Joshua Riibe left the Dominican Republic after having spent almost two weeks under de facto house arrest during the investigation into a missing spring breaker.
The 22-year-old former wrestling champion boarded a Jetblue flight to Purto Rico on Wednesday afternoon and returns to the United States with his father, told sources to Dailymail.com.
It only comes one day after a judge ruled that he was no longer under the police and was free to leave the country.
He had spent 11 days helping the police in the disappearance of the 20-year-old pre-media Sudiksha Konanki.
Although Riibe was never considered a suspect, he had his passport taken and he was limited to his room in the Punta Cana resort. He was examined daily for the last hours of Konanki.
Eventually he made a daring bid for freedom on Tuesday when his lawyers submitted a Writ van Habeas Corpus.
The application served as an ultimatum for Dominican authorities: accusing me something or let me go home.
While the judge ruled in his favor, there were concerns about the actual opportunity to return home, since the judge said he was not a ruling on the return of the passport of Riibe.
All parties say that Riibe has been cooperative as the last known witness to see her alive
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, disappeared on March 6 from a beach in the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
The public prosecutor also indicated that he was not responsible for returning the passport, which shouted to which agency it was in possession, and how Riibe could gain access to book a flight from the country.
It has now been revealed that the office of the public prosecutor of La Altagracia after the hearing reached contact with Riibe and told him that they would return his passport.
Although he 'appreciated this decision', Riibe chose to request a new passport directly from the American consulate instead, referring to 'privacy reasons'.
This application was treated immediately and his new passport was 'immediately published', allowing him to book a flight home.
“We are pleased to announce that Joshua and his father are currently traveling back to their house in the United States,” said Riibe's lawyer.
The parents of Konanki have accepted the conclusion offered by the authorities that she was probably drowned, and all parties say that Riibe has been cooperative as the last known witness to see her alive.
“Both parties of the authorities showed us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides of the authorities made it clear that the person was of interest was not a suspect from the start,” her father told Subbarayudu Konanki to the New York Post.
“It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we come to terms with the fact that our daughter has drowned,” he said. “This is incredibly difficult for us to process.”
Shown: Riibe leaves the court after his hearing on March 18
The American student Joshua Riibe is no longer under the police watch, but his nightmare is not over yet and he can be stuck in the Dominician Republic for at least 10 days
On Monday, Sudiksha's destroyed parents Sreedevi and Subbarayudu – who traveled to DR from Virginia – submitted a formally written request to the National Police for a 'legal declaration of death'
Surveillance video -images that Riibe and Sudiksha show together the night she disappeared had arisen after her disappearance
The couple encouraged the Dominican authorities to allow Riibe to return home.
Riibe claims that he spoke with Konanki's destroyed mother, who unveiled in court on Tuesday, she hugged and thanked him for dragging her daughter from the ocean prior to her astonishing disappearance.
'Before the Sudiksha family left the hotel, they came up and they gave me hugs and the mother even said very much thanked for helping my daughter the first time.
“I just do what I can do, but at the moment there is nothing left that I can do … I am ready to go home and go back to my life,” he said with surprising calmness.
Previously, DailyMail.com reported that the grieving parents of Sudiksha had asked the Dominican authorities to formally declare that she is dead.
A source with direct knowledge of the study told DailyMail.com on Monday that the Sudiksha family accepted the 'deeply painful' reality that she will not be found alive, 11 days after she disappeared during the early hours of 6 March during the spring break in Punta Cana.
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, disappeared from a beach in the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on 6 March. Colleague -lead Joshua Riibe was taken into account intensively after it was revealed that he was the last to see her alive
Military staff in the Dominican Republic has been seen to examine the beaches and the surrounding areas in the midst of the search for the body of Konanki
Her disappearance led to an intense search with multiple authorities, despite the authorities who warned at an early age that she would probably have drowned tragically into the raw surf.
Her parents submitted a formally written request to the National Police for a 'legal declaration of death'.
'After an extensive search, the Dominican authorities concluded that Sudiksha is supposed to drown. Her clothes were discovered on a beach near where she was last seen, “says the letter.
“Although no explanation can really alleviate our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.”
This is a crushing new story. More come.
