The husband of a woman reported missing in Spain was arrested at Miami airport and charged with kidnapping

The husband of Ana María Knezevich Henao, who went missing in Spain in February, was arrested by the FBI at Miami International Airport and charged with kidnapping in connection with her disappearance.

Knezevic Henao, a 40-year-old native of Colombia and naturalized U.S. citizen, was reported missing in Madrid on February 2, according to Spanish police.

Friends and family previously told NBC News that she moved to Madrid amid a difficult separation from her husband David Knezevich, who is originally from Serbia. They said she shared significant financial assets from their joint businesses with him.

After months of unanswered questions, a missing person notices the covered streets in Spain, The Spanish police announced this on Monday that David Knezevich was arrested at Miami International Airport on Saturday in connection with her disappearance.

The investigation was carried out by Belgrade’s internal attaché, FBI agents in Florida, Colombian police and Spanish police.

He was charged by federal agents with kidnapping, according to a complaint filed Friday in the Southern District of Florida. However, the complaint did not detail what may have happened to Knezevic Henao.

Man, believed to be David Knezevich, sprayed his wife’s apartment in Madrid with a camera – and left the house with a suitcase

David Knezevich was considered a suspect in his wife’s disappearance after a man resembling him spray-painted the surveillance camera in their Madrid apartment building, tracked down a car he had rented in Serbia on her street and received suspicious text messages from her phone could be traced back to him.

According to an FBI criminal complaint, Knezevic Henao traveled from Miami to Madrid on December 26, 2023. Then on February 2nd, her friends and family lost contact with her.

She was not officially named in the file but was described as the wife of David Knezevich. She was still married to him at the time, but friends and family said they were living separately and planning a divorce.

“The separation was contentious because Knezevich did not want to divide marital assets equally with the victim,” the complaint states. “The victim was extremely afraid of Knezevich and believed he was secretly monitoring her whereabouts.”

Knezevic Henao was last seen alive at 2:20 p.m. on February 2 when she entered her apartment building in Madrid, Spanish authorities said, citing surveillance cameras.

That same day, at 9:27 p.m., the building’s surveillance camera captured “a man wearing a helmet entering the building while at the same time some people were leaving the building.” Once inside, he was seen holding a can of spray paint and painting the camera’s lens. Despite the color, the lens was not completely obscured and the man was seen attaching tape to the building’s lock, the complaint states.

The man looked into the camera and his physical characteristics resembled David Knezevich, the complaint says.

The man was seen again at 10:30 p.m., this time exiting the elevator with what appeared to be a suitcase.

Missing items, a Serbian rental car and stolen license plates

Two days later, Spanish firefighters entered Knezevic Henao’s apartment for a welfare check. When police searched her, it was discovered that her cell phone, laptop and chargers were missing.

Spanish police used surveillance footage in the apartment to identify the brand of spray paint used to obscure the camera and on February 2 found a store in Madrid that sold the same brand. Surveillance footage from the store showed a man “showing up. He is identified as David Knezevich, who purchased the spray can around noon on Feb. 2” and two rolls of duct tape, the complaint states.

A Peugeot 308 that David Knezevich rented in Belgrade, Serbia, was tracked to Knezevic Henao Street in Madrid.

He had rented the Peugeot from an agency for the period from January 29th to March 15th. He traveled from Serbia by car on Jan. 30 and returned to Belgrade by car on or about Feb. 5, the complaint said.

The rental car owner told law enforcement that when the car was returned, the windows were tinted, the license plate frames were replaced and two stickers were removed from the vehicle.

The car Knezevich rented had also traveled 7,677 kilometers. The complaint pointed out that the journey from Belgrade to Madrid takes 26 hours and 2,592 kilometers.

Around that time, a person in Spain reported that both of his license plates had been stolen from his vehicle. When authorities conducted a search of their license plate reader database, they found it on Calle Francisco Sivela – the street where Knezevic Henao’s apartment was located.

The stolen license plate had passed two toll booths in the middle of the night from February 2nd to 3rd. Video footage from the toll booths showed that the license plates were attached to a Peugeot 308 with tinted windows – which matched the description of David Knezevich’s rented car. However, the driver could not be seen due to the tint.

A suspicious text message and fake calls to cancel your insurance

At the time of Knezevic Henao’s disappearance, she had reportedly sent a text message to a friend on February 3 in which she claimed to have met a man. She said she was driving to his home, two hours from Madrid, and warned that her cell phone reception was poor.

The FBI complaint revealed that a Colombian woman who met David Knezevich on a dating app told law enforcement that he asked her on WhatsApp on Feb. 3 to help translate messages into “perfect Colombian.” . He claimed it was for a friend in Serbia who was writing a script about a Colombian character.

He asked her to translate the line: “I met someone wonderful. He has a summer house about 2 hours from Madrid. We’re going there now and I’m going to spend a few days there. However, there is hardly any signal. I’ll call you when I get back. Kisses,” the complaint states.

Then he asked her to translate: “Yesterday after therapy I needed a walk and he came up to me on the street!” Amazing connection. Like I’ve never done before,” the filing says.

At some point during their relationship, the woman told her mother that she had met a Serbian man online. The mother searched for his last name on Google and learned that his wife had been reported missing in Madrid. The woman then discovered a news article containing a message purportedly sent by David Knezevich’s wife that matched the exact wording of the text she had helped translate.

The complaint also states that other evidence related to the couple’s dealings came into play.

NBC News previously found three companies registered under the couple’s names in Florida – EOX Technology Solutions Inc., Registered Corporate Agents LLC and EOX Capital LLC – all of which provide technology and other types of support to South Florida businesses.

On March 4, a woman identifying herself as Knezevic Henao contacted an insurance company to cancel three insurance policies for her and her husband’s businesses. Children could be heard in the background during the call, even though Knezevic Henao has no children. Law enforcement later learned that the number belonged to David Knezevich’s company and he was listed as the contact for the phone number.

Then on April 24, an employee of David Knezevich told law enforcement that he had instructed her to impersonate Knezevic Henao “to open a new bank account” and gave the employee Knezevic Henao’s Social Security number as evidence. The next day, the employee told David Knezevich that she was uncomfortable posing as Knezevic Henao because she was missing. However, he allegedly told her that it was “not serious” and that this needed to be done so that employees would be paid. David Knezevich reportedly further stated, “I can’t call with my voice because I sound like a man.”

Online court records show David Knezevich made his first court appearance Monday and was sentenced to temporary custody. He is due back in court on Friday for a detention hearing.

NBC News has reached out to an attorney listed for Knezevich and FBI Miami for comment.

The investigation into the disappearance of Knezevic Henao is ongoing.