US: Missing Indian student Sudiksha Konanki’s parents believe she drowned on holiday in Dominican Republic

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic: The parents of a young Indian woman, a US resident, have asked authorities in the Dominican Republic to legally declare her dead after she went missing on a spring break trip, believed drowned.

Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki, in a letter to Dominican police, said declaring their 20-year-old daughter Sudiksha dead would allow them to “begin the grieving process” after investigations concluded she had drowned.

Sudiksha, a student at the University of Pittsburgh, was last seen on March 6 - three days after arriving at the Punta Cana beach resort with a group of girlfriends.

Her clothes were later discovered on a beach nearby.

“The individual last seen with her is cooperating with the investigation, and no evidence of foul play has been found,” her parents wrote.

The “individual” is believed to be American Joshua Steven Riibe, 22, who was spotted with Konanki on the morning of March 6 by hotel video cameras, according to police.

He has been questioned and was placed under police observation, though authorities say there is no criminal investigation against him.

Riibe had said he met Konanki the night before her disappearance, according to US channel ABC News. He said they were kissing in the sea when they were hit by a strong wave.

After making it out of the water, he said he later saw her walking on the beach before he vomited and fainted.

Riibe is no longer a “person of interest” and could “return to the US as early as today,” a Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told PEOPLE on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a Dominican judge ruled that Riibe was no longer under police supervision, per reports

The man thought to have been the last person to see missing 20-year-old college student Sudiksha Konanki alive is no longer a “person of interest” and could “return to the US as early as today,” authorities confirmed to PEOPLE in an email on Wednesday, March 19.

Konanki was a junior in biology at the University of Pittsburgh. She wass from Loudoun County, Virginia, where her family lives.