Missing Indian-Origin Student's Last Video Shows Her Walking Towards Beach With Friends

Last Updated:March 12, 2025, 12:48 IST

A newly surfaced surveillance video from Riu Republica Hotel shows Sudiksha Konanki leaving the hotel with a group of friends at 4.15 am on March 6. Investigations into the case have widened.

CCTV screen grab shows Missing Indian-origin student Sudiksha Konanki walking out of her hotel (Social Media)

Twenty-year-old Sudiksha Konanki, who went missing in the popular Dominican Republic tourist town of Punta Cana, was last seen stepping out of her hotel towards the beach, early in the morning. She was seen accompanied by a male person right by her side, while two other females walked behind.

A new surveillance video captured by cameras on Riu Republica Hotel premises shows Konanki walking out of the hotel with a group of friends at 4.15 am on March 6, the day she disappeared.

As the new video surfaced, CNN quoted a Dominican Republic police spokesman as saying, “The interrogations are being carried out on the individuals involved in this group, as well as on the administrative staff, the hotel that has been providing support."

“The review of the camera footage has also been expanded," he said.

Earlier, in another surveillance, Konanki was seen drinking with seven others at the hotel lobby, CNN quoted a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation as saying.

Sudiksha Konanki, a citizen of India, is a United States’ permanent resident from Chantilly, Virginia, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, which is working with federal officials and university police in support of the Dominican Police investigation.

RIGOROUS SEARCH UNDERWAY

Authorities were using drones, helicopters and detection dogs on Monday to scour the waters off the island’s east coast where Konanki was supposedly last seen, Jensen Sanchez, a Civil Defense spokesman, told The Associated Press.

“The search is underway at sea because it’s presumed she drowned. According to the boy who was with her, the waves swept her away, but that is under police investigation," he said.

He noted it can take more than a week for a body to surface in warm waters.

FATHER OF MISSING STUDENT PRESSES FOR WIDER PROBE

As the woman – a University of Pittsburgh student, remains missing, her father asked authorities to widen their investigation.

“It’s four days, and if she was in the water, she would likely have been strewn to shore," her father Subbarayudu Konanki told WTOP-FM, the Associated Press reported.

“She’s not found, so we’re asking them to investigate multiple options, like kidnapping or abduction," he said.

As Konanki’s family learnt of her disappearance, her parents flew to Punta Cana with two family friends. Subsequently, they filed a record of complaint on March 9, asking authorities to widen the investigation.

The complaint noted that the student’s belongings, including her phone and wallet, were left with her friends, “which is unusual because she always carried her phone with her".

“In light of these circumstances, I respectfully request that the authorities take immediate steps to investigate not only the possibility of an accidental drowning but also the possibility of a kidnapping or foul play," he wrote, according to WTOP-FM.

According to the missing student’s father, Konanki and five other female university students had travelled to the Dominican Republic on March 3.

“She wanted to have a nice break with her friends in Punta Cana," he said.

Meanwhile, University of Pittsburgh officials were in contact with the family and authorities in Virginia and offered their support in the efforts to find the missing student and bring her home safely.

A TIMELINE OF BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER HER DISAPPEARANCE

Tuesday, March 3: Konanki arrived in the Dominican Republic with five other female students from the University of Pittsburgh, according to the sheriff’s office in Loudoun County, Virginia, where her family lives.

Early Thursday, March 6: Konanki was seen on surveillance footage drinking with five women and two men in the Riu Republica Hotel lobby in Punta Cana, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation tells CNN.

4.15 am, Thursday, March 6: Konanki was last seen on surveillance camera with seven other people entering the beach at the Riu Republica Hotel, police said.

Nearly 4.55 am, Thursday, March 6: Surveillance cameras captured five women and one man leaving the beach, two sources close to the investigation told CNN. Konanki appears to have stayed behind with a man in his 20s – a man investigators believe was the last person to see her – according to the law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

8.55 am, Thursday, March 6: Surveillance video shows the man in his 20s leaving the beach area, two sources close to the investigation said.

Around 4 pm, Thursday, March 6: The five college friends who travelled with Konanki to the Dominican Republic reported her missing, the Riu hotel chain said in a Spanish-language statement.

5.43 pm, Thursday, March 6: Konanki’s father filed a missing person report with the Loudoun County sheriff’s office, after which the office engaged with the US State Department and federal law enforcement to reach out to the Dominican Republic Police.

Monday, March 10: The Dominican Republic Police said in a 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.

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