Lessons learned in Natalee Holloway disappearance apply to Sudiksha Konanki case: retired FBI agent

As the search for a missing American college student who vanished off a beach in the Dominican Republic continues, a retired FBI special agent says investigators can learn lessons from past cases like Natalee Holloway.

“One mistake foreign authorities often make is relying too much on voluntary cooperation from persons of interest,” Jason Pack, a retired FBI supervisory special agent, told Fox News Digital.

“The FBI should be urging Dominican officials to immediately seize electronic devices, examine travel history, and conduct forensic analysis on locations where she was last seen,” Pack continued.

Pack, who is also a former leader of the FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team and an acting legal attaché, said the FBI can’t take over the investigation but will use diplomatic channels to push Dominican authorities to prioritize key investigative steps, provide forensic assistance, and coordinate intelligence-sharing that could uncover new leads.

MISSING AMERICAN IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: UNPREDICTABLE OCEAN CURRENTS, BEACHFRONT POSE MAJOR SEARCH CHALLENGE

The disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki, a pre-med student at the University of Pittsburgh, has been compared to Holloway’s disappearance in 2005.

Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, said there is one key difference between the search for her daughter 20 years ago in Aruba and the search for Konanki, the 20-year-old who vanished in the Dominican Republic last week: a U.S. embassy.

“The family is so fortunate to have an American embassy there to work with,” Beth Holloway, who has been an outspoken advocate for student safety since her daughter’s death, told Fox News Digital in a previous statement. “I did not have that in Aruba.”

Both the young women vanished in Caribbean countries while on vacation. 

Fox News contributor and former D.C. homicide detective Ted Williams said the whole thing has been very “troubling” to him and very similar to Natalee Holloway’s case. 

“This is very, very similar to the Natalee Holloway case. It had to do with a body of water in Aruba with Natalie Holloway, that she had been missing from that area,” Williams explained to Fox News Digital. “And when you look at this situation, we’re talking about a young girl on spring break, and that was Natalee Holloway as well. She was on spring break in the company of a man, and she went missing.” 

“It is hard to believe how similar these cases are. Unfortunately, Natalee had never been brought home. But maybe somebody will be able to be brought home,” Williams continued. 

Natalee Holloway disappeared during a high school graduation celebration at a hotel in Aruba, while Konanki disappeared while on a spring break trip with her University of Pittsburgh friends at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Natalee Holloway was last seen alive on May 30, 2005, leaving a bar with Joran van der Sloot. He was the prime suspect in her disappearance for the following 18 years and finally admitted to killing her in an Oct. 3, 2023, confession made public after he pleaded guilty to the extortion case.

AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENT SUDIKSHA KONANKI’S DISAPPEARANCE IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: TIMELINE

Konanki was last seen on surveillance camera with five other people entering the beach at the Riu República Hotel in Punta Cana after 4:15 a.m. Thursday, the Dominican National Police said in a statement.

Surveillance video, obtained by Noticias SIN, captured the group striding towards the beach at the five-star resort. The footage is the last time authorities tracked Konanki before the Virginia resident disappeared.

Konanki’s disappearance has sparked widespread speculation about the events leading up to it, prompting law enforcement in both the Dominican Republic and the U.S. to investigate.

Since her daughter’s murder, Beth Holloway has been advocating on her behalf and said that the disappearance of Konanki, 20, should be a warning for travelers.

“I have created the full-circle safety plan for travelers and citizens of all ages to remind them to spend as much time planning the end of their outing as they do planning where to go, what to wear and who they are going with,” Holloway said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

While early reports suggested Konanki may have drowned, experts say they believe she would have washed ashore or been found by now if that were the case. Authorities are officially urging the public not to jump to conclusions as the investigation unfolds.

Police have spent days searching the coastline with boats, dive teams and helicopters. The FBI is involved, and the sheriff from her Virginia hometown said he would be sending two detectives to assist in the investigation.

Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Ashley Papa contributed to this report.