The race to find a missing pre-med student in the Dominican Republic entered its fourth day Monday after authorities said the 20-year-old from Virginia was last seen walking along a beach in Punta Cana.
Helicopters, boats and ground teams searched the island for Sudiksha Konanki, who traveled to the Caribbean nation last week for spring break with five other University of Pittsburgh classmates.
Dominican Republic National Police said Ms. Konanki was last seen on surveillance footage early Thursday when she walked down to the beach near her resort. She was reported missing by the afternoon.
While some news sites have reported that the student likely drowned while taking a sunrise swim, Ms. Konanki’s father wants authorities to broaden their search before coming to any conclusions.
“It’s four days, and if she was in water, she would likely have been strewn to shore,” Subbarayudu Konanki told WTOP news radio. “She’s not found, so we’re asking them to investigate multiple options, like kidnapping or abduction.”
The missing student’s father and mother flew down to Punta Cana from their home in Loudoun County after receiving news of her disappearance.
Her father said she arrived in the Dominican Republic on March 3. Two days later, she told her friends she was going to party at their resort.
At about 4:15 a.m. Thursday, local police said surveillance cameras captured Ms. Konanki and her friends heading down to the resort’s beach area.
Roughly two hours later, a group of five women and one young man were seen leaving the beach. CNN reported Ms. Konanki and another young man stayed behind.
Police said the young man was spotted leaving the beach just before 10 a.m. Her friends reported her missing by 4 p.m. that same day.
The resort notified Loudoun County authorities after her friends filed the missing persons report.
Ms. Konanki’s friends and the young man she was last seen with have both been interviewed by officials, according to NBC News.
Ms. Konanki is described as 5-foot-3 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a brown, two-piece bikini, big round earrings, a metal anklet on her right leg and various bracelets on both of her hands.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic, the State Department, the FBI and officials from Loudoun County are assisting in the search. India’s embassy in the Dominican Republic is also joining the effort, since Ms. Konanki is an Indian citizen who is a lawful permanent resident in the U.S.
Ms. Konanki graduated from the nationally ranked magnet school, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County. Her family lives in South Riding, Virginia.
