David Knezevich, the Fort Lauderdale man charged with killing his estranged wife in Spain early last year, took his own life on Monday morning while in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, according to his defense attorney.
As reported by the Miami Herald, Knezevich, 37, who was awaiting trial in Miami federal court on charges of kidnapping and killing Ana Knezevich Henao in Madrid, was found dead of an apparent suicide in his cell.
His defense attorney, Jayne Weintraub, said she learned about her client's death from federal prosecutors on Monday morning. The FBI is investigating his death. Charges against Knezevich are expected to be dismissed.
Ana was Reported Missing from Her Madrid Apartment on Feb. 2, 2024, Her Body was Never Found
In December, Knezevich pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and killing his wife, Ana, 40, on Feb. 2, 2024, the day she was reported missing from her Madrid apartment.
Knezevich, who was initially arrested last May at Miami International Airport on a kidnapping charge, was charged anew with kidnapping resulting in his wife's death. He was also charged with foreign domestic violence resulting in death and foreign murder of a U.S. national, according to the amended indictment.
Ana's body was never found. Knezevich, who had been held at the Miami Federal Detention Center since his arrest after he was deemed a flight risk to his native Serbia or elsewhere, was denied a bond from the onset.
Ana and Knezevich were Fighting Over Millions of Dollars' Worth of Broward Properties
Knezevich and Ana, a native of Columbia, were married for 13 years and had been fighting over millions in properties in Broward among other assets when she left for Spain in late December 2023.
Knezevich was accused of leaving Miami in late January 2024 for Serbia, where prosecutors say he rented a car to track down his wife in Spain. The FBI said it suspected he carried Ana Knezevich's body in a suitcase out of her Madrid apartment building on the evening of Feb. 2, 2024, citing security-camera footage of him exiting the elevator.
Ana was Killed Somewhere Between Spain and Serbia
In August, the FBI joined Spanish and Italian authorities in a search for her corpse in the woods north of Vicenza, Italy, where a GPS alert on the husband's rented Peugeot 308 suggested he took a detour there on his return trip from Spain to Serbia. The wife's corpse, however, was never to be found.
"What we do know is that the evidence supports that she was killed between Spain and Serbia," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Obenauf said during a hearing in January before Judge Williams. The judge prodded prosecutors to turn over fingerprint, cellphone, photo, video and other evidence from the FBI and Spanish National Police to Knezevich's defense team.
Evidence Against Knezevich
Prosecutors had gathered significant evidence against Knezevich, including suspicious security-camera footage of Knezevich's presence in a Madrid hardware store and at her apartment just moments before her disappearance, as well as fabricated text messages and stolen license plates on a rental car suggesting a cover-up.
However, authorities found no evidence of blood traces or a struggle in the estranged wife's Madrid apartment after she was reported missing.
