Ana Knezevich lit up every room she walked in.
"She's a beautiful soul," Ana's brother, Felipe Henao, recalled of his older sister in an interview with HNGN on Tuesday. "Ana's a very giving, strong, successful woman – a great sister."
Henao last heard from Ana in late January. Even though she had been spending time overseas away from her home in Ft. Lauderdale in the midst of a rocky divorce from her husband of 13 years, David Knezevich, the siblings regularly kept in touch, and Henao wanted to update his sister with some exciting, uplifting news.
"I told her I needed to tell her something because my wife is pregnant. I wanted to tell her about how the first ultrasound went, but the messages would not go through," Henao recalled. "I was freaking out. It's not like her – she always answers."
The investigation into Ana's whereabouts began around Feb. 4, after friends reported receiving suspicious text messages from the victim's cell phone stating she was going away with a man she had just met.
Spanish firefighters conducting a welfare check at the request of loved ones were unable to locate her at her apartment. Her cell phone, laptop and chargers were also missing, according to the FBI's criminal complaint.
A review of surveillance footage from the day Ana vanished showed someone resembling her 36-year-old husband entering her Madrid apartment building and spray-painting the lens of a security camera. About an hour later, the same man was seen on video leaving the building with a suitcase. Ana was never captured on camera walking out of her apartment.
"She just wanted to get away from here (Florida) because this is where she got married and they were going through a divorce," pleaded Henao. "She had all these plans."
Before she disappeared, Ana was looking to the future and envisioning life post-divorce.
She had made arrangements to visit Barcelona and had purchased tickets to a concert in Madrid. Henao said his sister was also making plans to set up a non-profit to help women in abusive relationships, however he declined to elaborate on the motivation behind those dreams.
Nevertheless, the FBI described the estranged couple's relationship as "contentious because Knezevich did not want to split the marital assets evenly with the victim," the criminal complaint stated.
Three months after she went missing, authorities arrested Knezevich at the Miami International Airport and charged him with Ana's kidnapping. Authorities have not commented on whether or not they believe Ana is still alive.
As time passes, Henao admits the family's dreams of finding her safe is dwindling.
"You can never lose hope, but you also gotta be realistic, right?" he admitted.
"With everything – all the time that has passed and all that we've seen – even our mom realizes the worst," said Henao. "But, we've got to find her. We're fighting for her. We have to find her and give my mom some peace and closure."
