PUTTING TOGETHER THE PIECES

Missing College Student’s Final Venmo Payments Revealed

Sudiksha Konanki made two payments on the app hours before her disappearance.

The disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student, has taken a troubling turn as Venmo transactions highlight her final movements before vanishing from a resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Konanki, who was vacationing with five friends during spring break, made two payments on the popular payment app on March 5, just hours before she was last seen at the five-star Riu Republica hotel, the Daily Mail reported.

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The first payment, made at 2:54 p.m., was sent to an unnamed “new user,” with a sailboat emoji as its description. This was followed by a second transaction at 3:38 p.m., this time to one of Konanki’s friends, Ananya Chilakamarri, with the description “Coco Bongo”—a well-known nightclub in the area. Authorities have found no indication of wrongdoing on Chilakamarri’s part, The US Sun reported.

Konanki, a pre-med student from Chantilly, Virginia, disappeared under mysterious circumstances after spending the evening at the resort with friends.

The search for Konanki has now entered its second week, with both local authorities and international agencies including the FBI and Interpol involved in the ongoing effort. A “yellow notice,” a global missing person alert, has also been issued for her.

The last person seen with her was Joshua Riibe, a 24-year-old senior at St. Cloud State University. Although he is not currently considered a suspect, he has given conflicting accounts of the night’s events.

Riibe claimed that he saved Konanki from drowning after they were swept into the ocean by a wave while on the beach at around 4 a.m. According to his police interview, he attempted to rescue her by swimming through the water with her, but he became fatigued and ultimately collapsed on the beach.

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Riibe said, “We were in waist-deep water. We talked and kissed a bit. A big wave came and hit us both. And when the water returned, it swept us out to sea.”

He explained that he tried to use his former lifeguard experience to try and save them, but “I was getting tired. I realized she was getting tired too. I grabbed her and pulled her out.”

After reaching the shore, Riibe claimed Konanki was still in knee-deep water. “When I finally reached the ground on the beach, I held her in front of me. She wasn’t out of the water, she was knee-deep and walking at an angle out the water.”

He said he asked if she was alright but started to vomit the water he had swallowed before she could respond. And when he looked around for her, she was gone, and so he assumed she had left.

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Hotel CCTV footage shows Riibe walking alone back to the resort at 9:55 a.m., while Konanki’s friends reported her missing later that afternoon. Despite intense searches, including drones, divers, and sniffer dogs, no new leads have emerged.

The Dominican government has pledged to continue searching until at least Sunday, according to Noticias SIN.

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