Swiss authorities confirmed this week that a former Miss Switzerland finalist met a horrific end after being strangled to death by her husband, who then dismembered her body and “puréed” it in a blender.
The murder of 38-year-old Kristina Joksimovic took place near the Swiss city of Basel in February this year. Police arrested her 41-year-old husband, known as “Thomas,” but later sought his release but was denied. He reportedly confessed to the murder about a month after his arrest.
Officials in the case have said the murder may have been due to “mental illness.” Thomas has claimed he committed the murder in self-defense after Christina allegedly attacked him with a knife, but medical experts said they found no signs of self-defense and that the cause of death was strangulation. After killing Christina, Thomas was quoted as saying: Detach They cut her body up with a jigsaw, a knife and gardening scissors. New York Post:
Thomas was arrested the day after her body was discovered, but a month before his arrest he told investigators that he discovered her dead and, in a panic, dismembered her body in the laundry room.
In an update on Wednesday, prosecutors said Thomas displayed “an extraordinary level of criminal energy, lack of empathy and cold-bloodedness after murdering his wife” and then trying to cover it up.
Prosecutors said he had previously strangled his wife, and a former partner alleged he also grabbed a beauty pageant winner by the throat and slammed her head against a wall.
Her friend and former Miss Switzerland, Christa Ligozzi, called her a “beautiful and kind-hearted woman.”
“It's awful. I'm absolutely shocked,” she said. “My thoughts are with her two daughters. She was a beautiful, kind-hearted woman.”
