A Florida man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of his estranged wife in Madrid. David Knezevich, originally from Serbia, was taken into custody at Miami International Airport by U.S. Marshals and is facing a federal judge in Miami this afternoon, according to Hoodline.
Details emerged from Spanish authorities and the FBI, accusing Knezevich of playing a central role in his wife's vanishing. Ana María Knezevich Henao, 40, was last seen in Madrid where she was staying at an apartment, taking a break amid what friends described as a "nasty" divorce, as Local10 reported. Staying at the apartment, obscured security cameras wearing a motorcycle helmet were caught on tape by a man right before her disappearance.
The FBI believes that Knezevich, the owner of a Fort Lauderdale business, impersonated the man caught on tape outside his wife's apartment, according to the detailed court documents that were made public. Spanish police have footage of Knezevich buying the same brand of spray paint and duct tape used in the incident. Yet, his lawyer Ken Padowitz has not commented on these allegations, having previously stated that Knezevich was in Serbia at the time of his wife's disappearance.
The case against Knezevich includes circumstantial evidence linking him with a rented car, which upon return, had its license plates swapped and windows tinted. Traveled almost 4,800 miles, the car was, as revealed by the rental agency to investigators. Further, security footage showed a car with the stolen plates passing through a Madrid toll booth shortly after Ana disappeared, with the driver obscured behind tinted windows.
Further muddying the waters of this international mystery, friends of Ana received messages from her phone after her disappearance. According to Local10, the FBI alleges that Knezevich sent a text in English, asking a Colombian woman he met on a dating app to translate a message into "perfect Colombian" Spanish, which later was texted to two of Ana's friends from her phone. "I met someone wonderful. He has a summer house about 2h (two hours) from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. There is barely any signal though. I will call you when I come back. Kisses,” the message read.
The disturbing turn of events has led to the involvement of multiple international agencies, including the Colombian Police and officials from the Belgrade Interior Attaché Office. The investigation is being overseen by the Court of Violence Against Women No. 9 in Madrid, with proceedings being kept under wraps for the time being.
