EGN NEWS DESK
David Knezevich, 36, was arrested “with out incident” on the airport by Diplomatic Security Service and the FBI “for his alleged involvement within the kidnapping of a U.S. Citizen” in Madrid, stated FBI Miami spokesperson James Marshall.
Knezevich appeared in federal court docket in Miami briefly Monday, and a bond listening to is scheduled for Friday, the Associated Press reported.
Ana Knezevich, 40, and David Knezevich have been separated and getting ready to divorce when she went to Madrid in December 2023 for a three-month journey. She hasn’t been heard or seen from since Feb. 2 — the day that an unknown individual spraypainted the surface safety cameras on the condo constructing the place she was staying in Madrid, in accordance with a conservatorship petition filed final month in Broward County court docket by her household.
Sanna Rameau, a pal of Ana Knezevic, informed the South Florida Sun Sentinel earlier this yr {that a} man carrying a helmet was seen spray-painting the safety cameras.
Her mates obtained suspicious textual content messages from Ana Knezevich’s cellphone on Feb. 3 that they don’t consider have been written by her, the South Florida Sun Sentinel beforehand reported. The messages stated she had met a person and was going to stick with him for a couple of days.
One of Ana Knezevich’s mates filed a police report on Feb. 5 with the National Police in Madrid “as a result of suspicious circumstances surrounding Ms. Knezevich’s disappearance,” in accordance with the conservatorship petition.
David Knezevich had traveled to his native nation of Serbia in January, Ana Knezevich’s brother informed Fort Lauderdale Police, in accordance with an incident report.
Fort Lauderdale lady disappears in Spain after suspicious textual content, blacked-out surveillance cameras
David Knezevich is in federal custody, Marshall stated. Marshall’s assertion didn’t title Ana Knezevich because the citizen.
“The Spanish National Police, Customs and Border Protection, the Diplomatic Security Service, and the FBI proceed their investigation,” Marshall stated. “Because that is an ongoing investigation, no additional info will likely be launched right now.”
David Knezevich’s lawyer Ken Padowitz couldn’t be reached by cellphone for remark Monday afternoon. He didn’t return an e mail. Padowitz informed the Sun Sentinel in late February that David Knezevich didn’t know what occurred to his spouse.
“He has no details about what was taking place in a foreign country that he was not residing in,” Padowitz stated in February. “He has no concept what occurred.”
In a textual content message Monday afternoon, Ana Knezevich’s pal Rameau stated, “I’m very glad that an arrest has been made and I hope that this new chapter will deliver readability and that we get the solutions that we hope for.”
“We wish to know what occurred to her and the place she is,” Rameau stated. “Obviously we wish the individual answerable for this to be held accountable.”
Husband of Fort Lauderdale lady lacking in Madrid says divorce was amicable; FBI specialists weigh in on case
Ana Knezevich’s household filed a conservatorship petition in Broward County in April, requesting that her brother Juan Felipe Henao be appointed the conservator of her property, totaling hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. The petition alleged that David Knezevich had “been conducting a fireplace sale” of the couple’s property within the months earlier than and shortly after her disappearance.
The Knezeviches, who generally spell their surname “Knezevic,” owned and ran a house rental enterprise and an info expertise enterprise collectively, in accordance with the petition. About the identical time Ana Knezevich traveled to Spain in December, she was negotiating phrases of a divorce and property settlement settlement along with her husband, the petition stated. The two have been additionally at the moment attending couple’s remedy.
Ana Knezevich informed a pal early this yr that she and her husband had agreed to separate their property in half and have been planning to file for divorce quickly, in accordance with the petition. Ana Knezevich informed the pal who reported her disappearance to Spanish authorities that she “was afraid of her husband since they started attending group remedy,” the petition stated.
The petition stated “regardless of his being abroad,” David Knezevich “has been busy promoting and transferring the very property that he and Ms. Knezevich had agreed to divide equally” of their settlement.Padowitz informed the Sun Sentinel in February that the portrayal of the divorce as a tough one was “not correct.” He informed the newspaper that the couple have been promoting properties collectively to arrange for the divorce.
There was “no hotly contested divorce, no divorce proceedings but, no attorneys employed, no authorized proceedings, no attorneys, no nasty pleadings from attorneys, no emails forwards and backwards,” Padowitz informed the newspaper in February. “None of that has occurred. The description that it’s a nasty divorce is simply false.”
Sun Sentinel employees author Shira Moolten contributed to this report.
