Multiple police forces, bulldozers and dogs have descended on an old road in a wooded area of northern Italy over the past two days, local news reports say, searching for any sign of Ana Henao Knezevich, the Fort Lauderdale woman who disappeared in Madrid over six months ago.
On Wednesday, Spanish Police announced on X, in Spanish, that first responders had traveled to the province of Vicenza to “participate in a search effort coordinated by the Italian authorities.” Those include members of the Polizia di Stato, one of the country’s national polices, firefighters, local authorities and the Rome Office of the FBI.
They have focused their efforts along the old Costo road in the small town of Cogollo del Cengio, Italian newspapers and TV stations reported. The town’s mayor ordered the closure of a dirt road located in a wooded area leading to the Costo road, according to some local reports.
It is unclear whether the search indicates a breakthrough in the investigation or is simply another part of the painstaking search for Knezevich throughout Europe.
The search represents “one more step in the investigation,” Joaquín Amills, a spokesperson for the family, wrote in Spanish Thursday over WhatsApp. Amills is also president of SOS Desaparecidos, a missing persons organization.
Meanwhile, Knezevich’s estranged husband, David, remains in a Miami prison on kidnapping charges, hoping a judge will release him on bond. David Knezevich is accused of driving from Serbia to Spain in a rental car with tinted windows, arriving at his wife’s apartment, spray-painting surveillance cameras and leaving with a suitcase, according to a federal indictment.
Ana Knezevich’s family told reporters last week that several countries are participating in the search including Spain, France, Italy, and Serbia, all countries that David Knezevich could have traveled through. In May, Spanish Police posted an update with a video showing officers and FBI agents combing through grass and wading through murky water in Spain.
Both Wednesday and Thursday, investigators ended their search without appearing to find anything, according to local news reports. Amills didn’t know whether the investigation would continue in the same location Friday.
Adam Ingber, an attorney for Ana Knezevich’s family, was aware of the reports but did not have more specific information Thursday morning. An FBI spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about the search.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, David Knezevich’s defense attorneys filed a motion to compel federal prosecutors to provide more information from the Spanish Police and the FBI about the ongoing investigation in foreign countries such as Spain, Serbia and Colombia. It did not mention Italy.
A magistrate judge’s ruling on whether to release David Knezevich is pending.
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