” of surveillance footage.

Police have also “reinforced personnel and technological tools, including specialized marine equipment, to continue the search efforts,” reads the post.

The Dominican National Emergency System is coordinating search efforts on the island, which took place throughout the weekend and continued Monday. Their search efforts include four teams of drones equipped with advanced technology, the system said in a statement Sunday.

Video footage from the search efforts Tuesday shows military personnel searching for Konanki in Punta Cana on the beach, by boat and flying drones.

Authorities in the Dominican Republica said they are intensifying the “intensive operation” by land, air and sea. Since early Tuesday, more than 300 agents, specialists, tactical units and aquatic search teams have been deployed in the coastal area and surrounding areas of the hotel, authorities said on X.

The government has made available “all the necessary resources” to find Konanki, including teams of forensic technicians who are analyzing images from video surveillance cameras in the area.

Konanki’s father told CNN that authorities have used multiple methods to search for his daughter. “So far, the authorities, multiple authorities here in the Dominican Republic have searched in the waters. They searched using helicopters and other tools. They also searched in the near bay, bushes, trees. They went multiple times around the same areas,” he said.

“We want to make sure that we don’t leave any stone unturned,” Loudoun County Sheriff Michael Chapman said Monday, adding that his office is working closely with Dominican authorities as well as the US Embassy and the FBI to assist in the search.

The Embassy of India is “extending all assistance in coordination with government authorities of the Dominican Republic,” according to a post on Facebook.

Hotel staff from the Riu are also helping authorities in their search, the hotel chain said in a statement.

Konanki’s parents and two family friends have also traveled to Punta Cana, according to the Associated Press.

What’s next

The Dominican Republic National Police said Monday it formed a “high-level commission” to work on the investigation, alongside the Attorney General’s Office, the FBI and the International Liaison of the US embassy.

Konanki’s father said he wants local authorities “to also investigate other possibilities including whether this is a case of kidnapping or human trafficking.”

“We don’t think she would be able to survive for more than three days in the water and I think something else might’ve happened to her,” he told CNN on Sunday.

Chapman told CNN he was unable to rule out the possibility of foul play. “We’re pursuing every possible lead,” he said. “We’re hoping and praying that we have a very positive outcome.”

“It’s an extensive amount of searching that they’ve done, and yet they still haven’t found her, so in a way, that may be a good sign,” he said.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office had urged caution around “public speculation” about Konanki’s disappearance in a Monday news release.

“There has been considerable public speculation about what may have happened to Konanki and who may be involved,” the sheriff’s office said. “We caution anyone from drawing any unsubstantiated conclusions and are committed to ensuring that a thorough investigation is conducted before any conclusions are reached.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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CNN’s Susannah Cullinane, José Álvarez, Chris Boyette, Ana Melgar and Michael Rios contributed to this report.