Iowa
Iowa student’s passport seizure in Dominican Republic raises red flags for Americans traveling: What to know
The seizing of an Iowa college student’s passport while under investigation in the Dominican Republic is a cautionary tale for Americans traveling abroad, who an expert said should be vigilant about protecting their travel documents.
Last month, 22-year-old Joshua Riibe’s passport and cellphone were confiscated as investigators tried to piece together missing spring breaker Sudiksha Konanki’s final moments. Hotel surveillance footage revealed Riibe was among the last people to see Konanki alive before the University of Pittsburgh student disappeared on a Punta Cana beach after a night of drinking with friends.
After Konanki’s disappearance, Riibe, who authorities said was never a suspect, was holed up inside the Riu Republica Hotel under the watch of local authorities.
Riibe, a student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, remained in the Dominican Republic, unable to travel back to America, for approximately two weeks before he was able to head home.
AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENT SUDIKSHA KONANKI’S DISAPPEARANCE IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: TIMELINE
Joshua Riibe arrives at a Dominican Republic courthouse on March 18, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
The high-profile debacle came to a head inside a Dominican courtroom, as Riibe sat alongside his father and a translator while lawyers argued over the conditions of Riibe’s hotel room detainment. The issue surrounding the return of Riibe’s passport was scheduled for a later date, potentially forcing Riibe to remain in the country for a second court appearance.
“Ever since my passport was taken, it’s very rare I’m alone,” Riibe testified before a Dominican judge. He later added, “I can’t go anywhere. I really want to be home. Hug my family and friends.”
While Riibe’s lawyers had said his passport was confiscated, prosecutors argued that he lost it.
Following the initial court proceedings, Riibe was able to obtain a provisional passport from the U.S. Consulate in the Dominican Republic.
MISSING AMERICAN IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: KEY WITNESS JOSHUA RIIBE LEAVES COUNTRY
Sudiksha Konanki went missing from a Punta Cana beach in the early hours of March 6. (Fox News Digital/Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office)
On March 19, Riibe boarded a JetBlue flight from Santo Domingo to San Juan, Puerto Rico, marking the end of his nightmare abroad. However, Riibe’s escape hit a brief snag when he was held in Puerto Rico over the new passport not being properly stamped, NotiCentro reported.
Last week, a Dominican judge ruled to officially close Riibe’s case, granting the habeas corpus motion filed on behalf of the key witness.
“On March 18th, following the conclusion of the habeas corpus hearing that ordered the release of our client, Joshua Riibe, the Prosecutor’s Office of La Altagracia informed him of their readiness to return his passport,” Riibe’s attorneys said. “While Joshua appreciated this decision, he chose, for privacy reasons, to apply for a new passport at the U.S. Consulate, which was promptly issued.”
Although Riibe was able to obtain a replacement passport and subsequently return home, his experience serves as a warning for Americans who may be asked to hand over their passport for a multitude of reasons while in another country.
MISSING AMERICAN IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: WHAT’S NEXT FOR WITNESS JOSHUA RIIBE AFTER COURT RULING
Local authorities search for missing U.S. student Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was last seen on March 6 on a beach outside the five-star RIU Republica Resort in the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
Travelers could be asked to forfeit their passport or other identifying documents by foreign law enforcement or as collateral while enjoying an excursion, according to Kate Gladdin, an expert in international travel safety.
“The reality is there are some bad fruits out there that see tourists and can very quickly get [them] in a vulnerable position because they don’t have their government,” Gladdin told Fox News Digital.
“One thing I can say, flat out, is to never hand your passport over as a form of deposit, ever,” Gladdin said. “There are stories where they’re like, ‘Oh, you want to hire this jet ski? OK, we can take your passport just as a deposit that you’ll come back.’ Do not [do it]. Put it in your safe and leave it there until [the end of your trip].”
The risk of forfeiting identifying documents is an issue that hits close to home for Gladdin.
In 2012, Gladdin’s sister, Nicole Fitzsimons, was killed in a motorbike accident while vacationing in Thailand with her boyfriend, Jamie Keith.
Fitzsimons, 24, was riding on the back of the bike when a driver riding on the wrong side of the road careened into the couple’s vehicle.
“She [was rushed] into surgery,” Gladdin told Fox News Digital. “We had all our hearts and toes and fingers crossed that she was going to be OK, but unfortunately we did lose her in that surgery.”
AMANDA KNOX’S ADVICE FOR AMERICAN LINKED TO PUNTA CANA MISSING PERSONS CASE
Nicole Fitzsimons and Jamie Keith pose for a photo while visiting Thailand in 2012. (Courtesy of Kate Gladdin)
But Fitzsimons’ death wasn’t the end of the nightmare for the grieving family.
Keith’s Australian passport was seized by Thai authorities, ultimately barring him from leaving as the investigation remained ongoing.
“Unfortunately, the police tried to see it differently and put us in a really uncomfortable, hard and challenging situation where they took Jamie’s passport,” Gladdin said. “There was no justice in Nicole’s death.”
Gladdin also suggests vacationers carry copies of their identification documents, in the event their belongings are lost or stolen.
“Every country is different,” Gladdin said. “You have to take your safety into your own hands, because the rules might not always be there. But without those rules, we are without protection.”
AMERICANS TRAVELING ABROAD ON SPRING BREAK SHOULD KNOW 3 CRUCIAL THINGS TO STAY SAFE: EXPERT
Nicole Fitzsimons and Kate Gladdin pose for a photo at their brother’s wedding in 2011. (Courtesy of Kate Gladdin)
The family’s fight to bring Keith home, while also grappling with the death of Fitzsimons, led Gladdin down a path of teaching parents how to instill travel safety habits in their families.
“Travel is one of the most eye-opening things we can do,” Gladdin said. “But help them make educated choices. I’m not against travel, but I’m for educated travel.”
Gladdin also points parents toward federal resources aimed at keeping Americans safe while traveling abroad. The State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program provides vacationers with the opportunity to register their trips with the government, in the event something goes wrong.
“[Officials] can quickly update and get in contact with you regarding any safety or security information – whether it’s like an impending cyclone or a terrorist threat – that they need to get you out of a country quickly, if they know you’re there,” Gladdin said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Gladdin’s passion for travel safety and educating parents was born from tragedy, but she insists it does not have to be that way for other families.
“Lying on the floor of my sister’s closet, choosing out her funeral dress rather than helping to choose her wedding dress – there are no positives in that,” Gladdin told Fox News Digital. “I think finding purpose in what you’re going through, [by] leaning towards problems that are surrounding you and [finding] what you can do to help solve them. My family created a purpose in Nicole’s death by looking at the problem of travel safety and doing whatever we could to solve it.”
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Iowa
Zach Lahn projected to win Iowa GOP governor primary, upsetting Trump’s pick in a state Democrats hope to flip
Zach Lahn will win the Republican primary for Iowa governor, CBS News projects, overcoming a Trump-backed congressman and setting up a November contest against Democrat Rob Sand that could be one of this year’s most competitive gubernatorial races.
Lahn — a farmer and businessman who has touted his ties to the “Make America Healthy Again” movement — prevailed over a crowded GOP field on Tuesday. Sand, who serves as state auditor, ran for the Democratic nomination unopposed.
His victory bucks the recent winning streak of Trump-backed candidates and marks an upset over Rep. Randy Feenstra, who didn’t attend any primary debates and was viewed by many observers as a frontrunner. President Trump endorsed Feenstra last week, calling him “MAGA all the way,” and several top Iowa GOP figures backed him.
Feenstra conceded late Tuesday night, saying in a speech surrounded by his family that the outcome “wasn’t what I wanted.”
Describing himself as a sixth-generation Iowan, Lahn owns a family farm and runs the agriculture, real estate and technology investment firm Homeplace Ventures. He previously worked for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity. He’s running on a populist-inflected platform that he branded “Iowa First” and has said he wants to boost local ownership of farmland, stem the flow of younger Iowans out of the state and address Iowa’s high cancer rate.
“I fear every day we are losing the Iowa we love,” Lahn said in his victory speech Tuesday, castigating out-of-state investors that he says “treat Iowa land like it’s a commodity instead of our inheritance.”
Lahn was endorsed last year by MAHA Action, a group founded by allies of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and he picked up support from the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action last week. He was also endorsed by former Rep. Steve King, who was known for incendiary comments about race before Feenstra ousted him in a 2020 primary.
Three other candidates also ran: former Iowa Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Lahn will now face Sand, a two-term state auditor who defeated a GOP incumbent in 2018 after working in the state attorney general’s office.
Sand has focused his campaign on government accountability and faulted Republicans for the state’s economic issues, while pitching universal pre-K and criticizing a school voucher program introduced by GOP officials. He has also sought to cultivate a moderate image on social issues, as Republicans try to cast him as a liberal in centrist’s clothing.
In a campaign video late Tuesday, Sand said Republican voters are “welcome in this campaign,” adding that the state’s political system is “broken” and “all you would get with Zach Lahn it is more of the same.”
Once considered a swing state, Iowa has trended sharply red in recent years as Democrats increasingly struggle on rural Midwestern terrain. Mr. Trump won the state three times in a row, including by a 13-point margin in 2024, and GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds won reelection by 18 points four years ago. Iowa hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in two decades, and Sand is the only statewide elected Democrat, after he won reelection by fewer than 3,000 votes in 2022.
But Democrats are hopeful that a challenging political environment for Republicans, both nationally and in Iowa, could make them more competitive in the midwestern state. The Cook Political Report has rated the Iowa gubernatorial race a tossup, one of five states with that distinction this year, and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics says the race leans red.
Reynolds — who has led the state since 2017 — has one of the lowest approval ratings of any governor nationwide. Iowa farmers also struggled last year after the trade war with China caused Beijing to cut American soybean imports, pushing down prices of one of Iowa’s most widely grown crops, and the war with Iran has caused a run-up in fuel and fertilizer prices.
Reynolds declined to run for reelection this year, setting up Iowa’s first gubernatorial election without an incumbent in the race since 2006.
Lahn lent his campaign $2 million last year, but is heading into the general election at a fundraising disadvantage. His campaign had just over $700,000 on hand as of mid-May, compared to nearly $18.3 million for the Sand campaign. Sand’s wife runs a sizable food and health products company founded by her family called the Lauridsen Group, and the Democrat’s campaign coffers have been bolstered by millions in contributions from his in-laws.
Sand raised about $9.7 million between the start of the year and mid-May, just over $3 million of which came from members of his wife’s family. Lahn raised just under $1 million.
Beyond the governor’s race, Iowa also has an open Senate contest after Ernst declined to seek reelection, drawing interest from Democrats, though Republicans likely have a sizable edge. Democrats are also heavily targeting two of Iowa’s four House seats, including the 1st District, where incumbent GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks won by fewer than 1,000 votes in 2024.
Iowa
Elections live updates: Key races to watch in California, Iowa, Montana and New Jersey primaries
Live Coverage
In California, competition is fierce for the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral nominations. Iowa, Montana and New Jersey have open U.S. Senate seats. In New Jersey, a silent congressman could lose his House seat.
-
North Dakota2 minutes agoNorth Dakota voters to decide single-subject requirement for future constitutional amendments on June 9
-
Ohio9 minutes agoOhio State reaches $100 million settlement with nearly 300 sex abuse survivors | CNN
-
Oklahoma12 minutes agoRECAP: Democrat State Superintendent Candidates Address Oklahoma Education Issues in Primary Debate
-
Oregon17 minutes agoOregon man charged with the murders of four women is now accused of killing a fifth
-
Pennsylvania24 minutes agoCrash in Warminster Township, Pennsylvania, leaves 1 person dead, police say
-
Rhode Island27 minutes agoClergy sex abuse bill passes RI Senate on unanimous vote. What’s next
-
South-Carolina32 minutes agoThe 3 Democrats vying for SC governor’s seat take jabs at each other in SCETV debate
-
South Dakota39 minutes agoTornado watch in effect as severe storms target South Dakota
