Talking Dateline: Missing Ana

0:02Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. It starts with our approach. Every Mazda comes standard with proactive safety features. So you're more aware of what's around you, more focused on the road ahead, and ready before problems ever start. Mazda. More of what matters most to you. Go to mazdausa.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse or promote any product. Earning your college degree can be a big win, but it can also be a big commitment. Southern New Hampshire University understands. They work hard to make learning flexible, offering more than 200 programs you can take online.

0:45And with no set class times, you can do it all on your schedule. Life is busy, but your goals don't have to wait. Visit snhu.edu slash dateline to learn more.

1:03Hi, everyone. I'm Blaine Alexander, and this is Talking Dateline. And today I am so excited to be joined by the one, the only, the incredible Jose Diaz-Billard. Jose, thank you so much for joining me today. What a treat, what a privilege, and what a pleasure it is. This is so much fun. So, Jose, we're going to be talking about your Dateline debut episode entitled Missing Ana, about the disappearance of Ana Maria Knezhevich, a South Florida businesswoman who moved to Madrid, hoping to start a new chapter after separating from her husband. But just months later, after making that move, she vanished.

1:36And what followed was an international investigation that ultimately led authorities to focus on Ana's estranged husband, David Knezhevich. And as of today, Ana has still never been found. Now, if you haven't seen this episode yet, you need to go back, watch it. You can stream it on Peacock or listen in the Dateline podcast feed and then come right back here. And then later we'll have an extra clip from Anna's friends speaking with Jose about their memories of her. And of course, we'll answer some of your questions on social media. All right, Jose, let's talk Dateline. Let's talk Dateline. So number one, just congratulations.

2:09The storytelling was beautiful. Your questions were just so, I mean, they have the heart that I know that you have, Jose. That's who you are. And it came through in your episode. So it was really a pleasure to watch. Oh, thanks. You know, it was also going back to me home in many ways. I grew up in Madrid, close to where Ana spent her last months of life. And so returning to a city that I so much is so much part of my life. And so to be able to go back to a city that has opened its arms to immigrants for generations and see that Ana was starting a new life there. And she, boy, I mean, the fact that she was able to move and live anywhere in the world and that she decided Madrid was the place.

3:03And then meeting her friends, you know, playing her friends are just like, this story is about Ana. It's also the story about women who loved Ana and refused to accept that she could disappear. That was what struck me about this, is that the story of friendship, the story of the persistence of her friends. But let's first talk about Madrid, because so often in Dateline, we talk about the fact that the cities, the locations where we go to report these stories are so often a character in and of themselves. And that's really what we saw with Madrid. I thought that you did a fantastic job of just describing it, of bringing the city to life.

3:41We had the Spanish guitar woven in there. I mean, you really got a sense of the city as you were watching this episode. Yeah, you know, there's a saying in Madrid, de Madrid al cielo, from Madrid to heaven. Sad that in this case, Madrid to heaven for Ana meant one thing. But Madrid is its cobblestone streets that have seen so much. And its culture, its history, its vibrancy is very much a part of this story. It is a city that makes you feel alive. I want to say that. I've had the pleasure of going to Madrid. I spent some time there. And I have to say, this is kind of a random small known blame fact.

4:29that was the one place and the one time in my life where I had a very strong impulse to get a tattoo because I was so moved by the city that I was in. Blaine Alexander, I want to hear about this. I know. Well, here's the thing. Okay, I have no tattoos. I've got piercings and whatever, but I don't have any tattoos. And for whatever reason, I don't know, the spirit just got in me and I was like. But what, I mean, what spirit got into you to tell you, Blaine Alexander, you don't have any tattoos, but this is the place to get your Madrid-centric tattoo? Here's the thing. I did not get said tattoo, but I was like, the city makes me feel so alive.

5:02And like I was running around the streets and I was going to get some sort of saying in Spanish. Mind you, I do not speak Spanish as you and I have discussed, but I was like, I want to get some sort of something about like life and vibrancy translated into Spanish. then my kind of like analytical investigative mind was like wait do i know what the health regulations are here is this the best place to do it should i do and then i you know i was like maybe the language barrier i might get something i don't want so then my kind of like rational mind took over and the dreamy blame went away so the the urge was stopped but that's the closest i've ever been to getting a tattoo was when i was enjoying and living in the streets of madrid So I thought that's so interesting because it does have an impact and an influence on everyone.

5:45And it's a place where you can immediately feel at home and at the same time realize that there is so much history there to be found. Yes. Even if you don't put on a tattoo, it's still moving. It's still moving. I was moved. I was very moved. And I think that's why when you said in your episode that this is the place where Anna chose to basically start anew after divorcing her husband. One, I thought it was such a brave act on her part because it can be difficult, I would imagine, to live a life, build a life with somebody in a city and then end that marriage and stay in that same city. Because it would have to be that every place, everywhere you go, everywhere you turn, you're reminded of that person and that life that you're now walking out of.

6:29And so to step into a new country, it just told me so much about her just hearing that she did that. Yeah, they did keep in contact. I mean, things seem amicable from the beginning. But she had Sana, who is a friend that lives in South Florida, and they traveled throughout Europe together. And then she had Elisa Romero, the friend, a Colombian young lady who she met in Madrid and they become fast friends in no time. As a matter of fact, when Ana first got to Madrid, she lived with Elisa for some weeks until she found that apartment on the sixth floor in Salamanca. And that kind of tight-knit, small group really covered her with confidence and with love and gave her the confidence to start a new life.

7:24And you could feel that. I mean, there really was this sisterhood that formed amongst these ladies to the point that, I mean, we see this in so many Dateline episodes, Jose, is that somebody thinks they can kind of in some way use technology to throw someone off of the descent of their trail, right? Like, okay, if I send these text messages or, you know, post on Facebook, right, that people will not be wise to the fact that this person's gone missing. And I love that her friends immediately looked and said, this doesn't sound like the way Ana and I text. This does not sound like her at all. Yeah.

7:58You know, I keep this. I keep this. This is the text communication that Anna had with Sana. Wow. I love that. I don't know if you could see. I can, yeah. Just the background that the two ladies chose. There's bicycles and there's hearts and there's BFF. Yeah. And then that text, which, you know, just a day after she disappeared, immediately, Sana said, this doesn't sound, this is not how, this is not how she speaks. This is not how we speak. And then when Elisa said, I was, I was speaking, I was texting with, with Anna 15 minutes before she disappeared. And, and then she actually, and you know, in, in the episode, you can see how painful it is for Elisa to think back that on that night, Anna was asking her, let's go out, let's do something.

8:55And that three times Elisa said, not tonight, not tonight, I'm not feeling good. And then she disappeared. And for Elisa, knowing that, you know, there are always the question marks. What if I had said yes? What if Ana had come out and we had gone to dinner and, you know, she wouldn't have been home? What if? Yeah. What if are the questions that I guess remain with so many people affected by these tragedies? Of course, of course. When we get back, we'll have an extra clip from Friends of Ana talking about how special she was. You're never just one thing. You're the boss. Hey Google, when's my next meeting?

9:40The athlete. The class wrecks me. And their mom. Everyone in. The all new Mazda CX-5. More to move every side of you. Learn more at MazdaUSA.com. Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequences shortened and simulated. Hey, what you doing? Are you doom scrolling other people's vacations? Miami? San Diego? With Expedia, your trip can earn rewards which you can use towards your next eligible stay. Soon, people will doom scroll you. Expedia. The one place you go to go places. Terms apply. Grainger knows when you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building. You're managing all of them.

10:13And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners. Lights about to fail, filters ready to clog, HVAC on its last leg. If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering, and 24-7 support. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done.

10:40the detective here detective rodriguez he you mentioned that he was going through so many different small clues and pieces of evidence let's talk about some of that first the spray painting on the cameras one i've got to say that there are a few things to me more chilling than watching somebody spray paint or manipulate a surveillance camera right because you know that they're coming there for nefarious purpose. No doubt. And the fact that there were so many pieces of video that had to be strung together, but that initial spray of the camera that's in the hallway right by the elevator, and then to see how even when he spray painted did.

11:30Detective Montilla and others were able to see through that drying paint evidence that tied David directly to the crime. It was striking because as you went through the investigation, it was very clear that David had thought this through. I mean, David really, I mean, you would think, thought of everything. The fact that he switched license plates, switched it again, switched it again. I mean, he really thought all of this through. He put in so much planning, you know, when he, he, you know, wrote the text and then had his Colombian friend. That was wild. In Colombia, translate the exact text to Colombian Spanish to send to on a Spanish speaking friends.

12:22Quick question there. Colombian Spanish, that's different than spent, I mean, there's a distinction. Yes. What's that? So in a way, you know, every Latin American country has a different accent. And I'm just thinking you could think of, for example, you know, British English to American English. It's the same language, but there are certain differences in accents and even in words. So David, who had spent time in South Florida, and South Florida is such a mix of all cultures and languages, knew that, you know, Spanish has different accents. And so he reaches out to his Colombian friend, Ana being Colombian American, and says, hey, can you translate this for a friend of mine working on a project uh in colombian spanish and and then the fact that he thought of how do i get from serbia to spain when there are he knows borders right uh and cameras and license tag readers in Spain, every other block almost has a license plate reader.

13:46And I don't know if he knew that, but he knew that he had to go through at least five countries. How do I do that undetected? And he got a burner phone, then stole these license plates, tinted the rental car. He's thinking there's got to be toll booths along the way. When he was going through that, That one really got me. Even put down the sunlight. Yep. But David thought of all of these steps. It's really striking. It really, really is striking. I have to ask, I mean, this is your first time doing a Dateline. I would assume that this is your first time really kind of like diving in and following an investigator with such detail as they go through a case, right?

14:25You interview law enforcement all the time, but it's different when you do it for Dateline. Did this kind of give you a different perspective or a different insight when you look into the work that detectives do on these cases? Absolutely. I've got to tell you, 42 years as a journalist and this first opportunity to work with Dateline gave me a completely new perspective, understanding and respect for not only law enforcement, but also for the work that we do, Blaine, that you do, that every single person does on Dateline. You know, I think here's why I get so excited talking to you, Jose, among many reasons, but I've never spoken to anybody doing their first Dateline episode.

15:14It was always the questions directed at me. And so to hear this coming from you, it's so exciting. It's so interesting to hear your perspective of what it was like doing this for the first time. And yes, that was one of the things that shocked me as well is just how in-depth we're able to go in these stories, right? And how much we're able to learn. Like, you have this now knowledge of this case that you never would have had before. You know so much about it, right? And you feel so much about it, too. Yeah, and, you know, in these 42 years for me, there are just countless people that remain with me as I have covered them.

15:54And to shine a light where there is darkness, to listen to those who are often silent or silenced, and to see that those life experiences and life lessons can be helpful to others is extraordinary. So let me ask you, what has been in your process the most satisfying and maybe the most surprising thing you have learned from and through? I'm smiling so big because this is classic Jose, by the way. Mind you, I am the interviewer. And here you are asking me questions. Now you have flipped it and you have turned this thing on its head. But I will, you know, I think that the most gratifying thing for me is the fact that we're able to have such long conversations.

16:48I think that, you know, in my days of doing Nightly News, Today Show, MSNBC, like all of those things where it's like we're doing interviews, but there's a deadline that's right there. And so you go in, we can maybe have a 15, 20 minute snippet of a conversation. And then it's kind of like, OK, got to get it, got to, you know, cut it for air. in this position, you're able to let the conversations breathe and you're able to really go where people want to go with the discussions and you're able to let the emotions come out, right? Because these are people who have gone through something horrible.

17:23And now we're in this place where they're able to talk about it and sit down across from somebody who will listen for two hours, three hours, sometimes more about this. And so I just love living in those interviews. It gives me chills even talking about it. And going back to Ana, she stays with you. For Sana and for her friend Lisa and so many others, this is something that is a permanent scar that they need to heal. Yeah. Let's talk about David. I'm curious, as you were reporting this story, as you were talking to the detectives, what did you learn about David, about the type of individual this person was?

18:10A driven, crazed, I have to succeed, I have to make money. My American dream is to be wealthy. and as Sana says in our chat, you know, David felt as though he was in control of the car he was driving and that he could be the only driver of the car of life and Anna was just a passenger in the back seat. And that's how a lot of his friends describe him too. Let's talk about David's demise, dying by suicide there in his jail cell. I mean, I think that it really speaks to just everything you've said about his personality, right? This, I have to win, I have to be, I'm driven, everything will be perfect, everything will go my way.

19:03And then when it doesn't, I love the question that you asked. You said, was that his confession? Because he was a coward, as Sana said. Because he was a coward. There is no other explanation for it? I think that when someone goes through a tragedy like this, when something like this happens to their loved one, there is, of course, the pain of losing a person. But there is this added indescribable pain that people have to carry when they don't know where their loved one is, when a body is not found, when you know that they're dead, but you only know that because you have to assume. I mean, and we've done stories like this.

19:47One that comes to mind for me is bringing Jay home. I remember speaking with Jaylee's mom and she said every time she drove a stretch of road, she almost broke down because she just imagined her baby out there lying somewhere, right? And this was for more than two years. So I cannot imagine the pain that Anna's family, her incredible friends are dealing with, not only not knowing where she is, But it's such a wide area that she could be. I mean, she could be somewhere in Spain. She could be on the road back to Serbia. Like, there are just so many questions that they really just have to carry with them every day.

20:22And that's so terrible. yeah yeah and you know uh and all of the people all of them that i spoke with say that they will continue searching for anna in every way that they can this is a 1600 plus mile distant trek where David could have left her. And then there are some questions. I have my theory. There are theories by her friends and by officials. I'm brought back, dear Blaine, to this text. the text that he wrote and sent to her friends i met someone wonderful he has a summer house about two hours from madrid we're going there signal is spotty why would you as the killer mention a summer house two hours from madrid with no signal and if by chance you leave the body two hours from Madrid, maybe that would get authorities on a whole different trail.

21:46You know, who was it that said the best lies have some hint of truth in them, right? That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Yeah. Why mention a house two hours from Madrid? if you're not going to have a reason to mention it. You know, he thought of a lot of things through. And I don't, certainly detectives aren't taking this as being the only place, but they have searched the area two hours around Madrid. They've searched into Italy. They've gone through France. They've gone through that entire 1600 mile. I mean, look at this. here's here it is i love that you have this but but but look at this thing i mean look at where it goes through it's it's you got to go through different countries but then italy and france up there in the italian area those are that's very close to the mountainous areas and uh and then you know uh france obviously into spain that's really mountainous stuff so So along the way, and they've actually gone searching through mountainous areas of Italy and through the areas there of the border with Spain.

23:10But it's difficult to put your mind in the mind of someone who has lost his morals. Jose, I have to say that you have many talents, my friend. But clearly being a detective is one of them because that is such good insight. And also the fact that you have these printed out pieces of evidence here, the visual aids, is striking. You jumped into this case yourself. It's very, very clear. I do think about her a lot. And I know you do. All of the people that we are privileged to speak with that have gone through very difficult moments, one keeps them in one's heart and in one's memory. Well, to that point, let's close this by hearing a little bit more about who Anna was.

23:52I know that you spoke with some of her friends. There were some beautiful remembrances of her, stories about her that didn't make it into the episode. But let's listen to a little bit of that now. Anna was a very nice person and a very good friend. And she was very kind. And you can talk to her and she was never judging you. So I remember the first time we met, we just met up for a local happy hour and we immediately started talking about travel memories and discovered that we had the same interests, same likes and dislikes on destinations where we had been and where we wanted to go. I remember she told me about a trip that she had planned already to Colombia, where she's from, after a couple of weeks.

24:36And I remember thinking to myself, maybe I can come and join her. And said, maybe she thinks it's too early for me to suggest that. But she didn't. So after a few weeks after meeting, we went to Bogota together. She even said to me, she said, oh, no, you don't have to get a hotel. I have a bigger room and, you know, you can stay with me. I remember our conversations, our jokes. We have very deep conversations. She's a very bubbly person, great smile. You know, you could tell she's adventurous. She was a sweetheart. You know, I think one can hope to go through life and have friends as good as the friends Ana had.

25:19I mean, friendships that rich, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it's interesting that that one moment that Aliza shares with us, she keeps all of the texts and the voice recordings that Anna sent her. And the one of Ana laughing for one entire minute was so representative of what Elisa says their friendship was based on. And Ana, who, you know, loved to learn new dances and cumbias and merengues and even flamenco when she got to Spain and her laughter and her joie de vivre and her determination to make a life that wasn't based on money, but rather on love. Well, it is a tragic story, but you told it beautifully and with such heart and compassion.

26:28So, Jose, it was just a joy to talk Dateline with you on this, your first Dateline episode. I can't wait for more. Blaina, can I just tell you, I am so touched and privileged to be able to share this with you, whom I so admire. So thank you. The feeling is absolutely mutual, my friend. And up next, we'll answer your questions from social media.

27:04Texas, Ohio, Alaska, we're up there too. Comfort Inn, it's calling your name. Save on the stay. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Well, I hope you like my little song. Book direct at joyshilltails.com. The GLP-1 pill you've been waiting for is now on row. Yep, it's finally here with the same clinically proven ingredient. Now in a pill and now on row. It's the first FDA-approved GLP-1 pill for weight loss. At the lowest price available, that's one daily GLP-1 pill for big results. Now on Rowe. Go to row.co.com to see if you qualify. Rx only. Go to row.co.com for serious side effects and boxed warning associated with GLP-1s.

27:53Hi, it's Sierra Miller. I can't wait for you to check out my new collection of shoes and accessories at Designer Shoe Warehouse. If you love shoes as much as I do, then trust me, I got you. From cute sneak arenas to the perfect flip flops to stunning heels. These shoes are all style, no drama. It's a girl's girl summer and DSW has just the shoes. Shop the Sierra Miller collection right now at your DSW store or DSW.com.

28:26And we're back and I'm joined by wonderful producer, the wonderful producer of this episode, Alex Loray. to answer some of your questions from social media. It's our Harpaz, who is also our producer on this hour, has been extraordinary as well. Alice, how are you? I'm good, Jose. I'm actually at the Miami Courthouse today covering another case. How are you? Great. And just looking forward to answering some of the questions that we were sent. And this one by Francis MPU says, Does the FBI call the shots or is it the local authorities in this case? Yeah, good question. So this story was a little bit different just because there was a lot of local authorities that were working together.

29:08So at first, Ana's case was taken by the local Salamanca police, which was the jurisdiction she lived in, which is the smaller sort of municipality. So they took it over and then it was handed over to the Spanish National Police, which is Ramos team and Emilio's team. And then once the FBI sort of gets involved, that's when the family contacts the FBI, lets them know that there's an American citizen that's been missing in Madrid for a few days. And that's when the FBI sort of gets involved. But initially, it's the local police who's doing all the legwork. So this one is from Felicious 1908. So were the security cameras not being watched in real time?

29:50Security cameras in an apartment, to me, are only going to be useful if they are viewed in real time. Yeah. No, not in this case. The Ramos team actually only watched the cameras 10 days after Anna went missing. In Spanish law, you know, the person can't be declared as a missing person unless 10 days have passed. So the surveillance footage was only viewed by his team after that. Another one from Felicia's 1908. It takes bravery and a sense of adventure to go solo abroad. Totally. I mean, her and Santa, I think Anna and Santa's relationship was so special because they had this love for travel, you know, and Santa talks to us a little bit about that in the episode.