After landing at Miami International Airport from Serbia on Saturday, May 4, David Knezevich was arrested and charged with kidnapping in connection with Ana María Knezevich Henao's disappearance. He was transported to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami on a temporary pretrial detention order as a flight risk.
The 40-year-old woman, a U.S. citizen originally from Colombia, was last seen on February 2 arriving at her Madrid apartment where she had been living since December amid a separation and planned divorce from the 36-year-old Knezevich. Her friends and family say they have not heard from her since. They were concerned after receiving strange text messages from her phone number and learning that she failed to meet a friend at a Madrid train station for a trip to Barcelona.
Leading up to her disappearance, the FBI claims, the wife "was very fearful of Knezevich and believed he was surreptitiously monitoring her whereabouts." The couple had been married for 13 years and owned an IT service provider called EOX Technology Solutions. Broward County property records reveal they also owned two properties in Fort Lauderdale. A third property had gone into foreclosure in October 2023.
"The separation was contentious because Knezevich did not want to split the material assets evenly," an FBI affidavit states.
Knezevich's attorney, Fort Lauderdale-based Kenneth Padowitz, has not responded to New Times' request for comment. The lawyer said in February that his client denied involvement in his wife's disappearance and was cooperating with investigators to help track her down.
"David has worked with authorities. He has talked to detectives in Spain on a number of occasions. He's provided credit card information," Padowitz said. "He is doing everything that he possibly can...from Serbia."
Caught on Camera?
Spanish authorities zeroed in on Knezevich, a Serbian native and naturalized U.S. citizen, after surveillance footage from his wife's apartment building in Madrid captured a man wearing a helmet, who allegedly resembled Knezevich, spray-painting over the lens of one of the building's security cameras and fastening duct tape on the building entrance lock on February 2 at 9:27 p.m. The FBI says Knezevich Henao was last seen alive entering her apartment building around 2:30 p.m. that day. Later that evening, the man was seen on camera leaving the elevator with a suitcase, the FBI affidavit states. During a subsequent search of her apartment two days later, Spanish law enforcement discovered the woman's cellphone and laptop were missing.
The FBI claims law enforcement identified the spray-paint can brand based on the surveillance footage and found a store in Madrid that sold that brand of spray paint on February 2. The store's camera footage "depicted an individual who appeared to be Knezevich purchasing the spray paint along with two rolls of duct tape on or about February 2 around noon," according to the charging document.
Additionally, the FBI says, Knezevich traveled from Miami to Istanbul, Turkey on January 27 and returned to Belgrade, Serbia by car on February 5. From January 29 through March 15, authorities discovered, Knezevich rented a Peugeot 308.
After the car was returned, the rental car agency noticed the windows had been tinted, the license plate frames had been changed, and two stickers had been removed from the vehicle, according to the FBI. The car traveled more than 7,600 kilometers (4,722 miles) under Knezevich's rental period.
Authorities discovered that during that time, an individual in Spain reported that both of his license plates were stolen off his car. A review of the license plate reader database purportedly revealed that one of the stolen plates was spotted on Calle Francisco Sivela, the same street as Knezevich Henao's apartment building, and passed through toll booths outside of Madrid in the middle of the night on February 2 into February 3.
"Video from the toll booths revealed that the plates were attached to a Peugeot 308 with tinted windows," the FBI claims.
Strange Text Messages
Around February 3, Knezevich allegedly reached out to a Colombian woman he'd met on a dating app on Whatsapp, saying he needed help translating messages into "perfect Colombian" for a Serbian friend who was writing a script with a Colombian character.She told police he specifically asked if she could translate the sentences: "I met someone wonderful. He has a summer house about 2h from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. There is barely any signal though. I'll call you when I come back. Kisses." Knezevich also wanted to translate: "Yesterday, after therapy, I needed a walk and he approached me on the street! Amazing connection. Like I never had before."
According to the FBI, the translations were later to be revealed for another purpose entirely. The messages were sent in a text from Ana's phone to her friend, who made public statements following her disappearance, saying the messages did not sound like her at all and sparked concerns.
A month after the 40-year-old went missing, a woman impersonating Knezevich Henao called an insurance carrier to cancel three insurance policies for her and the couple's business vehicles, the FBI alleges. Law enforcement learned the call came from a phone number owned by Knezevich's company, with Knezevich as the listed contact.
"During the call, children could be heard in the background speaking to the caller," the affidavit reads. "The victim does not have any children."
The FBI says that an unnamed employee, called "Employee 1" in the court documents, also came forward to law enforcement in April to report that Knezevich asked her to impersonate his wife to open a new bank and provided her social security number. She said she told Knezevich that she did not feel comfortable doing it because his wife was missing.
"In response, Knezevich told Employee 1 that this was not 'serious,' and told Employee 1 it needed to be done in order for employees to be paid," the FBI adds. "Knezevich further states, 'I cannot call with my voice because I sound like a guy.'"
Family Pleas for Help
At a press conference on Wednesday, Knezevich Henao's family spoke about their loved one and asked for the public's help with any information related to her disappearance. "We still have hope that we can find where my sister is," Felipe Henao, Knevezich Henao's brother, said. "We just want to tell her we love her. We miss her. We support her. We are her voice."
Knezevich's arraignment is set for May 20 at 10 a.m.
