A judge must now decide whether the estranged husband of a missing Fort Lauderdale woman can go free or remain behind bars in Miami as he awaits trial on kidnapping charges.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors revealed surveillance camera photographs that they say show David Knezevich at his wife’s apartment the night she disappeared in Madrid, the first time the photographs have been viewable to the public. Meanwhile, Spanish Police have released video footage of the search for her possible remains.
David Knezevich, 36, was arrested at Miami International Airport in May, months after his wife, Ana Knezevich, had gone missing from her apartment in Spain in early February. A federal indictment accuses David Knezevich of flying to Istanbul before renting a car, driving from Serbia to Spain, spray-painting the security cameras at her apartment, and then exiting with a suitcase. A suspicious text message sent from her phone the next day was the same as one Knezevich had asked a Colombian woman to help him craft in Spanish for a novel he said his friend was writing.
Prosecutors were responding to a motion filed by Knezevich’s attorneys last week in which they sought to overturn the ruling by the magistrate judge to keep him in prison. The defense argued that he is not a danger to the community and the evidence against him is lacking, while pointing to his local businesses and the fact that his brother lives in South Florida to prove he is not a flight risk.
In their reply, prosecutors wrote that David Knezevich is both a danger and a flight risk, pointing to his ties to foreign countries like Serbia, where he is a citizen and where his parents reside, his apparent fire sale of millions of dollars in real estate, and his elaborate attempts to conceal his crime.
Knezevich’s brother had told investigators that the two are estranged and that he couldn’t identify David or Ana Knezevich in pictures because it had been so long since he had seen them, according to an FBI report included in the court filing.
“Accordingly, the Defendant’s meager ties to this district (the presence of his estranged brother) are substantially outweighed by the significant prison sentence the Defendant is facing, as well as his foreign ties, substantial assets, and inclination to evade law enforcement,” prosecutors wrote.
Following arguments from the defense that the surveillance footage does not clearly prove David Knezevich went to Madrid, prosecutors included pictures in their motion. They appear to show Knezevich at a hardware store in Spain, purchasing spray-paint and duct tape, and entering Ana Knezevich’s apartment in a helmet, mask and yellow worker’s vest.
Another key issue at play is that of David Knezevich’s money, and whether he has enough to disappear should a judge decide to let him out on bond. His attorneys have argued that he has less than it appears and is in fact in desperate need of cash to defend himself in court.
Meanwhile, attorneys for Ana Knezevich have argued that money itself was the motive for the kidnapping; the two were planning to divorce, but David Knezevich did not want to split the assets evenly. February 1, a day before Ana Knezevich disappeared, was the deadline she had given him to file for divorce, investigators said.
Prosecutors pointed to David Knezevich’s sale of several million-dollar properties in recent months, for which he now appears to hold multiple mortgages. Attorneys for Ana Knezevich’s family believe that David Knezevich has concealed how much money he truly has.
“It’s seeming less and less likely that he will be released the more information that comes out about his duplicity and his hiding of money,” said Adam Ingber, one of the attorneys representing Ana Knezevich’s family in the local case over her assets. “My best calculations tell me that there’s at least six million dollars in cash missing.”
David Knezevich’s criminal defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.
Perhaps the most vital piece of the investigation that remains unknown is the whereabouts of Ana Knezevich herself. Spanish police and FBI agents are continuing to search for possible remains. Without a body, David Knezevich currently faces 10 to 12 years in prison on kidnapping alone. If her body is found, he would face mandatory life in prison or the death penalty.
A video released by Spanish Police last week shows police and FBI agents combing through grass and wading through murky water. Police wrote in Spanish that the investigation remains open with multiple possible scenarios.
David Knezevich’s arraignment is set for Monday in Miami federal court.