Austrian prosecutors have formally charged a 31-year-old man, identified only as Patrick M. in line with Austrian privacy conventions, with murder and interfering with a corpse in the death of his former girlfriend, 32-year-old Stefanie Pieper. Pieper, a make-up artist and influencer with roughly 48,000 followers, was found dead inside a suitcase buried in a forest near the Austria-Slovenia border.
What Prosecutors Allege
Prosecutors say Patrick M. strangled Pieper until she lost consciousness and stabbed her multiple times inside her apartment in Graz, Austria, in November 2025, allegedly driven by jealousy following their breakup. He is then accused of placing her body in a suitcase and driving it across the border into Slovenia, where he buried it in remote woodland.
Patrick M. initially confessed to killing Pieper, telling investigators that jealousy over the breakup played a role, according to reports. He has since appeared to walk back that account, now reportedly admitting only to burying her body rather than killing her.
His brother and stepfather were also investigated on suspicion of helping transport Pieper’s body, but Austrian prosecutors have since dropped that investigation and will not be filing charges against either of them.
A Disturbing Possibility Raised by Investigators
Pieper was found with injuries to her face, leading investigators to consider whether she may have struggled to free herself from inside the suitcase. Prosecutors said in March that they could not rule this out. “It is quite possible that she was still alive when she was placed in the suitcase,” prosecutors said at the time, adding that it was equally possible she had already been killed by strangulation beforehand. An autopsy was unable to definitively establish exactly when Pieper died.
The Timeline of Her Disappearance
Pieper was last seen on November 23, leaving a Christmas party and getting out of a taxi with a friend on her way home. Shortly after, she sent a friend a message describing a “creep in the stairwell,” a detail that has taken on added significance in light of what followed.
She was scheduled to attend a photo shoot the next day but never arrived. According to the photographer, who spoke with Austrian outlet 5Minuten, her absence immediately raised concern because Pieper would never have canceled without explanation. The photographer went to her apartment and found she wasn’t there, a discovery that triggered a major search effort.
Neighbors later reported hearing a loud argument around the time of her disappearance, and a separate witness reported seeing Patrick M. leaving the building carrying an object that resembled sheets or a carpet.
Pieper’s body was discovered roughly a week after investigators believe she was killed. Her phone was later found in Graz, while Patrick M.’s red Volkswagen Golf was discovered burned near the Slovenian border.
Arrest and Extradition
Patrick M. was arrested in Šentilj, a Slovenian town near the Austrian border, before being extradited to Austria to face the murder charge, which was formally filed on Monday, according to Bild.
Remembering Stefanie Pieper
Beyond her work as a make-up artist and social media presence, Pieper had also used her platform to campaign for awareness around violence against women — a detail that has added a painful layer to how her death has been received by those who followed her work.
