It's the vacation paradise Americans love to visit. But spate of people vanishing has tourists terrified
Two tourists arrived in the Dominican Republic within weeks of one another, seeking sun, sand and escape. One washed up dead along the shore. The other still hasn't been found.
On June 20, Dorian Christian MacDonald, 38, was found dead in the surf after taking a moonlit stroll along a resort beach in Puerto Plata.
Three months earlier, American student Sudiksha Konanki, 20, vanished from a luxury resort in Punta Cana after going for a swim in the early hours of March 6. Her sandals were left behind on a sun lounger - but her body was never recovered.
Two lives lost under eerily similar circumstances, just weeks and miles apart in what has become known as a vacation paradise.
Now, as their families demand answers, renewed scrutiny is falling on the Dominican Republic - a destination that has long been haunted by a troubling pattern of sudden and unexplained tourist deaths.
Dorian Christian MacDonald, 38, was found dead in the surf on a resort beach in Puerto Plata on June 20. Sudiksha Konanki, 20, vanished from a luxury resort in Punta Cana in March and still hasn't been found
MacDonald reportedly took a brief late-night walk alone on a beach around 2am, stepping out from his solitary stay at a hotel in Puerto Plata on the island's north coast (pictured)
MacDonald, of Nova Scotia, Canada, was last seen alive walking along a beach in the resort town of Maimon Bay at around 2am on June 20, about an hour before police were first alerted to his disappearance.
His body was discovered floating in the water during high tide just after 4am.
It is not yet known how MacDonald spent the final hours leading up to his fatal swim or how he came into difficulty in the water.
An official cause of death has not been announced by local authorities, though a close friend shared in a GoFundMe that MacDonald is believed to have drowned.
'Dorian died suddenly in a drowning accident,' Tara McKenzie wrote on the crowd funding page. 'He was only 38 years old. And now, the world feels a lot quieter and a whole lot less vibrant just knowing he's no longer a part of it.'
The fundraiser, which has been set up to help cover the repatriation of MacDonald's remains, has raised more than $40,000 CAD.
'We don't even get to even begin saying goodbye properly or grieve as we should until then,' McKenzie added.
'We just want him out of that cold system and back where he belongs - with us.'
A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada confirmed that the department was aware of MacDonald's death but, citing 'privacy considerations', said no further information could be disclosed at this time.
Requests from the Daily Mail for comment sent to local police and Civil Defense, a government agency that supports local law enforcement with naval operations, have gone unanswered.
MacDonald's death is the latest to raise questions about tourist safety on the Caribbean island.
MacDonald's cause of death has not been released by officials but a friend said he is believed to have drowned after venturing into the water during his solo holiday
Sudiksha Konanki's story made headlines around the world when she vanished in the early hours of March 6
Konanki disappeared from the Riu Republica Resort on Punta Cana (pictured)
Although the Dominican Republic is one of the region's most popular destinations, a number of foreigners have died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances in recent years, including drownings, suspected poisonings and unexplained collapses on its beaches and in resorts.
Konanki's case made headlines around the world when she vanished in the early hours of March 6 at the Riu Republica Resort in Punta Cana after a night of drinking.
The University of Pittsburgh student was captured on CCTV walking to the beach with Joshua Riibe, 22, a former Iowa high school wrestling champion, at 4.15am.
Dominican officials were quick to rule her death a drowning but investigator Toby Braun - along with an oceanography expert - told the Daily Mail that if that were the case, her body would almost certainly have washed ashore.
Riibe quickly became a central figure of suspicion in the investigation. His passport was confiscated and he was ordered to remain in the Dominican Republic under strict supervision.
He reportedly gave various versions of his drunken night out with Konanki but provided more insight in a later interview with investigators before returning to the US.
According to a transcript of that conversation, the former wrestler said he and Konanki were 'in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little' when a wave crashed and whisked them both out to sea. In other reported versions, Riibe said that he had gone back to his hotel room or fell asleep on the beach.
Riibe's family explained the conflicting accounts on poor translation, saying that different interpreters had been present at each of the three police interviews.
In his last account, he told police that he had managed to bring Konanki back towards the shore: 'I kept trying to get her to breathe but that didn't allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water.'
Contrary to earlier statements, he said that she was still conscious and safe when they returned to dry land.
'When I finally reached the ground on the beach, I held her in front of me. She wasn't out of the water, she was knee-deep and walking at an angle out the water,' he told officers.
Konanki's family has since made the heartbreaking decision to ask the investigation to be closed as a drowning, Fox 5 DC reported.
Three European tourists were killed at the same beach where Konanki vanished two months earlier, after being swept away by a strong current on January 17. Only one of the bodies was recovered. A fourth person was hospitalized.
However, Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman is urging Dominican Republic authorities to release all evidence related to the 20-year-old's case, citing key information that remains undisclosed, including the analysis of Riibe's cell phone and any text messages sent after Konanki's disappearance.
Joshua Riibe, 22, was the only person with Konanki when she disappeared
Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman is urging Dominican Republic authorities to release all evidence related to the 20-year-old's case, citing key information that remains undisclosed
Chapman has since dispatched two of his own detectives to the Dominican Republic to conduct an independent investigation.
Riibe, meanwhile, has continued to deny any wrongdoing.
His aunt, Theresa Riibe, told the Daily Mail: 'He's a great kid. He wouldn't hurt a fly.'
MacDonald and Konanki's cases are just the latest in a string of chilling incidents involving tourists who died or vanished in the Dominican Republic under puzzling circumstances.
Between the summers of 2018 and 2019, the island was gripped by a spate of mysterious incidents that claimed the lives of more than 10 American tourists.
Nathaniel Edward Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, were found dead in their hotel room at the Grand Bahia Principe La Romana resort on May 30, 2019, after missing their scheduled check-out time.
According to autopsy reports, the couple suffered respiratory failure and fluid accumulation in their lungs. Day also suffered a cerebral edema, though the precise cause of the fatal episodes was not clear.
Days earlier, Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, of Pennsylvania, died at the same hotel shortly after checking into her room.
Schaup-Werner had been celebrating a wedding anniversary and fell ill after having a drink from the minibar, her family said.
She collapsed and died soon after. A preliminary autopsy cited by the Attorney General's Office of the Dominican Republic cited a heart attack, pulmonary edema and respiratory failure.
Maryland couple Cynthia Day, 49, and Nathaniel Holmes, 63, were found dead in the Dominican Republic in 2019
Pennsylvania psychotherapist Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, was on vacation in the Dominican Republic when she died in May 2019
They were staying at the all-inclusive Bahia Principe resort in La Romana
At least eight other American tourists died in a similar, puzzling fashion over 12 months.
Dominican authorities and the US State Department insisted that the deaths were isolated incidents, largely due to natural causes such as heart attacks and pulmonary edema. They emphasized that there had been no unusual spike in US tourist fatalities.
Some victims' families were unconvinced, paying for independent autopsies to dispute natural cause rulings while calling for more transparency.
In response to the public outcry and diplomatic pressure, the country introduced enhanced safety measures in 2019, including emergency phone lines in rooms, more resort inspections, increased security, and surveillance to stem the growing tide of concern.
But troubling cases have continued in the years since.
In December 2023, April Gougeon and her eight-year-old son Oliver died after eating from the buffet at Viva Dominicus Beach by Wyndham Resort. Her family filed a $10million lawsuit against the hotel in January, blaming the resort for their deaths.
Indiana mother Stefanie Smith, 41, died suddenly on an American Airlines flight home from the Dominican Republic in March 2024.
The night before her death, she had been sipping mojitos by the pool and enjoyed a steak dinner at the all-inclusive Iberostar Grand Bavaro in Punta Cana.
In December 2023, April Gougeon and her son Oliver, 8, died after eating from the buffet at Viva Dominicus Beach by Wyndham Resort
New Yorkers Portia Ravenelle, 52, and Orlando Moore, 40, died in strange circumstances in 2019 when they vanished while en route to the airport in a rental car
Indiana mother Stefanie Smith, 41, died suddenly on an American Airlines flight home from the Dominican Republic in March 2024
Minutes into the flight, Smith started violently convulsing and was declared dead after the plane diverted to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
An autopsy would later reveal that she had died from a carotid artery dissection in her neck, and no foul play was suspected in her death.
Richard Jorene, a 67-year-old tourist, died by drowning in 2019 after being left behind during a snorkeling tour near Bávaro's 'Jellyfish Beach'.
Several crew members were arrested for negligence. His death renewed scrutiny of safety standards for tourist boat operators.
New Yorkers Portia Ravenelle, 52, and Orlando Moore, 40, died in strange circumstances the same year when they vanished while en route to the airport in a rental car.
Somewhere along their journey, their vehicle plunged into the ocean. Portia was found critically injured and died in the hospital; Orlando's body was later recovered from the sea.
Authorities ruled it an accident but no official crash report was filed, and details around the site and recovery remain unclear.
Around 2.7 million Americans visit the Dominican Republic every year.
Between 2008 and 2019, 19 to 32 non‑natural US citizen deaths were recorded in the Dominican Republic per year, with vehicle accidents the leading cause.
Last month, the US State Department issued a Level 2 advisory for the Dominican Republic, warning American tourists to exercise increased caution when traveling to the island amid a rise in violent crime, including robberies, sexual assault and murder.
The advisory, issued on June 18, was the second of its kind in under a year.
