American Joshua Riibe is under round-the-clock police surveillance in the same luxury Caribbean mega-resort where missing spring breaker Sudiksha Konanki vanished seven days ago.
‘I’m sorry, I can’t say anything, not right now,’ Riibe told DailyMail.com when we located him inside the five-star Riu Republica hotel in Punta Cana.
The former high school wrestling champ, 24, was the last person to see University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha alive in the early hours of March 6.
He’s not been named a suspect, nor a person of interest, here in the Dominican Republic and is legally free to fly back to the US whenever he wants.
But Riibe remains holed up in a private corner of the sprawling party complex – a virtual prisoner in paradise – while he continues to cooperate with police and search agencies.
The somber-faced Rock Rapids, Iowa native declined to answer questions when DailyMail.com encountered him walking through the lobby with his father Mike, 46, and a police chaperone.
He looked stressed and unshaven but remained polite and deferential, shaking our reporter’s hand before the minder stepped in to cut our chat short.
Josh and his dad, who flew in this week to support his son, have also been in communication with Sudiksha’s distraught Indian immigrant parents Subbarayudu and Sreedevi, DailyMail.com can reveal.
American Josh Riibe is under round-the-clock police surveillance at the mega-resort where missing spring breaker Sudiksha Konanki disappeared seven days ago
The surveillance video footage showed Riibe and Sudiksha together the night she vanished. When DailyMail.com found him in the hotel he said: ‘I’m sorry, I can’t say anything, not right now’
Riibe has been in communication with Sudiksha’s distraught parents Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki and provided them with his phone number, DailyMail.com can reveal
They provided the couple’s friends with phone numbers so they can stay in contact over the coming days and weeks, according to our source.
‘Joshua wants Sudiksha to be found as much as anyone here. It’s a terrible situation for everyone involved and he’s cooperating fully,’ the source insisted.
Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, was seen on hotel CCTV with his arm draped around Sudiksha as they headed to the resort’s beach around 4am last Thursday.
The cameras spotted him walking back alone at 9.55am. Sudiksha’s gal pals reported her missing at around 4pm.
He told investigators from the Ministerio Publico that the pair waded into the water together before he trudged back to the shore alone, threw up and fell asleep on a sun lounger.
According to local media, Riibe offered differing accounts of what happened, initially claiming that she called out to him from the waves to see if he was OK before stating that he last saw her walking parallel to the shore in knee-deep water.
Sources close to the investigation tell DailyMail.com that’s probably because different translators were used for his three interviews.
Riibe, described as a good kid who ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’ by his friends and family, continues to insist that he awoke to find Sudiksha gone and has no idea where she went.
Josh’s father Mike, 46, has joined Josh in Punta Cana to support his son. He and a police chaperone were seen with the 24-year-old when DailyMail.com spotted them
Riibe was seen talking to law enforcement at the beach on Monday. Local outlets reported he gave multiple stories but a source told us this could have been because different translators were used for his three interviews
Spring breakers are partying on at the ‘adults only’ Riu Republica despite the fact it is teeming with cops, soldiers and officials
Subbarayudu and Sreedevi say they last heard from their bright, bubbly daughter during an 8pm phone call on the evening of March 5
Thus far, officials have no evidence to suggest he’s lying or that any sort of struggle or sexual violence took place.
The ‘adults only’ Riu Republica was still teeming with cops, soldiers and officials Thursday as the hunt for pre-med student Sudiksha entered a second week.
Drones, divers, sniffer dogs and hundreds of officers have been deployed in one of the biggest searches in the history of the Dominican Republic, assisted by the FBI and Interpol, which issued a ‘yellow notice’ – a global missing person alert – for the Chantilly, Virginia resident.
Punta Cana, a sun-drenched party playground on the nation’s eastern coast is a favorite destination for American spring breakers who can drink here legally at 18 in budget-friendly, all-inclusive resorts.
Government officials revealed Thursday that the search will carry on at full intensity through at least Sunday, according to Noticias SIN.
Searches are typically stood down after ten days but it could last for as long as six months in a scaled down capacity, the Dominican outlet reported.
Subbarayudu and Sreedevi say they last heard from their bright, bubbly daughter during an 8pm phone call on the evening of March 5.
They have begged authorities to widen the search zone and to take seriously the possibility that Sudiksha didn’t drown but was instead kidnapped.
Sudiksha’s parents have begged authorities to widen the search zone and to take seriously the possibility that Sudiksha didn’t drown but was instead kidnapped
Government officials revealed Thursday that the search will carry on at full intensity through at least Sunday, according to Noticias SIN
Riibe was a champion wrestler at Central Lyon High School in the tiny town of Rock Rapids, Iowa
‘It’s four days, and if she was in water, she would likely have been strewn to shore,’ Subbarayudu wrote in a previous statement to police.
‘She’s not found, so we’re asking them to investigate multiple options, like kidnapping or abduction.’
Powerfully built Riibe was a wrestler who made the Iowa State championships in high school.
He also played guard on his high school football team and competed in discus and shot put for track and field.
‘I’ve known Josh since he was a young boy. There is no way he would harm her or have anything to do with her disappearance,’ his next-door neighbor Laurel Schreiver told DailyMail.com.
She added, with conviction: ‘I bet my life on it, Josh did not hurt that girl.’
