Witness says missing Pitt student rescued from powerful wave — then vanished

A man who might’ve been the last person to see a missing University of Pittsburgh student in the Dominican Republic said he rescued her from drowning — only for her to vanish a short time later, according to a transcript of an interview he gave local authorities.

Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old junior, went to Punta Cana on March 3 with five female friends for spring break. She was last seen around 4:15 a.m. March 6 after going to the beach with friends.

The man, who officials in Konanki’s home state of Virginia called a “person of interest,” told local investigators that he and Konanki were on the beach “in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little,” according to a transcript of an interview he gave local authorities that NBC News obtained.

That’s when a wave crashed and swept them both “out to sea,” the man said in the March 12 interview.

“I kept trying to get her to breathe, but that didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water,” he said.

Investigators have not described the man as a suspect.

The man told investigators he previously worked as a lifeguard and got himself and Konanki back to shore before she went missing.

“The last time I saw her, I asked if she was OK. I didn’t hear her answer,” he said. “I looked around and didn’t see anyone. I thought she’d grabbed her things and left.” 

He told Dominican authorities that he was surprised to later learn Konanki was missing.

Konanki, from the Washington D.C. suburb of Chantilly, Virginia, is a biology student at Pitt, and her disappearance has drawn the interest of authorities back home.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, where Konanki’s family resides, has no jurisdiction over the case but has sent detectives to Punta Cana to assist with the U.S. side of the investigation, and has described the man interviewed as a “person of interest.”

A sheriff’s spokesperson told NBC News on Friday the department investigators spoke to the man — Joshua Riibe Thursday, the day after local authorities interviewed him.

Riibe’s father and attorney accompanied him during the “extensive interview” and the man was “cooperative,” officials said.

Dominican authorities said Thursday they do not use the term “person of interest” in the case, and no one is considered a suspect at this point. U.S. authorities say this is a missing person’s case and not a criminal matter.