Amanda Knox's advice for American linked to Punta Cana missing persons case

Amanda Knox knows exactly what Joshua Riibe is feeling right now.

The senior at St. Cloud University in Minnesota, who is believed to be among the last people to see University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki in the Dominican Republic, left the Caribbean country on March 19, his lawyers said.

Riibe was holed up in the resort Riu Republica in Punta Cana under strict police monitoring for 11 days before a judge ruled the situation violated Dominican law. The 22-year-old’s restrictions also included confiscating his cellphone and passport.

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Joshua Riibe arrives at a Dominican Republic courthouse alongside his father, Albert Riibe, on March 18. (Fox News Digital)

Riibe's attorneys successfully argued that, as a witness, not a suspect, police control over his movements over an 11-day span was unlawful.

"I had not followed that case, but the first thing is… how can I contact him?" Knox told Fox News Digital. "Because it’s not just one little quote that I would give him… There’s a sense of urgency that he’s going to be feeling that I know I felt."

Joshua Riibe is believed to be among the last people to see fellow student Sudiksha Konanki in the Dominican Republic. (Fox News Digital)

The mother of two has a book that was published on Tuesday, "Free: My Search for Meaning." It recounts the struggles the 37-year-old endured in attempting to reintegrate into society after spending nearly four years in an Italian prison. In it, Knox also reflects on what it was like returning to a more normal life, including seeking a life partner, finding a job and walking out in public.

Amanda Knox, a married mother of two, is a criminal justice reform advocate and gives talks on how high-profile cases can impact loved ones. (Lucien Knuteson)

Knox said she had some sage advice for Riibe and his parents as they attempt to navigate the same fears she and her family experienced.

"I absolutely would recommend taking his time because I feel like there’s a lot of pressure from the outside world to turn him into content," she said. 

Military personnel search for Sudiksha Konanki, a Pittsburgh University student from the U.S. who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on March 10.  (AP Photo/Francesco Spotorno)

"And also, to feel like he can go back to his life… After you’ve lost so much time, the last thing you want to hear is, ‘Take your time. Take things slow.’ But it’s really, really true. And inevitably, it’s just going to take time for him to really get hit by the waves of realization of what happened to him."

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Amanda Knox's book, "Free: My Search for Meaning," is available now. (Grand Central Publishing)

"It’s going to be a long journey, whether or not he takes his time," Knox warned. "But really, just allowing him the space to just be without being in survival mode would be my first piece of advice."

Fox News Digital reached out to Riibe’s lawyers for comment.

Sudiksha Konanki appears in an undated photo on her TikTok profile. Konanki and five female friends had traveled to the Dominican Republic on March 3 for spring break. (@sudikshakonanki/TikTok)

Knox, born in Seattle, was a 20-year-old student in Perugia studying abroad when her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was found stabbed to death in 2007. The 21-year-old was found in the cottage they shared with two Italian women.

Between 2007 and 2015, Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in an Italian prison and eight years on trial for a murder she didn’t commit. (Federico Zirilli/AFP via Getty Images)

The case made global headlines as suspicion fell quickly on Knox and her boyfriend of just days, Raffaele Sollecito. 

But another man, Rudy Hermann Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was eventually convicted of murder after his DNA was found at the crime scene. The European Court of Human Rights ordered Italy to pay Knox damages for the police failures, noting she was vulnerable as a foreign student not fluent in Italian.

Amanda Knox (right) acknowledges the cheers of supporters while her mother Edda Mellas comforts her in Seattle on Oct. 4, 2011.  (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

Knox returned to the United States in 2011, after being freed by an appeals court in Perugia, and has established herself as a global campaigner for the wrongly convicted. Over the years, she has attempted to clear her name.

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British student Meredith Kercher was murdered in 2007. She was 21. ( Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

Today, Knox is a board member of The Innocence Center, a nonprofit law firm that aims to free innocent people from prison. She also frequently discusses how high-profile cases impact loved ones on a podcast she hosts with her husband, "Labyrinths."

Guede, 37, was freed in 2021, after serving most of his 16-year sentence.

Amanda Knox attends her appeal hearing at Perugia's Court of Appeal in Perugia, Italy, on Sept. 30, 2011. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Riibe is believed to be among the last people who saw Konanki, 20, before she vanished in the early morning hours of March 6 from the beach behind their resort. The students were visiting the Caribbean nation for spring break with friends.

Joshua Riibe, seen here in a Dominican Republic courtroom, has cooperated with law enforcement. (Greg Wehner/Fox News Digital)

According to the transcript of an interview with prosecutors, Riibe told police he was drinking with Konanki on the beach, and they were kissing in the ocean when they got caught in a current. Riibe said he was a former lifeguard and helped bring her ashore.

Riibe told investigators he vomited upon reaching the beach and that Konanki said she was going to fetch her things. When he looked up, she was gone. Riibe said he was later surprised to hear of her disappearance.

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Konanki’s parents, Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki, have asked Dominican authorities to declare their daughter legally dead. In a letter, they said that after an extensive search, local authorities believed that their daughter had drowned.

Sudiksha Konanki in a Facebook selfie photo. The 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh junior has been missing since March 6, when she vanished during a spring break trip to a five-star resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Sudiksha Konanki/Facebook)

While Riibe was faced with scrutiny, he was not named a suspect in the case. Following a trial exceeding five hours, Judge Edwin Rijo ruled that Riibe, classified as a witness, should have full rights under Dominican law and unrestricted freedom of movement.

Michael Chapman, sheriff of Loudoun County in Virginia, where the Konankis live, said in a statement that officials have been working with Dominican authorities and continue to review evidence in the case.

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Sudiksha Konanki's parents are seen speaking out after their daughter's disappearance. They believe the student drowned. (FOX 5 DC)

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"The disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki is tragic, and we cannot imagine the grief her family has been feeling," he said. "Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned. While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible."