A prolonged energy outage on the Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, resort the place a lacking American faculty scholar had been vacationing for spring break might probably influence authorities’ investigation into her disappearance.
Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old College of Pittsburgh scholar from Loudoun County, Virginia, was final seen strolling on a seaside exterior the five-star RIU Republica Resort within the early morning hours of March 6. She has but to be positioned.
The resort misplaced energy starting on Tuesday, March 4, round 1:30 a.m., and 70% of energy was restored by 3 a.m. By 2 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, energy had been totally restored, RIU Resorts & Lodges instructed Fox Information Digital in a Wednesday assertion.
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The resort firm added that “in response to publications linking {the electrical} failure skilled on the Riu Republica resort with the tragic disappearance of visitor Sudiksha Chowdary Konanki, RIU Lodges & Resorts needs to firmly make clear that each occasions are utterly unrelated.”
Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old College of Pittsburgh junior, has been lacking since March 6, when she vanished throughout a spring break journey to a five-star resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Sudiksha Konanki/Fb)
The resort added that safety cameras round RIU Republica “have been operational and, in truth, recorded high quality photographs throughout that day and evening as there was enough lighting.”
Safety digicam footage captured Konanki strolling from a resort bar to the seaside with associates, together with a younger man with an arm wrapped round her shoulders, round 4:17 a.m. on March 6. She was apparently final seen on the seaside exterior the resort at 4:50 a.m. Simply earlier than 6 a.m., her associates returned to the resort, however Konanki was not with them.
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Loudoun County authorities have named a fellow vacationer as an individual of curiosity, as he was the final particular person to be seen with Konanki. The American man, in his 20s, has not been accused of any crime.
Consultants say that whereas the facility outage doubtless won’t stop the gathering of surveillance video footage or cellphone information, it might complicate authorities’ investigation into Konanki’s mysterious vanishing.
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Individuals get pleasure from time on the seaside on the RIU Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Sudiksha Konanki, 20, was final seen on March 6 on a seaside exterior the five-star RIU Republica Resort within the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox Information Digital)
“It does have an effect on every part within the investigation in the event that they’ve misplaced full energy,” The Lake Forest Group founder and CEO Michael Verden, a former Secret Service agent and director of safety for the NBA, instructed Fox Information Digital.
With out energy, safety cameras in sure areas of the resort could have misplaced connection even when others retained connection. In different phrases, full energy could have introduced a fuller image of Konanki’s final actions earlier than she vanished, although it’s unclear if any cameras did lose connection in the course of the electrical energy outage.
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Native authorities seek for lacking U.S. scholar Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was final seen on March 6 on a seaside exterior the five-star RIU Republica Resort within the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox Information Digital)
“It is all evidentiary proof,” Verden defined. “With the facility outage, how a lot of that’s impacted? Do among the cameras keep energetic? Do all of them keep energetic? As a result of in the event that they lose energy, that would have an effect on the investigation.”
“In the event that they lose energy, that would have an effect on the investigation.”
He added that the facility outage might additionally stop company from getting into resort rooms and, subsequently, stop investigators from figuring out when Konanki and her associates final entered their rooms earlier than her disappearance.
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U.S. faculty scholar Sudiksha Konanki went lacking whereas on trip along with her associates in Punta Cana on March 6, 2025. (Fox Information Graphics)
“The digital system provides you proof … and that may very well be important to point out entry previous to her disappearance,” Verden stated, as a result of the resort room keycard data may very well be helpful in corroborating company’ statements about once they have been with Konanki versus once they arrived again at their rooms. This data would assist authorities construct timelines for these current throughout her final actions, he stated.
Tom Slovenski, a digital forensic knowledgeable and founding father of Mobile Forensics, instructed Fox Information Digital that regardless of the electrical energy outage on the resort, investigators will nonetheless be capable of observe down cellphone tower information to find out the place and when Konanki was earlier than she disappeared.
Sudiksha Konanki was final seen within the early morning hours of March 6. (Fb)
“They really bought a number of good leads there, particularly along with her not coming again. She was arm in arm with the [person of interest]. After which the person comes again. He does not have her. So, I might be [him] huge time. After which the place did he go? You may discover him on these tower dumps. But when you understand who he’s, you pay money for his cellphone. You possibly can simply then use the decision element information and discover out the place he was, who he was speaking to. That form of factor,” Slovenski defined.
He additionally stated that the cellphone towers might present location and time information regardless of an influence outage on the resort and even regardless of getting moist if Konanki and her associates went swimming, as some newer smartphones are waterproof. Telephones must be powered on for cellphone information to ping, however the cellphone’s consumer doesn’t must be making calls or texts.
Native authorities seek for lacking U.S. scholar Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was final seen on March 6 on a seaside exterior the five-star RIU Republica Resort within the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox Information Digital)
“Timing information continues to be happening within the background” as long as cellphone information is getting used, even within the background, Slovenski defined.
“They might clearly pull the decision element information for her explicit cellphone. They will additionally do a tower dump with every of the suppliers of that on that island … after which they’ll undergo that to see in the event that they discover somebody that appears believable. … They will go forward and get what is the timing advance information. What they do is what’s referred to as the timing advance dump,” Slovenski stated.
Native authorities seek for lacking U.S. scholar Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was final seen on March 6 on a seaside exterior the five-star RIU Republica Resort within the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox Information Digital)
He described the timing advance as the way in which telephones get “pings” from cellphone towers, which exhibits “the period of time it takes from the sign to go from the tower to the cellphone again to the tower.”
“They’re ready, we’re ready to have a look at that space the place that cellphone was roughly in … and so from that, you are capable of observe then how that cellphone is shifting,” he stated.
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Navy personnel seek for Sudiksha Konanki, a College of Pittsburgh scholar from the U.S. who disappeared on a seaside in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on Monday, March 10. (AP/Francesco Spotorno)
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Workplace (LCSO) stated in a Tuesday assertion that “[t]right here has been appreciable public hypothesis about what could have occurred to Konanki and who could also be concerned.”
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“We warning anybody from drawing any unsubstantiated conclusions and are dedicated to making sure {that a} thorough investigation is performed earlier than any conclusions are reached,” they stated in a information launch. “The LCSO is eager for the secure return of Sudiksha Konanki, and we’re dedicated to supporting this investigation and her household in each approach attainable.”
Authorities are asking anybody with data to contact the LCSO at 703-777-1021. To stay nameless, name the Loudoun Crime Solvers at 703-777-1919.
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