A Florida businessman was indicted with murdering his estranged spouse who vanished from her residence in Spain greater than 9 months in the past — and he might face the dying penalty if convicted, prosecutors introduced Thursday.
David Knezevich, 36, of Fort Lauderdale, was hit with upgraded US federal counts after he was already going through costs of kidnapping Ana Hedao Knezevich throughout a contentious divorce battle.
The 40-year-old lady went lacking from her Madrid residence on Feb. 2 after a person in a motorbike helmet was seen getting into her constructing and plastering spray paint over a safety digicam lens, prosecutors stated.
The person, who the feds imagine is Knezevich, then is seen wheeling out a suitcase. The sufferer’s physique has but to be discovered.
Knezevich, who’s in jail after pleading not responsible to the kidnapping cost, denies he killed his spouse, his lawyer stated Thursday.
“It is a desperate attempt by the government to charge everything possible and see what sticks!” Jayne Weintraub stated in an announcement.
“There is no evidence that David Knezevich kidnapped or murdered his wife.”
Knezevich is going through new costs of kidnapping leading to dying, overseas home violence leading to dying and overseas homicide of a US nationwide — costs that would result in the dying penalty.
Prosecutors allege Knezevich, who ran a tech consulting firm together with his spouse, flew from Miami to Turkey within the days main as much as his partner’s disappearance. He then reached Serbia, the place he rented a Peugeot and allegedly drove 1,600 miles to Spain.
The day Ana went lacking, Knezevich was noticed shopping for duct tape and the identical spray paint used on the safety digicam, in line with prosecutors.
The couple had been married for 13 years however had been bickering about hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in property throughout divorce proceedings.
The day after Ana vanished, her cherished ones acquired a message from her claiming she met a person, a Colombian-American citizen, whom she wished to journey with after an instantaneous connection.
However Ana’s family and friends had been alarmed by the message as a result of it wasn’t written by a local Spanish speaker, and one pal known as Spanish police.
With Submit wires
