Ana Maria Knezevic travelled from South Florida to Spain in December to get away for some time. Her household and buddies say the naturalised American initially from Colombia has been going via a nasty divorce from her Serbian husband, however the journey was additionally an opportunity to discover new locations.
Then, she vanished two weeks in the past, shortly after a person carrying a motorbike helmet disabled the safety cameras at her Madrid condo constructing by spray-painting the lenses. The following day, two buddies acquired separate textual content messages — one in English, one in Spanish — from the 40-year-old’s telephone saying she was operating off for a couple of days with a person she had simply met.
“She wouldn’t do that. It is rather unsafe and loopy behaviour. She wouldn’t try this. She wouldn’t try this,” stated Sanna Rameau, the pal who obtained the English textual content. It was written, she stated, in an impassive model that wasn’t Ana’s. The Spanish message was so flat it appeared to have been written in English and run via Google Translate, she stated.
“It simply didn’t make sense,” Rameau advised The Related Press.
She’s additionally tiny, smaller than the 4-foot-11-inches tall (1.5 metres) listed on her driver’s licence, Rameau stated. “I can carry her up with one arm and carry her away,” the pal stated.
Police in Madrid and Fort Lauderdale had been notified, launching investigations on all sides of the Atlantic. Each companies are being closed-mouthed about the place the search stands, with every declining remark. The American embassy in Madrid additionally declined remark.
Spain’s Lacking Individuals Affiliation has posted Knezevic’s {photograph} across the nation’s capital, however has not acquired any responses, spokesman Joaquin Amills stated.
David and Ana Knezevic have been married for 13 years and personal EOX Know-how Options Inc, which does laptop assist for South Florida companies. Information present in addition they personal a house and two different Fort Lauderdale properties, a type of at present underneath foreclosures.
Ana’s brother, Juan Henao, known as the divorce “nasty” in an interview with a Fort Lauderdale detective, a report reveals.
“There’s a substantial sum of money on the road to be break up up between the 2 and David just isn’t blissful about it,” the report says.
David Knezevic’s present whereabouts are unknown.
Henao advised the detective he believed his brother-in-law travelled to his dwelling nation of Serbia in January. After Ana disappeared, Henao texted David to ask if he knew her whereabouts. He replied “’ What’s up?” earlier than telling Henao that Ana was lacking, which he already knew. “Nothing else in addition to that,” Henao stated.
In a brief telephone interview, Henao stated he hopes the worldwide consideration will make discovering Ana a prime police precedence.
“Let’s simply maintain pushing and see if that may get them to do extra to assist us discover my sister,” he stated.
Nobody answered the door on Thursday on the Knezevics’ Fort Lauderdale dwelling, the place the mailbox is overflowing, and the automobiles are lined in filth and mud. Nobody answered the telephone at their firm, and David Knezevic didn’t reply to emails and a voicemail.
Rameau stated Ana by no means talked about fearing her husband or that he was abusive.
“She by no means stated to me that she felt in peril,” stated Rameau.
Ana selected an condo in Madrid’s rich and trendy Salamanca quarter, travelled with Rameau in Austria in January, and deliberate to see a Spanish pal in Barcelona on February 5 earlier than reuniting with Rameau in Madrid beginning February 8.
However on February 2 at about 9:30 pm, the helmet-wearing man disabled the condo complicated’s safety cameras, one thing nobody trying to find Ana had recognized for nearly per week. She had a traditional telephone name with a pal a couple of half hour later. Neighbours stated they final noticed her about that point.
The following day, Rameau grew to become alarmed when she obtained a textual content from Ana’s telephone.
“I met somebody great!! He has a summer time home 2H (hours) from Madrid,” it learn. “We’re going there now and I’ll spend a couple of days there. The sign is spotty. I’ll name you after I get again.”
That was adopted a minute later by a second textual content, “Yesterday after remedy, I wanted a stroll and he approached me on the road! Wonderful connection. Like I by no means had.”
The Spanish pal obtained related texts, those that appeared to have been translated by laptop.
Rameau stated there was no likelihood she would run off with a stranger, and by no means advised her pal that night time she had met somebody.
Rameau and the Spanish pal contacted the police after she didn’t reply to their more and more frantic calls and texts. Firefighters went to her condo for a wellness examine, seemed inside and located nothing amiss, Rameau stated.
Madrid police stated they’d examine if she didn’t present up for her Barcelona journey. When she didn’t, detectives requested a Spanish choose for permission to look her telephone information and condo, however absent robust proof of a criminal offense, they had been denied.
Rameau and the Spanish pal then went to her constructing on February 8 and learnt from a clerk in regards to the helmeted man portray the cameras. They alerted the police.
Now, Ana’s household and buddies waited for information.
“I’m simply determined to search out solutions,” Rameau stated. “I’m simply determined to discover a cause for who may have completed this.”
