Miss Switzerland finalist is strangled and dismembered with a jigsaw by her husband

A former Miss Switzerland finalist was allegedly strangled and dismembered with a jigsaw before being pureed in a blender by her husband.

The body of 38-year-old model Kristina Joksimovic was found back in February in Binningen, near 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, September 11, by the country’s federal court in Lausanne after he confessed to the killing

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 According to Swiss outlet BZ Basel, 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,.

Joksimovic’s butchered body was discovered on the night of Feb. 13.

The model’s husband and father of their two daughters admitted that he killed her, but claimed it was to protect himself after she had previously attacked him with a knife. However, medical experts found no evidence of self-defence and identified her cause of death as strangulation.

Joksimovic’s body was then dismembered with a jigsaw, knife and garden shears, according to an autopsy report obtained by the outlet.

According to the report, several of her body parts were then chopped up with a hand blender, “pureed” and dissolved in a chemical solution.

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. 

Investigators have said Thomas, a businessman, showed a ‘conspicuously high level of criminal energy’ in their assessment.

They cited a ‘lack of empathy and cold-bloodedness after killing his wife’, and his efforts to cover up her death, adding that the defendant had ‘sadistic-sociopathic traits’.

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.

It’s terrible. I’m really shocked,” former Miss Switzerland Christa Rigozzi, who was friendly with Joksimovic, told the outlet after she was killed.

“I’m thinking of her two daughters. She was such a beautiful and kind-hearted woman,” Rigozzi said.

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 with an Instagram post just weeks before Joksimovic’s death showing her and Thomas on a “couple’s getaway” on Lake Lucerne.

Kristina, a Binningen native with Serbian roots, had reportedly switched from modelling to becoming a catwalk coach. She also trained Miss Switzerland candidates to follow in her footsteps. Joksimovic was crowned Miss Northwest Switzerland pageant and in 2007 was a finalist for Miss Switzerland.