The parents of Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old college student from South Riding, Virginia, who was last seen 12 days ago during a spring break vacation have sent a letter to police in the Dominican Republic, asking them to legally declare their daughter dead.
The “request for legal declaration of death” from Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki was first reported in Noticias SIN, a Dominican news agency.
In the letter, the parents say after an extensive search, Dominican authorities have concluded that their daughter is believed to have drowned.
“The individual last seen with her is cooperating with the investigation, and no evidence of foul play has been found,” according to the parent’s letter, Noticias SIN reported.
WTOP has learned Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office received a similar letter from the parents Monday.
“Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned,” Sheriff Mike Chapman wrote in a statement. “While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible as we continue to review the evidence and information made available to us in the course of this investigation.”
Chapman added that the department will continue to “provide emotional support” to the family though its victim advocate unit.
Despite an exhaustive and ongoing search, there has been no evidence of Sudiksha’s whereabouts.
The letter to the officer in charge of the Dominican investigation provided some insight to the family’s rationale.
“Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence. While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory,” Konanki’s parents wrote.
Konanki, a premed student at the University of Pittsburgh, was last seen on surveillance video walking with a group of friends to the beach at 4:50 a.m. on March 6, after a party at the Riu Republica hotel, where she and five of her friends from college were staying.
Last Wednesday, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office named the young man who was last seen with Konanki — pictured on hotel surveillance video — as the person of interest in the college student’s disappearance, in what has remained a missing person’s case.
WTOP has not been identifying the person of interest, since he has never been named a suspect in Konanki’s disappearance.
Lawyers for that person of interest are expected in a courtroom in the Dominican Republic Tuesday. They have filed a motion of habeas corpus, claiming their client has been detained illegally, in what has amounted to house arrest in the Riu Republic hotel since Konanki’s disappearance.
According to the young man’s attorneys, under Dominican law, a person can only be detained for 48 hours without charges or must be released.
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