New information reveals that other individuals were present on the beach when US college student Sudiksha Konanki went missing in the Dominican Republic, according to law enforcement officials assisting the investigation, as the search enters its seventh day.
The 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student disappeared from the beach of the Riu República Hotel in Punta Cana early on March 6, triggering a multi-agency search involving authorities from the United States, the Dominican Republic, and India, where Konanki’s family originates.
Konanki, from Loudon County, Virginia, traveled to Punta Cana with five female friends. Surveillance cameras captured them entering the hotel beach with two men around 4:15 a.m. after drinking in the lobby, according to law enforcement sources.
Cameras later showed five women and one man leaving the beach around 4:55 a.m., but Konanki remained with a man in his 20s. The man was recorded leaving the beach just before 9 a.m., but Konanki was not seen.
Konanki’s sarong-style cover-up was found on a lounge chair, but there were no signs of violence, according to sources.
The man, the last known person with Konanki, told police he went into the water, felt ill, came out, and lay down, while Konanki was still standing ankle-deep in the sea. He then recalled waking up and leaving hours later.
The man is cooperating, and police do not consider him a suspect.
Video evidence suggests additional people were on the beach, and investigators are trying to identify them.
CNN has not seen the footage.
Sea conditions were dangerous with high waves the night Konanki disappeared, according to the Dominican Republic navy.
Konanki’s disappearance follows a drowning incident involving four tourists at the same beach in January.
Dominican officials previously investigated the disappearance as a drowning, but the General Prosecutor’s Office is now also investigating other possibilities.
“We are applying a holistic investigation protocol that examines all variables,” said General Prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso.
Konanki’s family and Loudon County Sheriff Mike Chapman have urged authorities to consider other scenarios.
The sheriff stated that because other people were around, authorities must consider the possibility Konanki encountered them.
Konanki’s parents returned to Virginia after traveling to Punta
