A judge granted habeas corpus which released Riibe from police surveillance. His passport, however, was not returned. Media outlets are not sure where the passport was. Prosecutor Eduardo Velázquez told NBC News, “I don’t know about the passport.” When questioned further he replied in English, “I…I don’t speak Spanish… English.”

Joshua Riibe, 22, was named as a person of interest in Konanki’s March 6 disappearance. He was not charged with wrongdoing or named as a suspect. The ruling comes as Konanki’s parents asked authorities to declare the 20-year-old dead.

A Dominican Republic judge has accepted St. Cloud University student Joshua Riibe’s request for release after his attorneys argued that he was unlawfully detained following the disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki.