FORT LAUDERDALE.- The FBI presented a detailed case explaining why its agents believe a Florida man is responsible for the disappearance of his estranged wife from their apartment in Spain, although they did not indicate what they believe became of her.
According to court documents released Monday night, officers believe David Knezevich resembles the man in a motorcycle helmet who sprayed black paint on the security camera lens outside Ana Knezevich’s apartment on February 2. The man left an hour later with a suitcase.
Spanish police say they have security footage of the 36-year-old Fort Lauderdale businessman purchasing the same brand of paint and duct tape a few hours earlier. Investigators also interviewed a woman who said Knezevich had asked her to translate a text message that was sent to her wife’s friends after she disappeared.
Knezevich’s attorney, Ken Padowitz, did not return a call Monday seeking comment. Padowitz has said his client is innocent and was in his native Serbia the day his 40-year-old wife disappeared 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) away. But agents say Knezevich leased a Peugeot in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, four days earlier.
A few days later, a Spanish driver reported that his license plates had been stolen. The night Ana Knezevich disappeared, a license plate reader on her street in Madrid recorded the number of the stolen plates, Spanish police discovered.
Additionally, a few hours after the disappearance, a Peugeot with stolen license plates passed through a toll booth in a Madrid suburb, according to surveillance video footage. The tinted windows did not allow the driver to see.
The rental agency told investigators that when Knezevich returned the car five weeks later, the license plates had been changed and the windows had been tinted. He had traveled almost 7,700 kilometers (4,800 miles).
The FBI detained Knezevich, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen, at Miami International Airport on Saturday. He was charged with kidnapping and held pending a parole hearing. The couple, who sometimes wrote their last name “Knezevic,” had been married for 13 years. They own EOX Technology Solutions Inc., which provides IT support to businesses in South Florida. Records indicate they also own a home and two other properties in Fort Lauderdale, one of which is in the process of being evicted.
Ana’s brother, Juan Henao, described the couple’s separation as “nasty” in an interview with a Fort Lauderdale detective, according to a report. He told the police that David was angry that they were going to split a considerable amount of money. Ana was born in Colombia and was a naturalized US citizen.
The most detailed section of the 11-page FBI complaint against Knezevich refers to an unidentified Colombian woman whom the suspect met on a dating platform last year, around the time his wife moved to Europe.
The morning his wife disappeared, the FBI said Knezevich wrote to the woman and asked her for a favor, to translate a few English phrases into “perfect Colombian” for a friend who was writing a screenplay.
The woman responded that she did not speak English and would have to use a generic Spanish translator on the internet. Knezevich responded that there was no problem, then she could tweak it to make it sound Colombian.
According to the FBI, he then sent the woman this text in English: “I have met someone wonderful. He has a summer house about 2 hours (two hours) from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. But there is hardly any coverage. I’ll call you when I get back. Kisses”.
The woman did her translation and sent it.
That morning, that translated message was sent to two of Ana’s friends from her cell phone.
They said they didn’t sound like their words. They contacted the Spanish police, which began the investigation.
Source: With information from AP
