The search for a 20-year-old college student from Virginia expanded in the Dominican Republic as authorities moved toward Macao Beach, an area northwest of the Punta Cana resort where the missing woman last was seen one week ago.
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed it is sharing technology and data for tracking ocean drifts with Dominican authorities, who are leading the missing person investigation.
With the Dominicans out front, they are clarifying statements made by other agencies earlier this week. Dominican authorities say they do not use the term "person of interest" in their investigations, and the 24-year-old man who may have been the last person to see Sudiksha Konanki is a witness who is cooperating with the investigation.
Konanki's parents returned to their Loudoun County neighborhood after a brief trip to Punta Cana to work with police. A neighbor acting as a family liaison said the family appreciates the public's concern and interest but said they are still too shaken up to talk and they don't have any answers yet themselves.
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U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Loudoun County, went to the family’s home Thursday for a private meeting with Konaki's parents.
“She was planning to be an emergency room surgeon and that she wanted to serve people in the community and she was actually volunteering at a hospital,” Subramanyam said. “And so, she’s just an amazing young woman who’s doing great things, and we’re just praying that she comes home because she has a very bright future, and we want to do everything we can and that means accelerating all of the work that’s happening on the investigation, and then that means also being respectful of the family and their privacy.”
Sudiksha Konanki disappeared before dawn March 6
Konanki vanished in the predawn hours of March 6 at a beach in front of the Riu República Hotel. The hotel said in a statement that Konanki’s disappearance coincided with a power outage that prompted multiple guests to head to the beach.
Konanki’s father said she and five other female university students traveled to the Dominican Republic on March 3.
Dominican President Luis Abinader told reporters he lamented the situation. He defended the safety of tourists in the Dominican Republic, saying the country receives more than 11 million visitors a year and issues rarely arise.
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