Marc Rieben, 43, is currently on trial in Switzerland for the murder of his wife, Kristina Joksimovic, a former Miss Switzerland finalist. As first highlighted by LADbible, the case has gripped the public not only for its gruesome details but for what the couple’s young children have since told police. Their eldest daughter, now six, told authorities of her father: “He’s lying, he’s lying, he’s lying.”
Rieben is charged with both murder and the desecration of his wife’s body. The court has heard that he allegedly dismembered Joksimovic’s head, soaked her remains in bleach for hours, and then used a blender to puree them in an attempt to dispose of the evidence. Her father later discovered what remained. Rieben then reportedly took his two young children out for dinner the same evening, acting as if nothing had happened.
When the children, who were aged two and four at the time of their mother’s death, were eventually told the truth, the reaction was immediate. A representative for the children told the court they were informed their mother was in heaven, that their father was in prison, and that the police believed he was responsible. Upon hearing her father’s claim that he did not mean to kill her mother, the eldest daughter told police: “He lied to me when he picked us up. He said he didn’t know where Mummy was.”
The court has heard from an expert who says he has never seen anything like it
A court expert, Professor Frank Urbaniok, testified that Rieben showed “almost meticulous precision” in both the planning and cover-up of the alleged crime. Urbaniok, who has served as an expert witness for 33 years across 5,000 cases, told the court: “I have seen many people who have committed homicides against intimate partners. But I have never seen anything like this before.” The court also heard that Rieben has been diagnosed with narcissistic traits and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In a statement delivered in court, Rieben addressed his wife’s family directly. “I have caused my family immeasurable suffering. Why? Why did I fail? Why couldn’t I prevent it? Why couldn’t I stop her from dying at my hands? I loved my wife with all my heart and believed in a future together,” he said. He added: “It haunts me day and night. What I did is absolutely unforgivable, and I take full responsibility. I deeply regret it, and I apologise.”
As part of his apparent display of remorse, Rieben made a payment of £94,218 to his children and his wife’s parents, stating he hoped they could use it to “do something that brings some lightness into your lives.” When the judge questioned why the payment had not come earlier, given that proceedings had been ongoing for years, Rieben claimed it was the first opportunity he had to address the bereaved. He insisted the gesture was made regardless of the court’s eventual verdict. High-profile cases involving partners convicted of violence, including a Love Is Blind Argentina star sentenced to 15 years for attempted murder, have drawn renewed attention to patterns of domestic abuse that courts are increasingly confronting across the world.
The lawyer representing the children told the court that while both parents loved their daughters, they held fundamentally conflicting views on how to raise them. “The defendant wanted absolute control, the victim wanted to explain they were separating as simply as possible in a way that wouldn’t break their hearts, but now their hearts are breaking every day,” she said. She added that the children are now aware their father killed their mother and will likely learn more details as they grow older. A pattern of men accused of killing intimate partners and then maintaining a facade of normalcy has appeared in a number of recent cases, among them a Florida politician allegedly murdered by her husband who was reportedly texting her colleagues the following morning to cover his tracks.
The children are currently being cared for by their mother’s parents and, according to their representative, will require years of therapy to process what has happened to them.
Published: May 5, 2026 06:45 pm