Missing American college student search potentially complicated by power outage: expert
A lengthy power outage at the Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, resort where a missing American college student had been vacationing for spring break could potentially impact authorities' investigation into her disappearance.
Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student from Loudoun County, Virginia, was last seen walking on a beach outside the five-star RIU Republica Resort in the early morning hours of March 6. She has yet to be located.
The resort lost power beginning on Tuesday, March 4, around 1:30 a.m., and 70% of power was restored by 3 a.m. By 2 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, power had been fully restored, RIU Resorts & Hotels told Fox News Digital in a Wednesday statement.
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The hotel company added that "in response to publications linking the electrical failure experienced at the Riu Republica hotel with the tragic disappearance of guest Sudiksha Chowdary Konanki, RIU Hotels & Resorts wishes to firmly clarify that both events are completely unrelated."
The hotel added that security cameras around RIU Republica "were operational and, in fact, recorded quality images during that day and night as there was sufficient lighting."
Security camera footage captured Konanki walking from a hotel bar to the beach with friends, including a young man with an arm wrapped around her shoulders, around 4:17 a.m. on March 6. She was apparently last seen on the beach outside the resort at 4:50 a.m. Just before 6 a.m., her friends returned to the hotel, but Konanki was not with them.
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Loudoun County authorities have named a fellow tourist as a person of interest, as he was the last person to be seen with Konanki. The American man, in his 20s, has not been accused of any crime.
Experts say that while the power outage likely will not prevent the collection of surveillance video footage or cellphone data, it may complicate authorities' investigation into Konanki's mysterious vanishing.
"It does have an impact on everything in the investigation if they've lost complete power," The Lake Forest Group founder and CEO Michael Verden, a former Secret Service agent and director of security for the NBA, told Fox News Digital.
Without power, security cameras in certain areas of the hotel may have lost connection even if others retained connection. In other words, full power may have presented a fuller picture of Konanki's last movements before she vanished, though it is unclear if any cameras did lose connection during the electricity outage.
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"It's all evidentiary evidence," Verden explained. "With the power outage, how much of that is impacted? Do some of the cameras stay active? Do all of them stay active? Because if they lose power, that could affect the investigation."
He added that the power outage could also prevent guests from entering hotel rooms and, therefore, prevent investigators from determining when Konanki and her friends last entered their rooms before her disappearance.
"The electronic system gives you evidence ... and that could be significant to show access prior to her disappearance," Verden said, because the hotel room keycard information could be useful in corroborating guests' statements about when they were with Konanki versus when they arrived back at their rooms. This information would help authorities build timelines for those present during her last movements, he said.
Tom Slovenski, a digital forensic expert and founder of Cellular Forensics, told Fox News Digital that despite the electricity outage at the resort, investigators will still be able to track down cellphone tower data to determine where and when Konanki was before she disappeared.
"They actually got a lot of good leads there, especially with her not coming back. She was arm in arm with the [person of interest]. And then the man comes back. He doesn't have her. So, I'd be looking at [him] big time. And then where did he go? You could find him on those tower dumps. But if you know who he is, you get hold of his phone. You can easily then use the call detail records and find out where he was, who he was talking to. That sort of thing," Slovenski explained.
He also said that the cellphone towers could provide location and time data despite a power outage at the resort and even despite getting wet if Konanki and her friends went swimming, as some newer smartphones are waterproof. Phones have to be powered on for cellphone data to ping, but the phone's user does not have to be making calls or texts.
"Timing data is still going on in the background" so long as cellphone data is being used, even in the background, Slovenski explained.
"They could obviously pull the call detail records for her particular phone. They can also do a tower dump with each of the providers of that on that island … and then they can go through that to see if they find someone that looks plausible. … They can go ahead and get what's the timing advance records. What they do is what's called the timing advance dump," Slovenski said.
He described the timing advance as the way phones get "pings" from cellphone towers, which shows "the amount of time it takes from the signal to go from the tower to the phone back to the tower."
"They are able, we are able to look at that area where that phone was approximately in … and so from that, you're able to track then how that phone is moving," he said.
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The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) said in a Tuesday statement that "[t]here has been considerable public speculation about what may have happened to Konanki and who may be involved."
"We caution anyone from drawing any unsubstantiated conclusions and are committed to ensuring that a thorough investigation is conducted before any conclusions are reached," they said in a news release. "The LCSO is hopeful for the safe return of Sudiksha Konanki, and we are committed to supporting this investigation and her family in every way possible."
Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the LCSO at 703-777-1021. To remain anonymous, call the Loudoun Crime Solvers at 703-777-1919.