What’s next for Joshua Riibe after habeas hearing in Sudiksha Konanki case?

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic-Joshua Riibe, crucial witness within the spring break disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki, efficiently argued in a Dominican court docket on Tuesday that his de facto home arrest was in a five-star resort in opposition to native laws.

However though he was acquitted to return to the US, the Dominican authorities didn’t return his passport. He may proceed to pursue his return to court docket or request a provisional alternative of the US embassy.

Riibe, 22, is taken into account one of many final individuals who noticed Konanki, 20, earlier than she disappeared within the early hours of March 6 from the seaside behind their resort, the Riu Republica in Punta Cana.

He efficiently argued in court docket on Tuesday that as a witness, not a suspect, police verify on his actions for a interval of 11 days was unlawful. A supply informed Fox Information on Wednesday that Riibe checked the Riu Republica Resort and moved final evening.

Dominican Choose Guidelines Resort Home judgment is against the law for Iowa Pupil in Lacking Spring Break Case

Joshua Riibe arrives in a Dominican Republic of courthouse subsequent to his father, Albert Riibe, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Riibe is a crucial witness within the disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki, an American pupil who was lacking whereas swimming on a Punta Cana Seashore on 6 March. (Fox Information Digital)

He’s nonetheless within the Dominican Republic, stated the supply, and the investigation factors to an informal drowning, not a false sport.

Riibe’s household refused to remark.

Spokesperson Tammy Bruce of the Ministry of Overseas Affairs Tammy Bruce stated on Wednesday that she was conscious of the case and that officers have been involved with Riibe, his household and his authorized group – and providing consular help.

“We take our dedication to assist our residents overseas,” she stated throughout a e-newsletter. “It is a state of affairs through which I can not focus on … Particulars.”

A witness and never a suspect, Riibe had been detected within the RIU Republica for 11 days beneath strict police monitoring earlier than a decide dominated that the state of affairs had violated Dominican legislation.

Sudiksha Konanki, 20, from North Virginia, was lacking for the primary time on Thursday 6 March, after he disappeared from a seaside within the Dominican Republic. (Handout, Hyperlinks and Defensa Civil Dominicana, proper.)

“Being held in a lodge as a substitute of a police facility doesn’t change the authorized actuality – if he’s restricted to go away the nation with out an official authorized foundation, that’s nonetheless a violation of worldwide human rights requirements,” says Jason Pack, a retired FBI Supervision Particular Agent and former youngsters’s disposition (Card) Staff Chief.

“The US Division of Overseas Affairs often screens circumstances through which Americans are held overseas, particularly if it appears that evidently they’re refused the suitable course of.”

If an American citizen loses a passport in Punta Cana, the American embassy in Santo Domingo advises that the American consulate company in Bávaro gives emergency assist – and it’s in the identical workplace advanced as Riibe’s attorneys at Guzman Ariza.

The legislation agency of Guzman Ariza, one of many largest within the Dominican Republic, has a satellite tv for pc workplace in Altagracia in the identical advanced because the native American consulate. (Michael Ruiz/Fox Information Digital)

Essential witness within the disappearance of the American pupil tells the police how they met, what occurred on the seaside

“Since my passport was taken, it is rather uncommon that I’m alone,” Riibe testified for a Dominican decide on Tuesday. He later added: “I can not go anyplace. I actually need to be house. Hug my household and pals.”

Surveillance video exhibits that he and Konanki went to the seaside with a gaggle on March 6 with a gaggle on March 6, the morning she disappeared. Most of them have been seen who left Riibe round 6 am and Konanki stayed on the seaside. Riibe got here again alone hours later and the residence of Konanki stays unknown virtually two weeks later.

Native authorities are in search of the lacking of the American pupil Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Thursday, March 13, 2025. Konanki, 20, was final seen on a seaside exterior the 5 -star RIU Republica Resort within the Dominican Republic on March 6, 2025. (Santiago Baez for Fox Information Digital)

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In accordance with a leaked transcript from an interview with the police, Riibe informed the researchers that he and Konanki have been each pulled away from the coast by a powerful stream, and so they struggled to return again. He noticed her for the final time in knee-deep water operating earlier than he vomited and fell asleep on a seaside chair.

Her dad and mom requested in a letter to the Dominican authorities that she was declared useless on Monday, close to the shortage of proof of error play and Riibe’s steady cooperation with researchers.

Riibe, for his half, agreed to a number of police interviews, however annoyed throughout a listening to on Tuesday about his imprisonment within the resort, the place he was adopted by the police for greater than every week, regardless of a Dominican legislation that claims an individual could be restricted for a most of 48 hours with out being charged with a criminal offense.

Lacking American college pupil seen in new lodge safety photographs for disappearing

Folks get pleasure from time on the seaside within the Riu Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Thursday 13 March 2025. Sudiksha Konanki, 20, was final seen on a seaside exterior the 5 -star Riu Republica Republica Reprinest Resort within the Dominican Republic on March 6, 2025. (Santiago Baez for Fox Information Digital)

Authorities haven’t talked about Riibe and didn’t accuse him of misconduct, however in a listening to that has been repeatedly transferred within the scream between public prosecutors and the attorneys of Riibe, the federal government tried in useless to carry its fixed monitoring.

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The decide selected Riibe’s aspect and located his state of affairs unlawful.

The decide informed him to return for a listening to on March 28, however in keeping with one skilled it’s a formality and doesn’t have to seem actually personally.