HIGÜEY, Dominican Republic — An American who was the last person believed to have been seen with missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki and who has said he wants to return to the United States is no longer under police supervision, a Dominican judge ruled Tuesday, but a passport issue must still be resolved.
The ruling is a partial victory for Joshua Riibe, 22, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, who has said he has been kept in a hotel room and not allowed to leave without supervision since Konanki vanished.
"He’s a witness. He’s cooperated and keeps cooperating," Magistrate Edwis Rijo Delgado said in Spanish while granting a habeas corpus petition Tuesday.
Riibe is believed to be the last person seen with Konanki, 20, on a beach in the Dominican Republic early March 6.
Her parents said Tuesday that authorities have told them they believe she drowned and that there were high ocean waves when she disappeared. She was on a spring break trip with five female friends when she disappeared. Her body has not been found.
The judge said he could rule only on whether Riibe should be allowed to move freely, adding that his courtroom was not the appropriate venue to sort out the matter of Riibe's passport.
Prosecutors did not answer when NBC News asked them outside the courtroom where Riibe’s passport was or which agency had it.
"I don’t know about the passport," said Eduardo Velázquez, a prosecutor with the Dominican Republic attorney general’s office. Pushed for an answer, he added — in English — "I…I don’t speak Spanish… English."
It is unclear where Riibe's passport is and how and where the matter plays out.
The judge scheduled a meeting in his courtroom for March 28.
Riibe has not been accused of any crime, and Dominican National Police have said there is no suspect in Konanki’s disappearance. Riibe said he wants to return to the United States.
"I can't go anywhere, and I really just want to be able to go home," Riibe said earlier.
Attorneys for Riibe have said that since the investigation began, he had been confined to the resort where Konanki was staying before she disappeared.
The National Police did not confirm or deny that Riibe's passport was confiscated or that he had been unable to leave the hotel. On Tuesday, prosecutors denied that Riibe was being detained at the hotel.
Upon entering the courthouse Tuesday, Riibe was immediately swarmed by international media but declined to answer questions.
The hearing, which lasted for hours, was contentious at times. Riibe appeared to remain calm and focused.
In an interview with local authorities last week, Riibe said he was on the beach with Konanki shortly before she disappeared, according to a transcript of an interview obtained by NBC News.
According to the transcript, which NBC News translated from Spanish, he said he and Konanki were "in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little," before a wave crashed, taking them both “out to sea."
"I kept trying to get her to breathe, but that didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water," Riibe said.
Despite the struggle, Riibe told investigators, he managed to help Konanki get to shore before she vanished.
"The last time I saw her, I asked if she was OK. I didn’t hear her answer," he said. "I looked around and didn’t see anyone. I thought she’d grabbed her things and left."
Riibe added that he was surprised to learn about her disappearance later.
He said Konanki’s family met him at the hotel in recent days and described their interactions as positive, saying the family hugged him goodbye when they left the resort.
"'Thank you very much for helping save my daughter the first time,'" he recalled Konanki’s mother telling him.
Speaking with reporters outside their home in Loudoun County, Virginia, on Tuesday, Konanki's parents said authorities told them they believed their daughter drowned.
"It is with deep sadness, sadness and heavy, heavy heart, we are coming to the terms with the fact that our daughter has drowned," Subbarayudu Konanki said. "This is incredibly difficult for us to process."
Konanki's father added that both U.S. and Dominican authorities showed the family how high ocean waves were when Konanki vanished. They did not comment on Riibe's hearing or name him specifically but said authorities "clarified that the person of interest is not a suspect from the beginning."
On Monday, Konanki’s parents sent a letter to the National Police to ask that authorities declare her dead, police said.
'Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence," they wrote. "While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory."
Dominican authorities said Thursday that no one is considered a suspect and that they do not use the term "person of interest," as the sheriff’s office in Loudoun County has described Riibe. The sheriff's office has sent officials to assist authorities in Punta Cana but has no jurisdiction over the investigation.
Konanki — a junior studying biology at the University of Pittsburgh — was on spring break and staying at the Riu República, a five-star hotel in Punta Cana.
The morning she disappeared, her friends left the beach to return to the hotel. According to authorities, Konanki stayed behind with people she met on the trip.
Police have said no signs of violence were found at the beach. Red flags, which indicate "that the sea had a strong current and very high waves," were flying when Konanki disappeared, according to a hotel spokesperson.
Jesse Kirsch, Debra Jones and Carlos Catire reported from Higüey and Matt Lavietes from New York.
