“Image Credit: AFP via Getty Images A University of Pittsburgh student’s disappearance has sparked nationwide concern for college spring breakers. Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old, went missing in early March 2025 while enjoying a trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Now that her family has spoken out, authorities are searching by air, land and”, — write: hollywoodlife.com
Image Credit: AFP via Getty Images A University of Pittsburgh student’s disappearance has sparked nationwide concern for college spring breakers. Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old, went missing in early March 2025 while enjoying a trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Now that her family has spoken out, authorities are searching by air, land and sea for Konanki.
Below, get updates on Konanki’s disappearance.
When Was the Missing College Student Last Seen in Punta Cana? According to CNN, Konanki was last seen on surveillance footage at around 4:15 a.m. local time on March 6. She was spotted with seven other people entering the beach by the Riu República Hotel. Her disappearance was reported to Dominican National Police the following day, March 7, through a call by the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo.
An urgent search is underway for missing American student Sudiksha Konanki, who vanished near a beach resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic while on spring break with friends. @eriellereshef reports. pic.twitter.com/SWJCp9KMO5
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 10, 2025
Who Is Sudiksha Konanki? Konanki is a pre-med student who arrived in Punta Cana with her friends on March 3. Her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, spoke out about his daughter in a public statement, per CNN.
“My daughter is a very nice girl,” he said. “She’s ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine.”
Konanki’s family is originally from India and has lived in the U.S. since 2006. They are permanent residents and live in Virginia.
What Happened to Sudiksha Konanki? Per Konanki’s father, she “went to the beach on March 6 early morning around 4 a.m. with friends and some other guys they met at the resort. After that, her friends came back after some time and my daughter did not come back, did not show up from the beach.”
“So far, the authorities, multiple authorities here in the Dominican Republic have searched in the waters,” he added, according to CNN. “They searched using helicopters and other tools. They also searched in the near bay, bushes, trees. They went multiple times around the same areas.”
A local police source told the outlet that surveillance footage captured five women and one man leaving the beach at the Riu República Hotel at 5:55 a.m., and Konanki was believed to have stayed at the beach with another young man. At 9:55 a.m., the young man was captured leaving the beach in later surveillance video, but Konanki was nowhere to be seen.
Konanki’s father encouraged police to investigate whether his daughter’s disappearance is a kidnapping or a case of human trafficking, he told CNN.