Who is Sudiksha Konanki? What to know about American college student’s disappearance in Dominican Republic

The search has intensified for missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, who was last seen in the early hours of March 6 on a beach outside the five-star RIU Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Authorities are chasing leads after surveillance video showed Konanki’s last known moves before she vanished. The video, obtained by Noticias SIN, captured the group striding towards the beach near the lux retreat around 4:15 am. 

A male friend who was with Konanki around the time of her disappearance is under investigation. Police said he was in the water at the same beach, and they are questioning him in an attempt to corroborate his version of events, according to a translation of a Spanish-language statement.

Authorities have not named any suspects amid their ongoing investigation. In a release on Tuesday, the Dominican National Police said it is “re-interviewing targeted individuals who were in the victim’s proximity at the time of her disappearance.”

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Who is Sudiksha Konanki

Konanki, 20, is a junior and pre-med student at the University of Pittsburgh.

Konanki is originally from India but is a legal permanent U.S. resident from Loudoun County, near Washington, D.C., according to authorities. 

She is 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a brown bikini, hoop earrings, bracelets and an anklet. 

Her clothes were found on the beach she was last seen at on Tuesday. 

She was on vacation with five other female University of Pittsburgh students before her disappearance in the early morning hours on March 6, officials said.

Konanki’s last known whereabouts

Konanki was seen walking on the beach with six people that evening prior to her disappearance, three Dominican officials told ABC News. 

Most of the people in the group returned to the hotel that night, but one person stayed behind with Konanki on the beach into the early morning hours of March 6, ABC News reported, citing an investigative police report. 

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Authorities in the Dominican Republic said that Konanki and this person went for a swim and were caught in a big wave.

Investigators later questioned a “young man” who went into the waters of the beach around the time Konanki vanished, the Dominican Republic newspaper Listin Diario reported. 

Local outlet Noticias SIN reported that the man who was questioned was also a guest at the same resort, and was the last person seen with Konanki and reportedly told police several different versions of what happened.

Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman told Fox News his office is “pursuing every angle” and said it wants to “turn over every rock” before concluding what happened to Konanki, declining to comment on whom authorities questioned.

Where the search stands

Several agencies are now involved in the search efforts, including the Dominican Republic Civil Defense, firefighters, the national police, the Dominican Navy, and the embassy of India in the Dominican Republic.

The Loudon County Sheriff’s Office filed for a Yellow Notice to be issued by INTERPOL – a worldwide police alert for a missing person.

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The University of Pittsburgh Police Department also provided an update Monday, saying it is also working with the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office in the search efforts for Konanki. 

The hotel said its team is “providing full support to the authorities in the search, and an emergency protocol has been activated to ensure that all necessary measures are taken.”

A joint investigation into Konanki’s disappearance is being conducted by the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic, the Dominican National Police and the Dominican Prosecutors Office. The FBI is also assisting.

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.