The mother and father of Sudiksha Konanki, the 20-year-old school pupil who went lacking throughout a spring break journey to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, mentioned that they had come to phrases with the chance she had drowned, and requested for privateness to mourn her, in line with officers and a press release to the media on Tuesday.
Their sorrowful assertion got here greater than every week after her disappearance on March 6 grabbed headlines world wide, and led to repeated questioning of the final individual seen along with her.
“Sudiksha’s household has expressed their perception that she drowned,” the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Workplace in Virginia mentioned in a press release on Tuesday. “Whereas a closing determination to make such a declaration rests with authorities within the Dominican Republic, we are going to help the Konanki household in each method doable” whereas persevering with to overview the proof, the workplace mentioned.
In a tearful Fox 5 DC video shared on-line, Ms. Konanki’s father mentioned that that they had accepted “that our daughter has drowned” and that this conclusion was “extremely troublesome for us to course of.” Her mom sobbed as he learn the assertion. Additionally they requested for “time and privateness to deal with therapeutic” and their household, NBC4 Washington reported.
Ms. Konanki, a College of Pittsburgh pupil from Loudoun County was final seen almost two weeks in the past. She was noticed within the early morning hours of March 6 at a seashore in Punta Cana with an unnamed buddy who was “beneath investigation,” in line with the authorities within the Dominican Republic.
The person, who was not named by The New York Instances as a result of he had not been charged with against the law, was current at a court docket listening to within the Dominican metropolis of Higüey on Tuesday, however the consequence of the continuing had not but been disclosed by the authorities.
Throughout the continuing, the choose granted the person’s request to have the ability to transfer about freely and with out police supervision.
Ms. Konanki stayed on the Lodge Riu Republica in Punta Cana with 5 associates after arriving within the Dominican Republic on March 3, the police mentioned. Her disappearance sparked a large search within the Caribbean nation, which is closely depending on international tourism.
When the US Embassy within the Dominican Republic alerted the nationwide police that Ms. Konanki had disappeared, officers started an exhaustive search of the seashore and the encircling space, utilizing drones, helicopters, divers, boats, police canine and different sources, the authorities mentioned.
Greater than 300 brokers have been trying to find Ms. Konanki, the police mentioned. The F.B.I. has been helping within the investigation, in line with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Hogla Enecia Pérez contributed reporting from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
