Man who last saw missing student Sudiksha Konanki has left Dominican Republic after getting new passport

The man who is the last person known to have been with missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki is on a plane heading back to the US after he obtained a new passport, a source in the prosecutor’s office told CNN Wednesday.

The man who is the last person known to have been with missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki left the Dominican Republic on Wednesday evening, after being detained for 10 days, his attorney says. Joshua Steven Riibe, a 22-year-old Iowa resident and student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, departed from Santo Domingo on a JetBlue flight at 5:39 p.m. ET, the sources said. Tuesday, he was granted judicial permission to leave the island – though he couldn’t immediately leave because, according to a source close to the prosecutor’s office, Dominican authorities still had his passport. Riibe had not been considered a suspect in Konanki’s disappearance and has not been accused of wrongdoing. However, he was kept in a hotel room under police watch – though not officially detained – during an investigation, a source familiar with the probe told CNN last week. Dominican authorities had confiscated Riibe’s passport during the investigation into Konanki’s disappearance, a source close to the investigation told CNN. On Wednesday, Riibe received a new passport from the US Embassy, his attorney Beatriz Santana said. “We are pleased to report that Joshua and his father are currently traveling back home to the United States,” Santana told CNN on Wednesday. Konanki was on a spring break trip to Punta Cana with friends, and was last seen March 6 on surveillance camera going to the beach at the Riu República Hotel. Her parents asked for Dominican authorities to declare her dead, asserting in a letter obtained by CNN that investigators believe Konanki drowned “and no evidence of foul play has been found.”