The former Miss Switzerland finalist allegedly strangled, dismembered and ‘pureed’ by her husband had the ‘perfect family’ with their two daughters, her friends said as they revealed their shock at the news of her death.
The body of 38-year-old model Kristina Joksimovic was discovered in February at their ‘upscale’ Binningen home, near Basel, a day after she had been killed.
Her husband later confessed to having killed his wife, citing ‘self defence’, and claiming he dismembered her in the laundry room ‘in a panic’.
‘To me, they seemed like the perfect family,’ one of Kristina’s friends told local outlet Blick at the time, adding that he had seen last seen her in December, three months prior. ‘I am very sad.’
Kristina’s husband, Thomas*, had an appeal for release from custody rejected on Wednesday by the Federal Court in Lausanne after his admission as an investigation concluded there were ‘concrete indications of mental illness’ underlying.
Kristina coached the next generation of models for pageants, as well as businesswomen
Kristina and her husband had two daughters together
The model’s husband admitted to having killed his wife, claiming self defence, per local media
Kristina’s body was found on the evening of February 13. Investigators determined that Kristina had been strangled before she died.
The verdict states the suspect confessed to strangling his wife.
An autopsy concluded that the body was then dismembered in the laundry room with a jigsaw, knife and garden shears.
Body parts were then chopped up with a hand blender, ‘pureed’ and dissolved in a chemical solution, local outlet Blick reported.
Friends expressed their shock at the news, many taking to social media to share compassionate notes under her Instagram posts.
Miss Switzerland 2006 winner Christa Rigozzi posted online: ‘No words, still sad. Rest in peace, my love.’
‘Speechless. Rest in God’s peace,’ 2018 winner Jastina Doreen Riederer added.
Online, Kristina had shared photos of the couple celebrating their one year anniversary in 2018, after marrying in 2017.
She had described her husband as ‘my rock’ in older photos, and shared her pride as she announced she was pregnant with their second child.
Nadine Vinzens, Miss Switzerland 2002, was friends with Kristina and told Nau.ch as the news of her death broke: ‘I knew her well and I met him briefly. I am totally shocked and heartbroken.
‘Never in my life would I have thought that something like this would happen.’
She added in a comment under Kristina’s last social media post: ‘I’m so heartbroken. You were such a good and nice person. I will not ever forget the time in LA with you. RIP my beauty.’
Lorena Santen, who was crowned Miss Switzerland in 2023, was one of Kristina’s catwalk students, said: ‘We will miss you so much.’
Former Miss Switzerland Christa Rigozzi told 20 Minuten in February: ‘It’s terrible. I’m really shocked. I’m thinking of her two daughters. She was such a beautiful and kind-hearted woman.’
Swiss actress and TV presenter Miriam Rickli, who was in the Miss Switzerland final alongside Kristina, said after her friend was found dead: ‘I’m just speechless.’
Some warned that they believed there were troubling signs within the family months before the incident.
One insider told Blick the relationship had been ‘in crisis for months’, with police allegedly called out beforehand over reports of physical violence.
Investigators now probing the case have said Thomas, a businessman, showed a ‘conspicuously high level of criminal energy’ in their assessment.
He is presumed innocent until charged.
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’.
Kristina shared photos with her children, taken by her husband on Instagram before her death
Kristina, the mother of their two children, was allegedly killed because she had previously come at him with a knife, dismembering her body ‘in a panic’
Kristina trained Miss Switzerland candidates to follow in her footsteps
Kristina’s husband is reported to have claimed he killed her in self-defence after she came at him with a knife. The presumption of innocence stands.
He then reportedly admitted to having dismembered the ex-model – with whom he has two children – ‘in a panic’.
A medical-forensic report also ‘contradicts his description of self-defence’, according to Swiss outlet FM1 Today.
Thomas, who is a Swiss national, was reportedly arrested a day after her remains were found by a ‘third party’.
Prosecutors say that the defendant had strangled his wife before killing her, local outlet BZ Basel reports.
‘It is very, very sad and shocking what has happened. I am also so incredibly sorry for the children,’ Swiss model and former Miss Switzerland Dominique Rinderknecht told Nau.
In the lead up to her 2013 Miss Universe competition, Rinderknecht received catwalk training by Kristina and shared their progress on Youtube, garnering half a million clicks.
Kristina, a Binningen native with Serbian roots, had reportedly switched from modelling to become a catwalk coach, inspiring the next generation.
Among other things, she trained Miss Switzerland candidates to follow in her footsteps. She also trained businesswomen for walking confidently in their professional or private lives.
She had won the Miss Northwest Switzerland pageant in 2003 and went on to be a finalist in the 2008 Miss Switzerland competition.
The same year, she founded a coaching and consulting agency for aspiring models while still working full-time in IT recruitment.
The mother-of-two married her husband in 2017 and shared posts with their children
Kristina and her husband had two daughters (pictured above during a beach holiday in August 2023)
Kristina, a Binningen native with Serbian roots, took part in a number of pageants in the 2000s
Kristina had once won the Miss Northwest Switzerland pageant and went on to be a finalist in the 2008 national competition
Model Andrea Brotschi, who also participated in a Swiss pageant, also paid tribute to her friend: ‘I am so sad and shocked. We just saw each other.
‘You were such a good-hearted, kind, intelligent and great human. Why? Kris thank you for everything.’
Frida Hodel, who was the Swiss Bachelorette in 2015, also paid tribute to Kristina, writing: ‘We miss you. I will never forget you. Rest in peace.’
Another Bachelorette, Eli Simic, who participated in the show in 2017 to find a partner, commented on Kristina’s last Instagram post in Serbian: ‘Rest in peace Kiki. No words…’
‘Kristina. I can’t believe it!,’ international make-up artist Selina Beutler wrote.