Beauty Influencer Stefanie Pieper May Have Been Buried Alive
Austrian beauty influencer Stefanie Pieper, 32, may have been buried alive by her ex-boyfriend after a violent altercation at her home in Graz, according to prosecutors. Patrick M., 31, has confessed to strangling Pieper in late November before disposing of her body in a suitcase — but forensic experts say they cannot confirm she was already dead when she was buried.
What the Forensic Report Found
An autopsy revealed severe neck trauma consistent with strangulation, as well as significant facial injuries. However, forensic experts were unable to determine the precise time of death — raising the possibility that Pieper was still alive, or only unconscious, when she was placed in the suitcase.
Dr. Christian Kroschl, spokesman for the Graz public prosecutor's office, told the German newspaper BILD that "it is entirely possible she was still alive when she was placed in the suitcase."
How the Crime Unfolded
According to local media reports, Patrick M. drove around for several hours after the attack before packing Pieper's body into a turquoise suitcase — the same one she used for beauty and modeling work. He reportedly folded down the rear seat of his car to fit it inside.
He initially buried her in the garden of his grandmother's home in Trniče, Slovenia, before later digging up the body and moving it to a secluded location in a nearby forest.
Her Final Messages
Pieper had been at a holiday gathering the night before she disappeared. Friends raised the alarm when she failed to show up for a scheduled modeling shoot the following day. Police arrived at her apartment to find her dog, a Golden Retriever named Marlow, alone inside, and her phone switched off.
Her phone was later recovered discarded in nearby bushes. Investigators subsequently uncovered her final WhatsApp messages to a friend, sent as she returned home that evening.
"There's a creep in the stairwell," she wrote, describing a "dark figure" she had spotted near the entrance to her building. Those were the last words anyone received from her.
Neighbors later told police they had heard loud noises coming from her apartment that same morning.
The Arrest
A photographer booked to work with Pieper became concerned when he could not reach her and went to her building, where he unexpectedly encountered her on-off partner. Unsettled by the interaction, he immediately contacted police.
Patrick M. was arrested in Slovenia after authorities found him near his burned-out red Volkswagen Golf in the parking lot of the Mond Casino in Šentilj, just across the Austrian border. He offered no explanation for why the vehicle was on fire. Extradition to Austria was subsequently granted.
The Defense
Patrick M. is being represented by attorney Astrid Wagner, who is best known for previously defending Josef Fritzl — the Austrian man convicted in 2009 of holding his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years. Wagner told the Regional Criminal Court in Graz in December that her client is "completely broken" and that the killing followed an argument between the two. She said he loved Pieper and cannot explain what happened.
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