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Miss Switzerland finalist, Kristina Joksimovic, reportedly planned on separating from her husband before he strangled and dismembered her body with a jigsaw.

The body of the 38-year-old model was found in her home in Binningen, near Basel in February, with an autopsy revealing the mother-of-two was strangled to death before being chopped up with the garden implement, a knife, and a saw.

Some of her body parts were forced into a powerful blender, 'pureed', and subsequently dissolved in a chemical solution.

Her husband, who was named in local media by the pseudonym of Thomas, 41, was arrested shortly after and later admitted to having killed his wife, who was a catwalk coach and former Miss Switzerland contestant.

A source close to Kristina has revealed that a possible motive for the killing was the mother-of-two planning to leave her businessman partner.

'She wanted to break up, but was afraid of him,' the source told 20 Minuten.

The heinous attack came just weeks after Kristina posted images of an idyllic 'couple's getaway' they'd shared to Lake Lucerne on social media.

Meanwhile, the partner of one of Kristina's friends told Blick that the relationship had been 'in crisis for months', with police allegedly being called out to their home over reports of physical violence before.

Investigators said Thomas showed a 'lack of empathy and cold-bloodedness after killing his wife' and displayed 'sadistic-sociopathic traits' in their psychological assessment, while prosecutors said the businessman had grabbed a former partner by the neck and hit her.

The pair are said to have had a happy relationship until Thomas, who is the son of a well-known lawyer from Bern, launched his own business consulting firm called Purform in 2022.

Thomas' temperament quickly changed and the couple's picture-perfect relationship started to crumble, according to a source close to Kristina.

Former Miss Switzerland Nadine Vinzens, who was friends with Kristina, told Nau.ch: 'She always made a happy impression on me. I would never have thought that her husband would do something like that.'

Thomas had an appeal for release from custody rejected on Wednesday by the Federal Court in Lausanne after an ongoing investigation concluded today there were 'concrete indications of mental illness' underlying the case.

The businessman reportedly claimed that he killed Kristina in self-defence after she came at him with a knife.

He then reportedly said he dismembered the ex-model - with whom he has two children - 'in a panic'.

But a medical-forensic report 'contradicts his description of self-defence', according to FM1 Today.

Investigators determined that Kristina had been strangled before she died, and Thomas later confessed to strangling his wife, according to the verdict.

Prosecutors say Thomas had choked his wife at least once before he strangled her to death, local outlet BZ Basel reported.

He is also alleged to have grabbed a former partner by the neck with his hand, hit her and pushed her against a wall.

Thomas, who is a Swiss national from a wealthy family, was reportedly arrested a day after Kristina's remains were found by a 'third party' on the evening of February 13.

He and Kristina bought a semi-detached house in the affluent Binninger district just outside of Basel, where streets are lined with mansions and upscale new buildings overlooking the valley.