Judge makes major ruling on Josh Riibe after he was investigated for Sudiksha Konanki Punta Cana disappearance

A Dominican judge officially dismissed the case against the American man who was the last person to see University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki before she disappeared.

Josh Riibe, 22, returned to the United States on March 22 after finding himself at the center of the chaotic case and had his passport confiscated, forcing him to stay in the Dominican Republic under strict supervision.

He was the last person to have been seen with Konanki before she went missing from the Riu Republica Resort in Punta Cana in the early hours of March 6.

Riibe’s attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus demanding authorities charge him with a crime or let him go home, which a judge granted on March 18.

The petition was made the same day Konanki’s parents called on the Dominican National Police to declare her legally dead. 

Judge Edwin Rijo of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance of La Altagracia solidified the decision on Friday by releasing the full legal reasoning and officially concluding the case, reported WJLA.

Riibe was named a person of interest by Dominican authorities who launched an all-out search for the 20-year-old Konanki after she disappeared from a beach at the Riu Republica Hotel during the early morning of March 6.

The five-star resort’s surveillance camera system showed Riibe walking with Konanki, his friend Carter Joseph and three of Konanki’s girl friends towards the beach at 4:15 am.

Two of Konanki’s friends were seen returning to their rooms at 4:55 am, followed by Joseph and another of the young women at 5:05 am.

The same camera picked up a shirtless and barefooted Riibe making his way back to his room at 8:54 am without Konanki in sight.

Riibe had his cell phone and passport confiscated by authorities, who barred him from leaving the country and kept him holed up inside the resort under strict surveillance.

The former high school wrestler, who has a girlfriend in the United States, gave conflicting and confusing statements of what transpired on the beach.

He told police that he and Konanki went for a swim and were knocked out by a large wave. He claimed he used his lifeguard training to drag her back towards the shore, but that the last time he saw her she was waist deep in water.

He managed to get out and passed out on a sun bed, he said. Konanki was never seen again.

Riibe was taken in for another round of questions March 12 and told a prosecutor that he and Konanki drank on the beach and then kissed in the ocean when they got swept by waves.

He declined to reply to multiple questions, with the prosecutor probing him over how they could be sure what he was being honest.

He was also questioned if he knew if Sudiksha was able to swim, if she made any gestures or cries in the sea, if he called the cops or told the hotel, if he had told his friends about what happened and was also asked how he felt about the situation.

Each time he replied: ‘My lawyers advise me not to answer that question and I follow their advice’, before going silent.

Konanki’s grieving parents said they now believe it’s likely their daughter died by drowning and that Riibe was not involved in her death.

‘Both sides of the authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides of the authorities have clarified the person of interest was not a suspect from the beginning,’ her father Subbarayudu Konanki told The New York Post.

‘It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we are coming to terms with the fact our daughter has drowned,’ he said. ‘This is incredibly difficult for us to process.’

They also asked that Riibe be allowed to leave the island country and return back to home.

Riibe claims he has spoken with Konanki’s devastated mother, revealing in court that she hugged and thanked him for dragging her daughter from the ocean prior to her baffling disappearance.