A person of interest has been identified in the weeklong search for missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, who vanished on a spring break trip in the Dominican Republic, according to an official in the United States.
A spokesperson for the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office in Virginia, where Konanki, 20, a biology student, is from, told NBC News on Wednesday morning that U.S. investigators have identified a person of interest.
The sheriff's office has no jurisdiction in the case, but it has sent detectives to Punta Cana to assist with the U.S. side of the investigation.
Dominican Republic National Police said Thursday morning they do not use the term "person of interest" in their probes and no one is considered a suspect at this point.
"This is not the same thing as a suspect, as this is not a criminal matter. It is still a missing person case," sheriff’s office spokesperson Thomas Julia told NBC News.
The person was interviewed at length, Julia said.
The FBI National Press Office referred questions to Dominican authorities, saying, "The FBI continues to assist our international partners on this matter."
Konanki traveled to Punta Cana with five friends from college on March 3. She disappeared after 4:15 a.m. March 6, after she and her friends were seen on security video entering the beach area of the Riu Republica Resort, where they were staying, National Police said.
Security video obtained by the Dominican news outlet Noticias SIN appears to show Konanki’s last known movements, showing the moment she headed to the beach of the Riu Republica hotel with others.
Konanki's friends headed back to the hotel about 40 minutes later, but she stayed behind with others who were not from her college whom she met on the trip, Loudoun County Sheriff Michael Chapman told NBC Washington on Monday.
Her friends then spent Thursday on an excursion and realized she had disappeared roughly 12 hours later. They informed the hotel, National Police spokesperson Diego Pesqueira said.
Dominican President Luis Abinader said at a news conference Monday that one of the last people who had contact with Konanki reported "that a wave hit them while they were on the beach and caused some kind of situation," citing local reports.
No signs of blood or violence were found at the beach, Pesqueira said.
Dominican authorities said Thursday morning the search party is moving from the RIU Republic Resort to Macao beach.
They requested the U.S. Coast Guard assist with search and rescue operations regarding current drifts, observing how the beach water is behaving and how an object or person would behave in the current of a specific area.
The Konanki family, who had travelled to the island, has now returned home to Virginia.
