Authorities said they believe Sudiksha Konanki, 20, died from drowning.
Joshua Riibe, the Minnesota college student who was with University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki the night she went missing on a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic, said in court that he’s “ready to go home and go back to my life.”
The 22-year-old Iowa native — who has not been charged with a crime — said Konanki’s family hugged him and thanked him.
“Her mother gave me a hug and said, ‘Thank you for saving my daughter the first time,”‘ Riibe said in court Tuesday. “It was really tough.”
Riibe’s court appearance was for a habeas corpus hearing that was requested by his lawyers, who believe the 22-year-old is being detained illegally.
Prosecutors claimed in court that Riibe is a witness and is not detained.
Authorities have confiscated Riibe’s passport, and Riibe said in court that police have followed him to meals and watched him eat. Riibe’s attorneys asked to get his passport returned and to get the ability to leave the hotel without surveillance.
“I can’t go anywhere. And I really want to be able to go home, talk to my family, give them hugs, tell them I miss them,” Riibe said. “I understand I’m here to help, but it’s been 10 days and I can’t leave.”
Riibe’s father traveled to the Dominican Republic to support him.
“I’m just doing what I can, and at this point there’s nothing more I can do,” Riibe said during his appearance in court.
At the conclusion of Riibe’s appearance, the judge granted habeas corpus — meaning Riibe will no longer be under police surveillance. However, Dominican Republic officials are not yet returning his passport.
Riibe’s lawyer released a statement saying, “Guzmán Ariza expresses its deep gratitude to the Dominican judiciary and all institutions involved in the Joshua Steven Riibe case for recognizing and upholding the rule of law and ensuring respect for his fundamental rights as aforeign citizen in the Dominican Republic.”
The judge is expected to decide if he will be charged with anything or can leave the country on March 28.
Authorities have said they believe 20-year-old Konanki died by drowning in Punta Cana early on March 6, officials told ABC News. Her missing persons case is being treated as an accident, sources said.
Riibe — who met Konanki that night — told prosecutors the two went swimming and kissed in the ocean. He said they were then hit by a wave and pulled into the ocean by the tide, according to a transcript provided to ABC News from two Dominican Republic sources.
Riibe said he held Konanki and tried to get them out of the water.
“I was trying to make sure that she could breathe the entire time — that prevented me from breathing the entire time and I took in a lot of water,” he said.
“When I finally touched the sand, I put her in front of me. Then she got up to go get her stuff since the ocean had moved us,” Riibe told the prosecutor. “She was not out of the water since it was up to her knee. She was walking at an angle in the water.”
“The last time I saw her, I asked her if she was OK. I didn’t hear her response because I began to vomit with all the water I had swallowed,” he said. “After vomiting, I looked around and I didn’t see anyone. I thought she had taken her things and left.”
Riibe said he passed out on a beach chair and woke up hours later and returned to his hotel room.
Konanki’s family sent a formal request to Dominican police on Monday requesting they declare their daughter dead, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. The parents noted Riibe was cooperating with the investigation and they acknowledged there was no evidence of foul play, the sources said.
On Tuesday, the Dominican Republic Civil Defense announced that it was scaling back its search-and-rescue efforts.
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