A Florida woman who disappeared in Spain two weeks ago had started using the dating app Bumble in the months before her disappearance, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Investigators have located at least two men with whom Ana Knezevich, 40, was chatting before she was last seen outside her rented apartment in Madrid on February 2.
A day later, close friends received “strange” WhatsApp messages from the beautiful Fort Lauderdale real estate agent, claiming that a “wonderful” man had approached her on the street and that they would spend the next few days together.
They were unable to communicate with her and do not believe that the texts were written by Ana, who was officially declared missing on Monday, February 5, when she did not meet with a friend to travel to Barcelona for a conference.
Ana, born in Colombia, had been living in Spain on and off since last summer, when her marriage to Serbian-American businessman David Knezevich, 35, collapsed.
Ana Knezevich, 40, was ready to move on from her ex-husband David Knezevich and had started using Bumble before disappearing in Madrid two weeks ago, friends revealed.
The Florida estate agent’s best friend, Sanna Rameau, told DailyMail.com that police have been in contact with “several people” Ana had been talking to on the dating app.
Sanna said she didn’t know if Ana had been using the app for romantic dates or its ‘bff’ feature to make new friends in Madrid.
The couple made several attempts to reconcile, but Ana was ready to move on and was using Bumble, according to her best friend Sanna Rameau, who traveled to Spain earlier this month to help look for her.
He doesn’t know if the petite brunette was looking for romantic dates or just using the app in ‘bff’ mode to make new friends.
“I just know that the police have been in contact with several people I was speaking to,” Sanna told DailyMail.com.
‘I met one of them who told me that they were not in a romantic relationship, they were friends.
‘I’ve been saying this whole time that we need to access his phone and look at the platforms he was using.
“We need to look for clues there, but we’re not that far yet.”
Adding to the mystery, investigators reviewed surveillance cameras and found footage of a suspicious man wearing a motorcycle helmet lurking around Ana’s building on Friday, February 2.
He was first seen waiting outside for two people to leave and then entering before the door could be closed around 9:30 p.m.
He then sprayed black paint over two cameras, one above the elevator and another on the entrance intercom, to hide his movements.
Spanish police have not yet located the man or made any arrests in Ana’s disappearance, according to her brother Felipe Henao.
Sanna and Ana’s brother, Felipe Henao, revealed that they received a series of strange text messages from her phone claiming that she was dating someone “wonderful” she had met on the street.
Friends say Ana had been going through a “difficult” divorce from her husband David Knezevich when she disappeared from her apartment while on holiday in Madrid on February 2.
Ana’s best friend, Sanna Rameau, said she asked David to help her with the search, but he has since fled to his native Serbia.
“My mother is devastated,” she told DailyMail.com. ‘I wish I had something new, I wish Ana had already returned.
“I just hope someone with information comes forward and tells us what they know.”
Ana and her partner of 13 years, David, also known as Dusan, had not yet formally filed for divorce.
They ran a real estate business, owned up to six properties and tried several times to fix their marriage before dissolving it in January, when she called her family in tears to let them know.
David indicated to his close friend Sanna that he would travel to Spain to help look for Ana, but he never arrived, he told DailyMail.com.
‘The fact is that I went to Madrid to look for Ana. I asked her to come and join me in looking for her.
‘But instead, he said he had left Florida to go to Serbia. This is all I can say.’
David did not respond to calls or WhatsApp messages and there was no response when DailyMail.com called the estranged couple’s $900,000 home, which has five bedrooms and a pool.
Ana’s Mercedes convertible was parked in the driveway, along with a Nissan and several motorcycles. Packages and mail were piling up outside.
Ana, born in Colombia, had been living on and off in Spain since last summer when her marriage to Serbian-American businessman David, 35, broke down.
The couple married in 2011 and moved to the southern Florida city of Fort Lauderdale.
Ana and David’s $900,000 Fot Lauderdale home has five bedrooms and a pool
“They were a very playful and loving couple, they seemed happy,” said neighbor Guy Hackman.
‘David is a striking guy, an attractive guy. He walked around without a shirt. He seemed a little cocky.
Several locals told DailyMail.com that they had seen Ana and David sunbathing naked on their roof in broad daylight.
“They lay naked sunbathing,” said one. ‘It’s Florida. They have been living here long enough to know that there are no children living here.
—I have never even heard a raised voice coming from that house. She is so sad, she is such a sweet girl.
The couple had been embroiled in a series of recent lawsuits, including a bank taking them to court last year for allegedly failing to pay a $399,000 mortgage.
David was sued again last October for falling behind on a $435,000 second mortgage, but both cases were dismissed.
DailyMail.com can also reveal that David sought restraining orders against two men in 2018 claiming they had harassed him and threatened to murder him.
The orders were withdrawn because David did not appear at a hearing to decide whether they should be made permanent.
Ana’s supposed last message to Sanna at 2 pm on Saturday, February 3, said that she had “met someone wonderful.”
Ana was officially declared missing on Monday, February 5, when she was unable to meet a friend to travel to Barcelona for a conference.
He continued: ‘He has a summer house about two hours from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. The signal is irregular. I’ll call you when I get back.
Another message detailed: ‘Yesterday after therapy I needed a walk and he approached me on the street!’ Amazing connection. Like he had never done before.
Neither she nor Ana’s distraught family believe that the missing woman is the author of the texts. Her WhatsApp account has been offline since then.
—That was not Ana. She is not impulsive or irresponsible. She doesn’t do drugs or drink hard liquor,” Sanna said of her “intelligent and adventurous” friend.
He added, ominously: “I immediately knew something terrible had happened.”