Swiss officials confirmed this week that a former Miss Switzerland finalist met a horrific end when her husband allegedly strangled her to death before dismembering her body, which he “pureed” in a blender.
The murder of 38-year-old Kristina Joksimovic occurred in February this year near the city of Basel in Switzerland. Police arrested her 41-year-old husband, simply referred to as “Thomas,” who later appealed for his release but was rejected. He reportedly confessed to the murder roughly one month after his arrest.
Officials in the case say the murder may have stemmed from “mental illness.” Though he claimed to have committed the murder to protect himself after Kristina allegedly attacked him with a knife, medical experts said they found no sign of self-defense and that her cause of death was by strangulation. After allegedly killing Kristina, Thomas then reportedly proceeded to dismember her body with a jigsaw, knife, and garden sheers. Per the New York Post:
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.
Former Miss Switzerland Christa Rigozzi, a friend of Kristina’s, called her a “beautiful and kind-hearted woman.”
“It’s terrible. I’m really shocked,” she said. “I’m thinking of her two daughters. She was such a beautiful and kind-hearted woman.”