His Wife Vanished in Spain. How His Texts to a Woman He Met Online Made Him the Suspect

Ana Knezevich Henao, 40, has been missing since Feb. 2, 2024

The text messages seemed completely out of character for Ana Knezevich Henao.

“I met someone wonderful,” one of the messages read. “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.”

But she never came back. Ana — a U.S. citizen originally from Colombia — had traveled from Florida to Spain in late December after separating from her husband of 13 years, David Knezevich. She went missing in Madrid on Feb. 2 and hasn't been seen since.

The FBI is now alleging that the text messages to Ana’s friends were not actually sent by Ana, 40, but by Knezevich, who was arrested by U.S. federal agents last week and charged with kidnapping.

According to a federal complaint, agents were contacted by a Colombian woman who said Knezevich “contacted her via Whats App and asked her for help translating a message into ‘perfect Colombian’ for a friend in Serbia who is writing a script about a Colombian character.”

“Knezevich explains that he wants the writing to sound authentic,” the complaint alleges.

The woman, who was called "Individual 1" in the complaint, said she met Knezevich on a dating app in Oct. 2023.

At the end of the exchange, Knezevich allegedly thanked the woman for her help with the translation.

“Thanks gorgeous,” he allegedly wrote.

“Don’t mention it handsome,” was the response. “I hope it helps.”

“It helps my friend :),” he allegedly wrote.

Related: Brother of Fla. Woman Missing in Spain Says Family Members ‘Still Have Hope’: ‘We Miss Her’

Authorities allege that at one point the Colombian woman told her mother about “having met a Serbian man online" — referring to Knezevich — according to the complaint.

The woman’s mother then “Googled” Knezevich and “learned that his wife had been reported missing in Madrid,” the complaint states.

Authorities allege that the woman “then discovered a news article that contained a message purportedly from Knezevich’s wife that matched the exact wording of the text she and Knezevich had put together on or about February 3, 2024.”

Authorities allege that Knezevich flew to Istanbul from Miami on Jan. 27 and rented a Peugeot 308 in Serbia on Jan. 29.

From there, authorities say he drove to Spain to kidnap his estranged wife. “Per Google maps, by car, it takes approximately 26 hours to travel from Belgrade, Serbia, to Madrid, Spain at a distance of 2,592 kilometers," the complaint says.

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Ana’s brother Felipe Henao told authorities just days after his sister disappeared that the couple was “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,” according to an incident report obtained by PEOPLE.

The Knezeviches owned EOX Technology Solutions Inc., which does computer support for South Florida businesses.

According to a profile on the website, Knezevich is listed as the managing director and CEO. He listed his hobbies as tinkering with technology and his favorite food as medium rare steak.

Per the profile, Anna graduated with a BS in International Business, and BS in Business Administration and Management from Eafit University in Medellín, Colombia. After emigrating to the U.S., she worked in general management in the medical industry “before being begged by her husband to join him at EOX and help with running the company.”

Under the category of her favorite thing about EOX, Ana's profile read: "The fact that we work together, to grow together, and be better together.”

On Sunday, in a message on Facebook, Adam Ingber, one of the attorneys representing Ana’s family, asked the public to contact the authorities if “they know anything.”

“I'm hoping that somebody along that path [from Serbia to Madrid and back] will have seen something or will have some video or will remember something weird that happened at the side of the road, just something bizarre or strange as something out of the ordinary,” he said.  “If you know anything, please say something to the authorities.”

"Ana Maria's life goal is to help other women, women in need, and so I know that if she had this opportunity to speak to the world and make a plea to the world for helping mothers find their daughters, she would say, don't just think about me," he said. "Think about all of the other women for whom there is no media attention, for whom there is no hope, for whom there is no information, and please try to go out of your way to help those people."

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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