FILE - A missing poster for Colombian-born American Ana Maria Knezevich Henao is displayed on a streetlight in Madrid, Spain, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)
FILE - This undated photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Miami shows David Knezevich, a Florida man charged with his wife’s disappearance from her Spain apartment. (U.S. Attorney’s Office Miami via AP, File)
Florida man charged with killing estranged wife in Spain is dead from apparent suicide, lawyer says
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) 鈥 A Florida businessman charged with kidnapping and killing his estranged wife in Spain was found dead from apparent suicide Monday morning in a South Florida federal prison, his defense attorney said.
FILE - A missing poster for Colombian-born American Ana Maria Knezevich Henao is displayed on a streetlight in Madrid, Spain, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) 鈥 A Florida businessman charged with kidnapping and killing his estranged wife in Spain was found dead from apparent suicide Monday morning in a South Florida federal prison, his defense attorney said.
David Knezevich, 37, was awaiting trial at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. He was charged last year with kidnapping and killing 40-year-old Ana Hedao Knezevich, who went missing in a case that has drawn international media attention.
Knezevich鈥檚 attorney, Jayne Weintraub, said she learned that he was found dead in his cell but didn’t offer any details about how he died.
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鈥淭he defense team is devastated to learn of this news,” Weintraub said. “We sincerely hope that an appropriate and prompt investigation will be conducted.鈥
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Knezevich was found unresponsive in his cell shortly after 8 a.m. Responding employees initiated life-saving measures before emergency medical services arrived and took over, officials said. EMS personnel eventually pronounced Knezevich dead. The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service were notified.
Ana Knezevich disappeared from her Madrid apartment , five weeks after she had moved there. Her body still hasn’t been found.
A was seen sneaking into her apartment building and disabling a security camera, and was later seen wheeling out a suitcase.
Prosecutors say they have strong evidence Knezevich was the man in the helmet. They say he flew to Turkey from Miami six days before Ana鈥檚 disappearance, then immediately traveled to his native Serbia, where he rented a car. Security video captured Knezevich at a Madrid hardware store the same day his wife disappeared, and his rental car had been driven 4,800 miles (7,700 kilometers) when it was returned five weeks later, officials said.
The couple was in the middle of a contentious divorce while fighting over millions of dollars in properties, according to prosecutors. They had been married for 13 years.
Weintraub has said the split was amicable and the financial arrangements were being worked out.
