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Dateline NBC

Talking Dateline: Missing Ana

17 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.453 - 21.292 Craig Melvin

I'm Craig Melvin. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. I've always been a glass half full kind of guy. And now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way too. Some really fascinating folks who share their defining moments, their triumphs, their challenges. Their stories are funny and quite candid. So I hope you'll join me each week. And who knows?

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21.312 - 29.7 Craig Melvin

You might just come away with your own glass half full. Search Glass Half Full with Craig Melvin from today on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

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30.153 - 32.896 Blayne Alexander

I really love the Start Today app.

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32.916 - 34.757 Willie Geist

They care about how I feel.

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34.777 - 38.221 Blayne Alexander

It's the staff on the app. It's the connections you make.

38.641 - 43.085 Willie Geist

Without good mental and physical health, you have nothing.

43.105 - 47.129 Blayne Alexander

It tells me how to cook to keep myself healthy.

47.449 - 50.572 Willie Geist

I look at my app and I'm like, wow, I didn't know I did 7,000 steps today.

50.973 - 58.86 Craig Melvin

Start Today meets you where you are. Download the Start Today Wellness app now on your Apple or Android device. Terms apply. See app for details.

Chapter 2: What happened to Ana Maria Knezevich after she moved to Madrid?

312.901 - 330.372 Blayne Alexander

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.

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330.392 - 341.155 Blayne Alexander

So then my kind of like rational mind took over and the dreamy Blaine went away. So 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.

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341.175 - 362.847 José Díaz-Balart

So I thought, yeah. Interesting because it does have an impact and an influence on everyone. And 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.

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363.805 - 374.515 Blayne Alexander

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 Ana chose to basically start anew after divorcing her husband.

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374.655 - 393.373 Blayne Alexander

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. And so...

393.353 - 397.337 Blayne Alexander

To step into a new country, it just told me so much about her, just hearing that she did that.

398.178 - 423.831 José Díaz-Balart

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 friend. young lady who she met in Madrid and they become fast friends in no time.

423.871 - 447.711 José Díaz-Balart

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 of really covered her with confidence and with love and gave her the confidence to start a new life.

447.771 - 465.376 Blayne Alexander

And 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.

Chapter 3: How did Ana's friends react to her disappearance?

835.742 - 861.891 José Díaz-Balart

And cameras and license tag readers. In Spain, every other block almost has a license plate reader. And 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 tollbooths along the way.

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Chapter 4: What role did Madrid play in the investigation of Ana's case?

861.911 - 865.942 Blayne Alexander

Even put down the sun visor when he was going through that. That one really got me.

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866.003 - 871.358 José Díaz-Balart

Even put down the sun visor. Yep. But David thought of all of these steps.

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871.879 - 888.816 Blayne Alexander

It's really striking. It really, really is striking. Ah! 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? You interview law enforcement all the time, but it's different when you do it for Dateline.

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889.377 - 895.59 Blayne Alexander

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?

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896.65 - 925.723 José Díaz-Balart

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.

925.743 - 946.317 Blayne Alexander

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. It 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

946.297 - 960.68 Blayne Alexander

shocked me as well as 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 and you feel so much about it, too.

962.143 - 997.619 José Díaz-Balart

Yeah. And, you know, in these 42 years for me, there are just countless people that remain with me as I have covered them. And 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.

997.659 - 1012.359 José Díaz-Balart

So let me ask you, uh, what has been in your process, uh, the most satisfying and maybe the most surprising thing you have learned from and through?

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