Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer
The police in Loudoun County have identified a person of interest in the disappearance of Sudiksha Konaki, a 20-year-old college student who was last seen six days ago during a spring break trip in the Dominican Republic. According to a spokesperson for the county sheriff’s office, Thomas Julia, the person of interest identified is the last person who was seen with Konaki. The two were last seen together on security cameras outside of the hotel after an evening party at the Riu Republica Hotel. The surveillance footage shows the young man holding hands with Konaki, as the group walked toward the beach at 4:50 AM early Thursday morning. The footage shows the man returning to the hotel several hours later by himself.
He told the police that he went swimming with Konaki but felt sick after a large wave hit him and fell asleep in a beach chair. However, local reports have conflicting reports about the last time he saw Konaki before he fell asleep. Julia said, “This is still a missing person case,” rather than a criminal case. Two detectives from Loudoun County are now in Punta Cana working with the FBI to interview people who may have seen the two that night.
