Miss Switzerland finalist 'had perfect family' before husband 'strangled her and made her into purée in a blender'

12 September 2024, 12:49

Friends of a former Miss Switzerland finalist and her husband have said they and their two daughters had "the perfect family" before he allegedly strangled and dismembered her, before feeding her into a blender.

The body of Kristina Joksimovic, 38, was found in February in Binningen, near Basel in Switzerland.

Kristina’s husband, named as Thomas in local media, had an appeal for release from custody rejected on Wednesday by the Federal Court in Lausanne after confessing to killing his wife.

A friend of Kristina said: "To me, they seemed like the perfect family," adding that he was "very sad" at the news of her death.

But another said the relationship had been “in crisis for months”, with police allegedly receiving previous calls over reports of physical violence.

Thomas, 41, claimed he killed his wife in self-defence after she came at him with a knife before dismembering her “in a panic”.

Kristina's body was found on the evening of February 13 with investigators reportedly concluding the ex-model had been strangled before she died.

Thomas was arrested the next day after her remains were found by a “third party”, according to reports.

The verdict reportedly states the suspect confessed to strangling his wife.

An autopsy found the body was then dismembered with a jigsaw, knife and garden shears before body parts were chopped up with a hand blender, “pureed” and dissolved in a chemical solution, local outlet Blick reported.

A medical-forensic report also “contradicts his description of self-defence”, according to Swiss outlet FM1 Today.

An ongoing investigation concluded on Wednesday there were “concrete indications of mental illness” underlying the case.

The couple had been married since 2017 and reportedly lived in a “spacious semi-detached house" in an affluent area of Basel.

Just four weeks before she was killed, Kristina shared pictures of a “couple's getaway” on her Instagram account.

Investigators said Thomas showed a “conspicuously high level of criminal energy”, while they cited a “lack of empathy and cold-bloodedness after killing his wife” adding he had “sadistic-sociopathic traits”, reports said.

Kristina had reportedly switched from modelling to become a catwalk coach, while she also trained businesswomen for walking confidently in their professional or private lives.

She had won the Miss Northwest Switzerland pageant in 2003 and went on to be a finalist in the 2008 Miss Switzerland competition.