The Sudiksha Konanki case: Félix Portes details the “inconsistencies” in Joshua Riibe’s versions

Punta Cana — Joshua Steven Riibe, the young man who last saw the Indian Sudiksha Konanki before she disappeared on a beach at a hotel in Punta Cana, has given versions of events that are “very suspicious” and full of inconsistencies.

Lawyer Félix Portes stated this, explaining what he considers “illogical” above all the story told by the foreigner during the formal interrogation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and his legal representatives.

Joshua Steve Riibe is a former high school wrestling champion. (External source).

“Look, the interrogation was going well. Up until the moment where he says that they were leaving the beach, one moment he saw her and the next he didn’t. And for me it is illogical and unreasonable that if I am leaving the beach with a lady and I stop seeing her, I am going to go to bed and sleep. In other words, it is illogical,” Portes told journalist Katherine Hernández.

He says that he understood that she went to his room and that he stayed on the beach because he was tired and went to sleep. Later, he realized that she was missing when his friend told him. In other words, that part there doesn’t quite add up. Everything is fine up to the moment when they shared a drink, which can be seen in the videos obtained by the Prosecutor’s Office, but then at the point where they enter the beach and begin to drown, he supposedly helps her.

Portes asked, “How is he going to help her by drowning her? And then when they are leaving, he loses track of them. And that doesn’t make him worry and he doesn’t go to look for help. You realize that he says that they were calling for help, at one point, and nobody heard them. And then he says that he leaves the beach, but then after all that trauma and having rested, he is not interested in seeing if she got out or not, where she went, in what condition she got out. In other words, that seems very suspicious to me.”

The lawyer also said that the young man “may be telling the truth, but there is a total inconsistency in that part. It is not logical that if you and I are not drowning and we are about to get out, I would forget about you, as if you did not exist, as if I did not know that you exist. It is a situation that I understand that the authorities have to deepen the investigations there and see if what he has said agrees with the other interrogations carried out with the other people who were supposedly with them.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office must act

Based on his experience in judicial matters, the criminal expert considered that the Public Prosecutor’s Office should already be taking action, either to free him or to request that the judge ensure that he remains in the country until his involvement, or lack of involvement, in this case, is determined. This case concerns Dominican society and could affect tourism to the Dominican Republic.

What is known about Sudiksha’s disappearance

The Indian citizen is a permanent resident of the United States. She was on spring break with five friends in the Caribbean when she arrived in the Dominican Republic on March 3.

The National Police indicated that Sudiksha’s disappearance occurred just after 4:15 a.m. on March 6, 2025. At that point, the hotel’s video surveillance cameras captured her and her foreign friends a few meters from entering the beach area.

The uniformed officer said that the search for the 21-year-old began on Friday the 7th at 8:00 a.m., after the US Embassy in the country informed them of the situation by telephone.

High-level commission

It should be noted that the high-level commission responsible for following up on Sudiksha Konanki’s disappearance is made up of the National Police, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the International Liaison Office of the US Embassy in the country.

Personnel from the Dominican Republic Air Force (FARD), the Navy, Civil Defense with their rescue personnel, members of the Fire Department, and hotel personnel are also participating in the search.

Subsequently, Joshua Steven Riibe, the young man who last saw Sudiksha Konani before the tourist disappeared in Punta Cana, is under 24-hour police surveillance at the Riu hotel, where the incident occurred on March 6.

The British newspaper Daily Mail released the information, to whom the foreigner said: “I’m sorry, I can’t say anything, not right now.”

Riibe is a 24-year-old former high school wrestling champion and was among a group of young people who arrived in the country for a vacation trip from the University of Pittsburgh.