Husband of Fort Lauderdale woman who disappeared in Spain now charged with murder
MIAMI - The husband of a Fort Lauderdale woman who disappeared in Spain early this year is now facing a new charge.
On Thursday morning in Miami federal court, David Knezevich was charged with the murder of Ana Knezevich. Last May, he was arrested at Miami International Airport and charged with kidnapping in connection to her disappearance.
Ana Knezevich was last seen in Madrid on February 2.
Family members say Ana Knezevich had gone to Spain in late December to get away from her husband as the couple was going through a bitter divorce over splitting their assets.
Prosecutors say surveillance video shows David Knezevich buying spray paint and on the day of Ana's disappearance spraying a security camera at her apartment. They said he was also seen leaving Ana's apartment building with a suitcase.
Federal officials said records show David Knezevich flew from Miami to Turkey in January and then went to Belgrade, Serbia, where he rented a small Peugeot on January 29.
The owner of the rental car agency told investigators that when the car was returned in mid-March, someone had tinted its windows and added a new license plate frame, and it had traveled nearly 4,800 miles, the criminal complaint said.
Tollbooth cameras captured images of the same model Peugeot, with tinted windows, near Madrid in the late night and early morning of February 2 and 3. It had license plates stolen from another vehicle on the Madrid street where Ana Knezevich was living, the complaint said.
Investigators said they also interviewed a woman who claimed that on the day of Ana's disappearance, Knezevich asked her to translate a few English sentences into "perfect Colombian" Spanish that he would later text to wife's friends.
According to the FBI, he sent the woman this passage in English: "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 woman made her translation and sent it back.
That morning, the translated message was texted to two of Ana's friends from her phone. They said it didn't sound like her and contacted Spanish police, launching the investigation.
The Knezeviches have been married for 13 years. They own EOX Technology Solutions Inc., which does computer support for South Florida businesses.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
