John Jefferson
Inset: David Knezevich. Left: Knezevich allegedly at his estranged wife Ana Knezevich’s apartment in Madrid, Spain. Right: Knezevich at a store in Madrid (FBI).
Evidence in a recent filing in the case of a Florida man accused of traveling to Spain to kidnap and murder his estranged wife includes a note allegedly written by the suspect that federal investigators say provides insight into his mindset in the months leading up to the crime.
David Knezevich is charged in the disappearance and suspected death of 40-year-old Ana Maria Knezevich, who was last seen in February 2024 when she went missing from her apartment in Madrid, Spain. The suspect was indicted last year on charges of kidnapping resulting in death, foreign domestic violence resulting in death and foreign murder of a United States national. Authorities allege David Knezevich flew from Miami to his native Serbia in January 2024, and then drove some 3,200 miles to Madrid where he killed her and disposed of her yet-to-be-found body.
In a motion to oppose bond filed on Jan. 31, the government revealed FBI agents executing a search warrant last May at David Knezevich’s Fort Lauderdale home recovered a notebook where he allegedly wrote down famous quotes. Prosecutors describe these quotes as evidence of the “defendant’s murder mindset.” One quote, attributed to Josef Stalin, said “Death solves all problems. No man. No problem.” There was also a Winston Churchill quote, “When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite,” according to feds.
Federal agents recovered this notebook from David Knezevich’s home (DOJ).
Ana Knezevich flew from Miami to Spain in December 2023 to escape her husband, feds say. She reportedly wanted half their assets, something her husband allegedly did not want to give up. The government shared some WhatsApp messages the victim sent to friends discussing her predicament. She wrote that her husband was only offering up 25% of their assets instead of her desired 50%. He eventually verbally agreed to give her half and she demanded that he put it in writing by the end of January 2024 when they filed for divorce, the message said.
The couple had amassed “significant marital assets” during their time together from an IT company they owned and by buying and renting out South Florida vacation properties, according to feds. The assets were “certainly in the millions,” the government wrote. But feds allege David Knezevich killed his wife just a few days after her deadline to split the assets because he didn’t want to share money.
Meanwhile, feds are also investigating the defendant’s brother, Ugljesa Knezevich, for tampering with evidence. They are particularly interested in a family trip he took over the holidays to Portugal and Spain. Part of the trip was spent in Seville, Spain, a five-hour drive and three-hour train ride to Madrid where his brother’s wife went missing. Spanish authorities told the FBI his “whereabouts on January 4 to January 5” are not known. The government is still looking for the defendant’s laptop and prosecutors are curious if Ugljesa went to dispose of any potential evidence. He has not been charged.
When Ugljesa Knezevich returned to Miami, Homeland Security agents took him and his family in for questioning. Feds also filed for a warrant to obtain his phone and computers because they believe there might be some information relevant to the case. They allege he has been dishonest with FBI agents. At first he said he was estranged from his brother, but the two have exchanged multiple phone calls and emails since David Knezevich has been in jail, the warrant said.
He also has allegedly sent money to his brother’s fellow inmates, making feds believe the defendant is trying to communicate with his brother through unofficial means such as a smuggled cellphone. Ugljesa Knezevich also allegedly erased the contents one of his brother’s computers.
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David Knezevich’s attorneys blasted the government for investigating his brother. According to a motion by the defense objecting to them reviewing Ugljesa Knezevich’s electronic devices, the Homeland Security agents brought him in for questioning under the pretense of the family trying to smuggle a ham into the country from Spain.
Defense lawyers argue that Ugljesa Knezevich’s devices cannot be searched because he is part of the defense team.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Ken Padowitz, David Knezevich’s attorney, has denied his client had anything to do with the disappearance.
“David has worked with authorities. He has talked to detectives in Spain on a number of occasions. He’s provided credit card information … He obtained a lawyer in Spain to sign documents that might help the Spanish authorities go into the apartment that his wife had rented,” Padowitz told The Associated Press last year.
According to Spanish authorities, surveillance cameras captured Ana entering her apartment in Madrid around 2:20 p.m. on Feb. 2, 2024. It’s the last time she was seen alive. The complaint says about 9:30 p.m. the same day a man wearing a helmet entered the apartment building after some people were walking out. The man, holding a can of spray paint, walks down a set of stairs and uses the spray paint to cover the lens, according to the complaint.
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The paint didn’t completely cover the lens and still showed a man putting a piece of duct tape over the door lock to prevent it from closing, the complaint said.
“Notably, the male, who looks directly at the camera, has physical characteristics that resemble those of [David] Knezevich,” the feds wrote.
The man is then seen leaving the apartment about 10:30 p.m., apparently holding a suitcase.
Spanish authorities completed a welfare check on Feb. 4 for Ana Knezevich but did not find her. Her cellphone, laptop and chargers were missing, the feds noted. Cops also noticed the spray paint brand and tracked the purchase to a store in Madrid. Surveillance camera footage from the store showed a man who appeared to be David Knezevich buying the paint and two rolls of duct tape, feds wrote.
FBI agents also spoke with a Colombian woman who previously met David Knezevich on a dating app. She told agents that on Feb. 3, 2024, the day after his wife went missing, he allegedly asked her to translate a message from English into “perfect Colombian.” He claimed he had a friend from Serbia who was writing a script about a Colombian character and wanted it to sound “authentic,” the complaint said.
Left Ana Knezevich, left, is seen in a picture with her friend Sanna Rameau. Right: Ana Knezevich. Inset: a poster announcing the disappearance of Ana Knezevich (via Asociación Sosdesaparecidos).
“I met someone wonderful!!” the translated message reportedly said. “He has a summer house about 2h from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. Signal is spotty. I’ll call you when I get back.”
Other messages allegedly said “Yesterday after therapy I needed a walk and he approached me on the street!” and “Amazing connection. Like I never had before[.]”
Ana Knezevich’s best friend, Sanna Rameau, previously said those messages didn’t make sense.
“She doesn’t do those things,” Rameau told the Law&Crime Network’s Sierra Gillespie. “It was worded very differently than how she writes.”
Rameau said that Ana Knezevich “wouldn’t meet a man in the street and say that she’s going to go away for a few days like that.”
“That is definitely not my friend,” she added, noting that Ana Knezevich had plans to go to Barcelona just days later.
She responded immediately to the “bizarre” message purportedly from her friend.
“I said, what’s happening? What do you mean? I got worried and I said, please share your location. This does not sound safe,” Rameau told Gillespie. “My messages didn’t go through. I got concerned immediately. And then when I heard nothing back from her, first thing Sunday [Feb. 2] morning, I contacted the police in Madrid.”
Ana Knezevich’s brother, Juan Felipe Henao, said he received a similarly odd text from his sister on Feb. 2. It was in Spanish — which Ana Knezevich speaks fluently, having been born in Colombia — but according to Henao, something was off.
“He stated it is not like his sister to do something like this plus the text in Spanish appeared to be translated from English to Spanish via Google translator and the message made no sense whatsoever and was definitely not written by his sister who is fluent in both English and Spanish,” a Ft. Lauderdale police report says.
Henao was “very concerned something bad happened to Ana,” the police statement says, noting that he told officials that his sister was going through a tough divorce.
“Juan stated that Ana and David are going through a nasty divorce and there is a substantial amount of money on the line to be split up between the two and David is not happy about it,” the police statement says. “Juan advised that Ana has a long time friend in Spain so she traveled there three months ago to clear her head.”
Right: Text messages between Ana Knezevich and her friend, Sanna Rameau, shortly before Ana Knezevich is believed to have disappeared (Law&Crime via Sanna Rameau). Right: Texts between Ana Knezevich and her brother Felipe Henao shortly before she is believed to have disappeared (Law&Crime via Felipe Henao).
According to the FBI, the Colombian woman who translated the message for David Knezevich told her mother about her new love interest. She Googled him and saw news stories that said he was a suspect in his wife’s disappearance, the complaint said.
Agents also were able to track down the suspect’s movements, starting on Jan. 27 when he flew out of Miami International Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, before traveling to his native Belgrade, Serbia. He allegedly left Serbia on Jan. 30 and returned on Feb. 5. Agents noted it takes around 26 hours to drive the roughly 1,600 miles from Belgrade to Madrid. They also learned that David Knezevich apparently rented a Peugeot 308 between Jan. 29 and March 15.
The rental car agency noticed that when he returned the vehicle, the windows were tinted and the license plates changed. David Knezevich had driven for over 4,700 miles while he was in possession of the car.
Spanish authorities also discovered that someone had reported their license plates stolen. The plates were allegedly seen on the street outside the victim’s apartment. The plates also reportedly turned up at two tollbooths outside of Madrid but the driver can’t be seen because of the tinted windows.
Agents then spoke with an employee of the alleged kidnapper’s business. She told agents that David Knezevich forced her to pose as his missing wife over the phone to cancel insurance policies and open a new bank account, the FBI said. In one of the calls, children could be heard in the background and, as agents noted, Ana Knezevich does not have kids.
David Knezevich allegedly told the employee that the calls had to be made for people to be paid.
“Knezevich further stated ‘I cannot call with my voice because I sound like a guy,”” the complaint said.
He remains in jail without bond.
Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
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