(NewsNation) — Authorities are continuing efforts to find Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student who has been missing for nearly a week after going on a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic.
Konanki is a citizen of India and a permanent U.S. resident. She was one of six female University of Pittsburgh students traveling together for spring break.
“My daughter is a very nice girl,” her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, told CNN. “She’s ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine.”
The search involves joint efforts by authorities in the Dominican Republic, the United States and India. Now, a person of interest has been named.
Sudiksha Konanki arrives in Punta Cana
March 3: Authorities say Konanki arrived in the Dominican Republic for a spring break trip with five other students.
The day Sudiksha Konanki went missing
March 6, 3 a.m: Konanki was seen on surveillance footage drinking with five women and two men in the Riu República Hotel, which is just north of Punta Cana in the La Altagracia district.
4:50 a.m.: Surveillance footage shows her walking on the beach at the resort.
5:55 a.m.: Surveillance cameras captured five women and one man leaving the beach, but Konanki was not with them, the outlet reported. According to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, Konanki was last seen wearing a brown bikini, big round earrings, a metal designer anklet on her right leg, yellow and steel bracelets on her right hand, and a multicolored beaded bracelet on her left hand.
4 p.m.: Konkani’s friends notified authorities after searching for her in the hotel.
Konanki’s sarong-style cover-up was found on a lounge chair on the beach. There were no signs of violence, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
Authorities launch a search for Sudiksha Konanki
The Dominican Civil Defense said it, and a search and rescue unit has been working to locate Konanki. Drones and helicopters are also being used in the search.
“It is our understanding that the US is deploying considerable federal assets to locate the missing female, supporting the Dominican National Police,” the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said.
On Sunday, RIU Hotels released a statement, saying, in part, “From the moment her absence was reported, we have been working closely with the local authorities, including the police and the navy, to conduct a thorough search.”
Hotel officials also said that they have created an internal communications channel so that all employees across the five Punta Cana hotels can share any information they have with hotel leaders and police, according to NBC News.
Police interview witnesses in missing University of Pittsburgh student case
The public prosecutor’s office said they interviewed Konanki’s friends.
Police also spoke with a man in his 20s who was allegedly at the beach around the same time as Konanki and was the last person to see her.
Surveillance video shows the man leaving the beach area alone at 9:55 a.m. The man told police different versions of when he saw the student.
He told authorities they both went into the ocean, but he felt sick, got out of the water and fell asleep on a lounge chair, the outlet reported. He initially said Konanki may have been swept away by a wave but then gave another account, saying she may have left when he got out of the water.
In a third account, he said he saw her walking along the beach with the water up to her knees in the direction of where she had left her clothes, the outlet reported.
“It smells fishy, and it just doesn’t comport,” Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told NewsNation of the man’s account.
Sudiksha Konanki‘s family fears the worst
Authorities have not said there is any sign of foul play, and the leading theory among law enforcement is that she drowned, but her family is pushing investigators to consider the possibility she may have been abducted.
Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman told NewsNation his department is “leaving no stone unturned” and has reached out to her parents.
Konanki’s father told CNN he wants local authorities to also investigate other possibilities, including whether this is a case of “kidnapping or human trafficking.”
“We don’t think she would be able to survive for more than three days in the water, and I think something else might’ve happened to her,” he said.
State Department issues travel warning
The Dominican National Police said they formed a “high-level commission” to work on the investigation, alongside the Attorney General’s Office, the FBI, and the International Liaison of the US embassy, according to CNN.
The U.S. State Department has issued a Level 2 travel advisory for the Dominican Republic, warning of violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide and sexual assault.
Officials claim man may have been last to see Sudiksha Konanki
March 12: The last person to potentially see Konanki is identified.
Chad J. Quinn, manager of media relations and communications for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, originally identified a person of interest on Wednesday morning.
Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office director of media relations and communications Thomas Julia clarified the statement later that day.
“We are not going to comment about other persons, but we do believe that (he) may have been the last person to see or be with the missing person. This is still a missing person investigation, not a criminal investigation, so he is not a person of interest nor suspect for that latter purpose,” Julia said in a statement.
NewsNation will not name the man unless he is named officially as a person of interest or a suspect in this case.