Connect with us

Pittsburg, PA

Missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki’s hometown sheriff names person of interest five days into search

Published

on

Missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki’s hometown sheriff names person of interest five days into search


Authorities in Virginia have identified a 24-year-old man as a person of interest in connection to University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki’s mysterious disappearance last week in the Dominican Republic, according to a report. 

The sheriff’s office in Loudoun County, where the missing college student is from, told Fox News Digital that Iowa resident Joshua Ribe “has been interviewed at length” but has not been accused of foul play in what remains a missing person’s case.

“Sheriff [Michael] Chapman wants to make sure the investigation is comprehensive and includes all possible assets and techniques,” a spokesperson for the sheriff, Thomas Julia, told Fox News Digital.

“We are working closely with the FBI on all of this, and they are working with the Dominican National Police.”

Advertisement
The hometown sheriff’s department of Sudiksha Konanki has named a person of interest for her disappearance in the Dominican Republic. Instagram / @avaaz.official

The 20-year-old pre-med student was on spring break with five friends at the Riu Republic Resort in Punta Cana on March 6 when she vanished. She was last seen on the beach and Ribe is believed to be the last person to see her alive.

The pair was last captured on surveillance footage walking with a group of friends toward the beach area around 4:15 a.m. Thursday, according to the Dominican Republic National Police. 

Footage obtained by Noticias SIN showed Konanki seemingly clinging to Ribe, a fellow guest at the Caribbean resort, as the group walked onto the beach. 

Konanki traveled with five other people from the University of Pittsburgh to the Riu República Hotel in Punta Cana. AP

Konanki and several friends were on the beach before most of the group called it a night and headed back to their hotel, leaving the young woman on the sand along with her male companion, according to Dominican media. 

Ribe, who traveled to the Dominican Republic from Iowa, gave authorities three different accounts of what happened after the two were alone on the beach, first telling cops he threw up from the rough surf and went back to shore – but asked Konanki if she was OK, according to local reports. 

Advertisement

In the second version, he allegedly said he felt sick to his stomach and left the water, at which point he last saw the missing woman in knee-deep surf before he passed out.

Footage obtained by Noticias SIN showed Konanki seemingly clinging to a man as the group made their way towards the beach. AP
She was last seen on surveillance camera with five other people entering the beach at the five-star resort after 4:15 a.m. Thursday. Noticias Sin

He then told authorities he saw the Indian citizen and permanent US resident walking along the shore before he passed out in the sand. 

Dominican police have not said if they suspect foul play, but said Ribe is cooperating with their investigation. 

Local authorities have speculated that the spring breaker from Chantilly, Virginia, likely drowned after jumping into the ocean.

A joint investigation into Konanki’s disappearance is being conducted by the US Embassy and the Dominican National Police. Handout

Her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, called on authorities Monday to expand search efforts over his “growing suspicion” she was kidnapped since her body never washed ashore. 

Advertisement

Police in Punta Cana said on Tuesday they are re-interviewing Konaki’s five travel companions, hotel employees and others who were with her in the early morning hours at the ritzy resort. 

The investigation is now being led by a “high-level commission” of local and US agencies, including the FBI, officials said. 

The search entered its fifth day Tuesday, with missing person posters describing the young woman as 5 foot 3 with black hair and brown eyes.

 

Advertisement



Source link

Pittsburg, PA

Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County

Published

on

Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County



In the early 1960s, the peregrine falcon population declined so sharply that the raptors weren’t even nesting in Pennsylvania. But now, the National Aviary says a record number have been counted in Allegheny County.

Advertisement

The National Aviary says six peregrine falcons were recorded in the county during the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The nation’s longest-running citizen science project collects data on bird populations for ornithologists, the aviary says. It also plays a role in guiding conservation action, like what was needed to bring peregrine falcons back from the brink of extinction. 

Because of the use of DDT, peregrine falcons were no longer nesting in the state of Pennsylvania by the early 1960s, the aviary said. But after the harmful pesticide, which negatively affects reproduction rates in birds, was banned in 1972, conservation efforts have helped the peregrine falcon rebound. It was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 and Pennsylvania’s list in 2021. 

The record number of peregrine falcons in Allegheny County is thanks in part to the nest on top of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in Oakland. For the past two years, biologists with the Pennsylvania Game Commission have banded chicks born in the nest. Three were banded last year, and two the year before that. 

People can watch Carla and Ecco raise their family in the nest on a livestream camera run by the National Aviary. Carla laid her first egg of the breeding season on March 16 last year, so the aviary says the start of another season isn’t too far away. 

Advertisement



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Pittsburg, PA

Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings

Published

on

Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings



Police are investigating two shootings that happened less than 30 minutes apart on Sunday night in McKeesport. 

Two men were injured in the shootings that happened at two different locations. 

Allegheny County Police said that the department’s Homicide Unit was requested and responded to assist in the shooting investigations.

Advertisement

According to police, officers were first called to the area of Lysle Boulevard and Huey Street, where a man was shot just after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.

KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw the outside of the Sunoco gas station along Lysle Boulevard lined with crime tape and what appeared to be blood on the front door of the store. 

Police are investigating two late-night shootings that happened in McKeesport on Sunday. Officers were called to a gas station along Lysle Boulevard and an alleyway near Madison Avenue around 30 minutes apart Sunday night.It’s unclear at this time if the two shootings are related or connected.

KDKA Photojournalist Bryce Lutz

Advertisement


Police also had an area taped off around the intersection of nearby 5th Avenue and Huey Street.  The man who was shot in the area was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Police said they are also investigating a shooting that happened in the area of an alleyway behind Madison Avenue, where another man was shot Dispatchers said the second shooting happened around 25 minutes after the first.

The two shooting scenes in McKeesport are located around 1/4 of a mile apart.

At the second shooting scene, KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw police taping off an alleyway between Madison Avenue and Petty Street. 

screenshot-2026-03-02-004551.png

Police are investigating two late-night shootings that happened in McKeesport on Sunday. Officers were called to a gas station along Lysle Boulevard and an alleyway near Madison Avenue around 30 minutes apart Sunday night.

Advertisement

KDKA Photojournalist Bryce Lutz


Officers at the scene were shining flashlights and looking into a black sedan that had its flashers on.  The man who was shot in the area of Madison Avenue was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Police didn’t specify if the two shootings are believed to be related.



Source link

Continue Reading

Pittsburg, PA

Silovs makes 22 saves, Penguins shut out Golden Knights | NHL.com

Published

on

Silovs makes 22 saves, Penguins shut out Golden Knights | NHL.com


Vegas allowed two power-play goals on Pittsburgh’s four chances after giving up one on 12 opportunities the previous four games. 

“I think we just had poor execution all game long,” Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith said. “Obviously, our penalty kill has been pretty good for us and that wasn’t good enough tonight.” 

Rickard Rakell pushed it to 4-0 on another power play at 15:06, stopping a shot from Karlsson with his left skate and wrapping a shot around Hill. 

Brazeau scored on a wrist shot from above the right circle at 14:59 of the third period for the 5-0 final. 

Advertisement

“Second period, they took it to us,” McNabb said. “We were out of it, basically.” 

NOTES: With goals from Kindel, Chinakhov and Brazeau, the Penguins have 73 goals by players in their first season with the team. It’s the most in the NHL this season and 13 more than the next closest (the Anaheim Ducks, 59). … The Golden Knights have been outscored 9-1 in the first and second periods of their first three games out of the break for the Olympics. … Karlsson has 908 points (204 goals, 704 assists), tied with Scott Stevens (908 points; 196 goals, 712 assists) for the 13th-most by a defenseman in League history. … Vegas forward Mitch Marner had a point streak end at six games (seven points; four goals, three assists).



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending