Ex-Miss Switzerland finalist strangled, dismembered, womb removed; husband charged in gruesome murder

Swiss prosecutors have formally charged a man in the brutal killing of his wife, Kristina Joksimovic, a former Miss Switzerland finalist whose dismembered remains were discovered earlier this year. According to the New York Post, authorities described the murder as horrific and carried out with meticulous precision.

Joksimovic, a 38-year-old model and entrepreneur, was found dead inside her home in Binningen, near Basel, in February 2024. Her husband, identified in Swiss media only as Thomas because of privacy laws, allegedly confessed to strangling her, prosecutors told the New York Post.

The Basel Landschaft Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on Wednesday that its investigation is complete and Thomas now faces formal murder charges. A trial date has not yet been set.

A killing marked by extreme violence

Court documents and an autopsy report cited by the New York Post, which drew from the Daily Mail’s findings, describe a deeply disturbing sequence of events. Investigators say Thomas allegedly used multiple tools, including a jigsaw, knives, and garden shears, to dismember his wife. Autopsy findings reported by the Daily Mail indicate that he also removed her womb, which was the only organ taken from her torso.

Authorities further told the New York Post that some of the dismembered parts were chopped using an industrial blender, “pureed,” and dissolved in chemicals. Court records also state that Thomas was allegedly watching YouTube videos on his phone while carrying out these acts.

The grisly discovery was made by Joksimovic’s father, who found strands of blond hair sticking out of a black bag in the laundry room. A friend described this moment to the Daily Mail.

Investigators later recovered the blender and several remains, including pieces of skin with attached muscle and chunks of bone. The autopsy noted that Thomas had allegedly broken Joksimovic’s hip joints, removed her upper left arm, forearms, and right lower leg, and severed her spine to decapitate her.

Husband claimed self-defence; experts reject his story

Thomas, now 43, shared two daughters with Joksimovic. He reportedly told authorities in March that he killed her in self-defence, claiming she attacked him with a knife. Medical experts rejected this version, finding no evidence to support his claim. The official cause of death was determined to be strangulation.

Local outlet Blick quoted police documents stating that Thomas showed a “remarkably high level of criminal energy, lack of empathy, and cold-bloodedness after killing his wife.”

A life in fashion and pageantry

Joksimovic had been crowned Miss Northwest Switzerland and became a finalist for Miss Switzerland in 2007. Outside her pageant success, she worked as a catwalk coach and ran her own consulting business. She also coached model Dominique Rinderknecht ahead of the Miss Universe competition in 2013.