Joshua Riibe, the last person seen with missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, was detained once again while attempting to return to the United States, this time in Puerto Rico, due to an issue with his travel documents.

Riibe, a native of Iowa, was stopped by airport officials at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport while trying to board a connecting flight. Authorities flagged his travel documents because the temporary papers issued by the Dominican Republic had not been properly stamped, according to local news reports.

His father, Albert Riibe, expressed visible frustration as he spoke to the press. “I’m just a dad who had his son taken away… We just spent two weeks trying to stay together,” he said in front of cameras.

This latest delay comes shortly after a Dominican judge allowed Riibe to leave the country. After a lengthy five-hour hearing on Tuesday, Judge Elvis Delgado ruled that the 22-year-old could return home. Dominican authorities had previously confiscated his passport and restricted his movements while questioning him multiple times regarding Konanki’s disappearance.

During the hearing, Riibe pleaded with the court, saying, “I really want to be able to go home, talk to my family, give them hugs, tell them I miss them. I understand I’m here to help, but it’s been ten days and I can’t leave.” Despite being named a person of interest in the case by authorities in Loudoun County, Virginia, where Konanki’s family lives, Riibe has not been charged with any crime, nor have Dominican officials declared him a suspect.

The Night Konanki Disappeared

Sudiksha Konanki, 20, was last seen on the morning of March 6, around 4:15 a.m., when surveillance footage captured her walking toward the beach at the RIU Hotel and Resort in Punta Cana. She was on a spring break trip with friends, and security cameras showed her linking arms with Riibe as part of a group heading toward the water. By 5:55 a.m., most of the group had left the beach, but Riibe was later seen returning to his hotel room alone—without Konanki.

In the wake of her disappearance, Konanki’s grieving parents have requested that authorities officially declare their daughter deceased, believing she drowned in the rough ocean waves that morning. Despite this, they have emphasized that they do not suspect Riibe of any wrongdoing.

“Both sides of the authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides have clarified that the person of interest was never a suspect,” said her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, in a statement to The New York Post. “It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we are coming to terms with the fact our daughter has drowned,” he added.

Riibe’s Account of the Incident

Riibe, a student at St. Cloud State College in Minnesota, told investigators that he and Konanki had been drinking on the beach and kissing in waist-deep water when a strong tide swept them further out to sea. A former lifeguard, Riibe said he managed to pull Konanki back to shore. However, after vomiting from exhaustion, he assumed she had gathered her belongings and left. It wasn’t until later that he learned she was missing.

However, private investigator T.J. Ward, who has worked on high-profile missing cases, including the case of Natalie Holloway in 2005, does not believe that Konanki drowned. “I don’t believe that she drowned. I think something else happened,” Ward said, adding that it was too early to make a definitive conclusion.

Ward, who worked on the Holloway case for 18 years, contacted Konanki’s mother to offer his services as a private investigator. “This case is going to stay active until they find some evidence to move forward,” he said. “I think something else happened.”

Dominican officials have questioned more than 50 people in connection with the case but have maintained that Riibe was never detained, only questioned as a witness. Riibe’s father, Albert, expressed frustration over the prolonged process, telling the judge, “Enough. It’s been 12 days.”

In the end, Judge Delgado granted Riibe permission to leave, stating, “The law is the law.”

As the search for Konanki continues, her family remains focused on finding answers and processing their tragic loss.