Witness says missing Pitt student rescued from powerful wave — then vanished
A man who might've been the last person to see a missing University of Pittsburgh student in the Dominican Republic said he rescued her from drowning — only for her to vanish a short time later, according to a transcript of an interview he gave local authorities.
A man who might've been the last person to see a missing University of Pittsburgh student in the Dominican Republic said he rescued her from drowning — only for her to vanish a short time later, according to a transcript of an interview he gave local authorities.
Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old junior, went to Punta Cana on March 3 with five female friends for spring break. She was last seen around 4:15 a.m. March 6 after going to the beach with friends.
The man, who officials in Konanki's home state of Virginia called a "person of interest," told local investigators that he and Konanki were on the beach "in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little," according to a transcript of an interview he gave local authorities that NBC News obtained.
That's when a wave crashed and swept them both "out to sea," the man said in the March 12 interview.
"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," he said.
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