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Joshua Riibe has departed from the Dominican Republic after being kept under de facto house arrest for nearly two weeks during the investigation into a missing spring breaker.
The 22-year-old former wrestling champion took a JetBlue flight to Puerto Rico on Wednesday afternoon, accompanied by his father, as reported by sources to DailyMail.com.
It comes just one day after a judge ruled he was no longer under police watch and was free to leave the country.
He’d spent 11 days assisting police in the disappearance of 20-year-old pre-med student Sudiksha Konanki.
Although Riibe was never viewed as a suspect in the case, his passport was seized, and he was restricted to his room at the Punta Cana resort where he was questioned daily about Konanki’s final moments.
Finally on Tuesday he made an audacious bid for freedom in when his attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus.
The filing served as an ultimatum to Dominican Authorities: charge me with something or let me go home.
While the judge ruled in his favor, there were concerns about the actual possibility of returning home, given the judge said he was not ruling on the return of Riibe’s passport.
Pictured: Riibe at the airport in the Dominican Republic before boarding his JetBlue flight home, via Puerta Rico
All parties say Riibe has been cooperative as the last known witness to see her alive
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, disappeared from a beach at the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on March 6
The prosecutor also indicated he was not responsible for returning the passport, prompting concerns about which agency was in possession of it, and how Riibe could go about accessing it to book a flight out of the country.
Now, it has been revealed that the Prosecutor’s Office of La Altagracia reached out to Riibe after the hearing and told him they would return his passport.
While he ‘appreciated this decision’, Riibe instead opted to apply for a new passport directly from the US Consulate, citing ‘privacy reasons.’
This application was dealt with immediately and his new passport was ‘promptly issued’, allowing him to book a flight home.
‘We are pleased to announce that Joshua and his father are currently traveling back to their home in the United States,’ Riibe’s lawyer said.
Konanki’s parents have accepted the conclusion offered by authorities that she likely drowned, and all parties say Riibe has been cooperative as the last known witness to see her alive.
‘Both sides of the authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides of the authorities have clarified the person of interest was not a suspect from the beginning,’ her father Subbarayudu Konanki told The New York Post.
‘It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we are coming to terms with the fact our daughter has drowned,’ he said. ‘This is incredibly difficult for us to process.’
Pictured: Riibe leaving court after his hearing on March 18
American student Joshua Riibe is no longer under police watch but his nightmare is not over yet and he could be stuck in the Dominician Republic for at least another 10 days
On Monday Sudiksha’s devastated parents SreeDevi and Subbarayudu – who traveled to DR from Virginia – submitted a formal written request to the National Police for a ‘legal declaration of death’
Surveillance video footage showing Riibe and Sudiksha together the night she vanished had emerged in the wake of her disappearance
The couple urged Dominican authorities to allow Riibe to return home.
Riibe claims he spoke with Konanki’s devastated mother, revealing in court on Tuesday she hugged and thanked him for dragging her daughter from the ocean prior to her baffling disappearance.
‘Before the family of Sudiksha left the hotel they came up and they gave me hugs and the mother even said thank you very much for helping save my daughter the first time.
‘I’m just doing what I can but at this point there is nothing more I can do.. I’m ready to go home and go back to my life,’ he said, with surprising composure.
Earlier, DailyMail.com reported that Sudiksha’s grieving parents had asked Dominican authorities to formally declare that she is dead.
A source with direct knowledge of the investigation told DailyMail.com on Monday that Sudiksha’s family has accepted the ‘deeply painful’ reality that she won’t be found alive, 11 days after she vanished in the early hours of March 6 while on spring break in Punta Cana.
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, disappeared from a beach at the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on March 6. Fellow spring breaker Joshua Riibe has come under intense scrutiny after it was revealed he was the last to see her alive
Military personnel in the Dominican Republic have been seen surveying the beaches and surrounding areas amid the search for Konanki’s body
Her disappearance sparked an intense multi-agency search, despite authorities warning early on that she’d likely tragically drowned in the rough surf.
Her parents submitted a formal written request to the National Police for a ‘legal declaration of death.’
‘Following an extensive search, Dominican authorities have concluded that Sudiksha is believed to have drowned. Her clothes were discovered on a beach near where she was last seen,’ the letter states.
‘While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.’
This is a breaking news story. More to come.
