The best friend of a missing Florida woman said she is pleased with the arrest of the victim's estranged husband, three months after she mysteriously vanished from her apartment overseas.
David Knezevich, 36, has been charged with the kidnapping of his wife, 40-year-old Ana Knezevich, according to the Associated Press. He was arrested by FBI agents Saturday at Miami International Airport.
"I am very happy this investigation has led to an arrest and I am so grateful for the hard work of the FBI and Spanish police," Ana's best friend, Sanna Rameau, told HNGN on Tuesday. "They have done an amazing job to bring us to where we are today. I am hoping that justice will be served and that we are getting all the answers that we are looking for."
Ana had been living in Madrid, Spain, amid her 2023 separation from Knezevich, following a 13-year marriage. Loved ones last heard from her on Feb. 2 after a suspicious text was sent from her phone – the same day she was last captured on surveillance footage entering her apartment.
"The way they were written, it was strange – that's not how she writes," Rameau told WPLG, earlier this year. "Also, there's false information in there because it said she met a man the day before, referring to that Friday. She hadn't mentioned to anyone that she met anyone that day."
At the time of Ana's disappearance, investigators discovered someone resembling her husband gained access to her Madrid apartment building while other individuals were leaving. He then spray-painted a security camera, NBC News reported, citing the criminal complaint. About an hour later, the same man was seen leaving the building with a suitcase.
"I'm absolutely devastated," Rameay told WPLG, at the time. "I think about Ana every minute of the day. I couldn't imagine anyone that would want to hurt her. She's the sweetest person."
Investigators described the separation between Ana and Knezevich as "contentious" due to a substantial amount of marital assets that he allegedly did not want to split "evenly with the victim."
"The victim was very fearful of Knezevich and believed that he was surreptitiously monitoring her whereabouts," the complaint stated, according to NBC.
Knezevich made a brief court appearance Monday. It's unclear if he entered a plea. His defense attorney, Ken Padowitz, did not immediately respond to HNGN's request for comment.
