Authorities must look at man last seen with missing student Sudiksha Konanki, Holloway investigator says

A private investigator who worked on the Natalee Holloway case says he does not believe the missing University of Pittsburgh student drowned in the Dominican Republic and believes authorities need to target the last man seen with her.  

University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, 20, appeared to vanish from her 5-star resort while on vacation with classmates from college. Konanki, a pre-med major, reportedly was last seen on camera with five other people going to the beach at the Riu República Hotel in Punta Cana after 4:15 a.m. Thursday.

Dominican Republic officials told authorities that prior to her disappearance, Konanki was seen walking on the beach in the evening. Her clothes were found on a portable beach bed close to where she went missing. A young man who was with her at the beach is currently under investigation.  

AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENT MISSING IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC DIDN’T DROWN, NATALEE HOLLOWAY PRIVATE EYE BELIEVES 

“Everybody thinks that she’s in the water. I got a different feeling. She didn’t drown. If she was put in the water, somebody put her there and I just learned some new information that her clothes were found,” private investigator TJ Ward told “The Story.” “I just got that information about 10 minutes ago. So, that’s some new information and we need to look at. I’m real concerned about this individual that was last seen with her at 5:00 in the morning and I think they’ve interviewed him. I think they need to target him and try to see if he’s going to tell the truth.” 

Ward told “The Story” that he has special voice analysis technology that could determine if the man last seen with her is telling the truth.  

“I think there’s something more to this,” he said. “His story has changed several times, which concerns me. I think that’s why law enforcement is targeting in on him again and asking witnesses and people that are with them. So, there’s a whole lot of information that has not been found yet.” 

Ward worked the infamous case of Natalee Holloway, an American teenager who was killed while on a school trip to Aruba in 2005. 

Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, spoke to Fox News Digital earlier about the investigation. 

“The family is so fortunate to have an American embassy there to work with. I did not have that in Aruba,” she said. “Surely they are checking cameras from hotel, gas stations, traffic lights, store fronts and wherever they had dinner, any casinos they visited, the beach areas.” 

Fox News’ Michael Ruiz, Ashley Papa, Lorraine Taylor and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.