It's a phenomenon experienced by the families of missing people when a body is never found, experts say: grief without certainty.

A judge in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday granted a request for freedom for Joshua Steven Riibe, who investigators believe was the last person to see US college student Sudiksha Konanki alive nearly two weeks ago.

The last person authorities believe may have seen Sudiksha Konanki, the 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student who vanished while on a spring break trip in the Dominican Republic, was back on the beach — this time with investigators.