Husband of Ana Knezevich Henao, Who Vanished in Spain Months Ago, Is Now Charged with Murder

The husband of Ana Knezevich Henao, who went missing on a trip to Spain, has been charged with murder in connection with her disappearance.

David Knezevich, 36, was indicted Wednesday, Nov. 13, on charges of foreign domestic violence resulting in death and foreign murder of a United States national.

Knezevich has been in federal custody since May after he was was charged with kidnapping resulting in death.

Ana’s body has never been found.

“This is a step in the direction to start to mourn while we continue to search for answers and honor Ana’s memory by advocating for her story to be told, and for accountability to prevail,” Ana’s brother Diego Henao said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Ana’s disappearance from her apartment in Madrid, Spain, on Feb. 2 made international headlines.

Knezevich, an IT specialist, quickly became the prime suspect.

According to friends, Ana had traveled from Florida to Madrid on December 27, 2023, after the couple separated.

Ana’s brother Felipe told police that Ana and Knezevich, her husband of 13 years, were “going through a nasty divorce and there is a substantial amount of money on the line to be split up between the two and [Knezevich] is not happy about it,” according to a Feb. 7 police report obtained by PEOPLE.

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Ana’s best friend Sanna Rameau previously told PEOPLE that Ana wanted to start a non-profit in Spain “helping women that have been abused or been in a bad situation.”

“She wanted the divorce to go through, and she said that’s what she wanted to do after splitting up everything,” Rameau said.

Ana was last seen by security cameras entering her apartment around 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 2. That same day, around 9:27 p.m., surveillance cameras caught a man wearing a helmet enter the building as people were leaving. Once inside, the man used a can of spray paint to spray over the apartment’s surveillance camera lens. The man was then seen “fastening a piece of duct tape to the lock of the building entrance to prevent the lock from engaging to allow subsequent entry,” per a federal complaint.

About an hour later, around 10:30 p.m., the same man was seen walking off the elevator with what looked like a suitcase.

Spanish police later searched her apartment and found no traces of her cell phone, laptop computer or chargers.

During the investigation, authorities tracked down the retailer that sold the brand of paint used to spray over the security camera and discovered surveillance footage of “an individual who appeared to be [David] Knezevich purchasing the spray paint along with two rolls of duct tape” on Feb. 2.

Investigators also spoke to a Colombian woman who met Knezevich online in Oct. 2023. The woman told authorities that Knezevich reached out to her on WhatsApp on Feb. 3 asking for her help translating a message into “perfect Colombian.”

Knezevich allegedly told her that the translation was for a friend in Serbia “who is writing a script about a Colombian character.”

The woman later contacted authorities after her mother Googled Knezevich and “learned that his wife had been reported missing in Madrid,” the complaint states.

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

From there, authorities claim he drove to Spain to kidnap his estranged wife. The rental car agency owner told authorities that Knezevich returned the car with tinted windows and different license plate frames.

Knezevich’s attorney Jayne Weintraub tells PEOPLE, “The superseding indictment is based on the same facts and evidence.”

Weintraub adds: “It is a desperate attempt by the government to charge everything possible and see what sticks. There is no evidence that David Knezevich kidnapped or murdered his wife. He will plead not guilty to these charges at the arraignment next week.” 

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.