Miss Switzerland finalist strangled to death by her husband
WARNING: Distressing content. A former Miss Switzerland finalist was strangled to death by her husband.
Real Life
Don't miss out on the headlines from Real Life. Followed categories will be added to My News.
WARNING: Disturbing content
A former Miss Switzerland finalist was strangled to death and savagely dismembered by her husband, who then disposed of her body in such a horrific way we have chosen not to report it, Swiss officials revealed.
Kristina Joksimovic, 38, was found slain in her home in February in Binningen, near the city of Basel in Switzerland.
Her 41-year-old husband, who was only referred to as “Thomas” in local media reports, was taken into custody but had appealed for his release, which was rejected on Wednesday by the country’s federal court in Lausanne after he confessed to the killing.
The ruling, which brought horrific new details about the murder to light, said the ongoing investigation has revealed “concrete indications of a mental illness” in the case, according to Swiss outlet BZ Basel.
Ms Joksimovic’s body was discovered on the night of February 13.
The model’s husband and father of their two daughters admitted that he killed her in March.
Medical experts found no evidence of self defence and identified her cause of death as strangulation.
Thomas was arrested the day after her body was found, initially telling investigators the month prior that he had found her dead and dismembered her body in their laundry room in a panic.
Thomas showed “a noticeably high level of criminal energy, lack of empathy and cold-bloodedness after killing his wife” and trying to cover it up, prosecutors said in Wednesday’s update.
Prosecutors also revealed that he had strangled his wife before. A former partner also alleged he once grabbed the beauty queen by the neck and slammed her head into a wall.
Ms Joksimovic was crowned Miss Northwest Switzerland pageant and in 2007 was a finalist for Miss Switzerland, according to 20 Minuten.
She later ran her own business as a catwalk coach, and mentored model Dominique Rinderknecht for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013.
“It’s terrible. I’m really shocked,” former Miss Switzerland Christa Rigozzi, who was friendly with Ms Joksimovic, told the outlet after she was killed.
“I’m thinking of her two daughters. She was such a beautiful and kind-hearted woman.”
Thomas was a successful entrepreneur, and their family lived in a large home with a picturesque view overlooking Basel.
They posed as a picture-perfect family on social media, according to 20 Minuten, with an Instagram post just weeks before Ms Joksimovic’s death showing her and Thomas on a “couple’s getaway” on Lake Lucerne.
This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Miss Switzerland finalist strangled to death by her husband
Rapist’s bombshell threat after being unmasked
A Sydney man who was unmasked by news.com.au as a rapist has engaged lawyers to have his victim’s story pulled down.
‘Grubby’: Woolies driver caught red-handed
The supermarket said they were “very disappointed” after seeing the shocking behaviour, which Aussies say is more common than you think.