A tragic incident has unfolded in Basel, Switzerland, where Kristina Joksimovic, a former Miss Switzerland finalist, has allegedly been murdered by her 41-year-old husband.
The 38-year-old model was reportedly strangled and dismembered by her husband using a jigsaw and garden shears before her remains were allegedly pureed in a blender.
Kristina’s body was discovered on February 13 in Binningen, near Basel. The couple, who married in 2017 and had two children, lived in a spacious semi-detached house in an affluent area. Kristina had shared photos of a recent couple’s getaway on her Instagram account just four weeks before her death.
Her husband, identified only as Thomas in local media, had his appeal for release from custody denied by the Federal Court in Lausanne.
He admitted to killing Kristina but initially claimed it was in self-defence after she allegedly attacked him with a knife. He later confessed to dismembering her body.
Investigators revealed that Kristina was strangled before being dismembered in the laundry room with a jigsaw, knife, and garden shears. Her body parts were then blended and dissolved in a chemical solution. A medical-forensic report has contradicted Thomas’s self-defence claim, indicating that the killing was premeditated.
Thomas, a businessman and Swiss national, was arrested the day after Kristina’s remains were found.
Authorities have described him as displaying a “conspicuously high level of criminal energy,” with a notable lack of empathy and cold-bloodedness in his actions.
Kristina Joksimovic won the Miss Northwest Switzerland pageant in 2003 and was a finalist in the 2008 Miss Switzerland competition.