The family of a college student who disappeared on a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic wants authorities there to broaden their search.
The University of Pittsburgh junior was last seen early Thursday morning. Local and federal law enforcement, along with Dominican police, are all working on the investigation together.
An exhaustive search of the beach in Punta Cana. The last place Sudiksha Konanki was seen, has been ongoing. The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, expressed concern and empathy for the Konanki family, while speaking about on-going search.
He said search crews have been focusing on the sea because, according to one of the people who was last with Konanki, while they were on the beach, they were hit by a wave, and that’s what led to this situation.
Her five friends who traveled with her for the Spring Break trip had already returned to their rooms from the beach, but the sheriff said Konanki stayed behind with the other group. The Loudoun County Sheriff confirmed Dominican authorities have spoken to a young man and two others, not from the University of Pittsburgh, who were last known to be with Konanki.
Dominican authorities said they’re re-interviewing witnesses and hotel workers at the Riu Resort, which is where Konanki was staying.
Konanki’s family and close family friends are now in the Dominican Republic.
“So far they have not been able to find my daughter,” said her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, in an interview with WTOP. “They are using helicopters, drones, and scuba diving and boats.”
Her father said she’s a pre-med junior at University of Pittsburgh who went to the Dominican Republic to enjoy spring break with friends. They never imagined this would happen. They’re now urging authorities to expand their search from the sea and resort area.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office has filed what’s known as a yellow notice, which is a worldwide police alert to be issued by Interpol which would help authorities track her down if she’s found to have traveled to another country.
The sheriff said at this stage they are not ruling anything out, from possible drowning, to abduction to the hope she will be found alive.
“We are going on the presumption that she’s still alive, and we want to make sure that we’re exhausting every possible lead that we can, and we feel we’re doing that,” said Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman.
Nextdoor neighbor and longtime family friend Shekar Pendem said he’s known Konanki since she was a toddler.
“She was a brilliant student. She went to one of the great schools,” he said.
Pendem was one of the first people the family called when they learned Konanki was
missing. He believes the Dominican authorities now need to widen their search. beyond the resort.
“This is going on for four days and the family is so sad…” he said. “They should expand the search beyond just the resort area to the city and town, and hopefully that may give some clue. We are really hoping for her to return.”
Ramprakash Krisnamanaidu, a family friend who traveled to the Dominican Republic with the Konankis also is pressing for a broader search zone beyond the beach and water.
“That’s why we feel that this could be an abduction or kidnapping because not in the water, not anywhere, they couldn't find her in the resort, they couldn't find her in hospitals, then where is she?” he said.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, who represents Loudoun County, said he remains in contact with Konanki’s family and her disappearance has hit his community hard.
“You know, the Indian community in Virginia is very close-knit and something happens, something that happens to one happens to all,” he said.
Authorities say they know there’s a lot of speculation as to what may have happened to Konanki on social media but are urging people to await the results of the investigation before drawing any conclusions.
