‘I didn’t want to do it’: Man who killed, buried Austrian influencer Stefanie Pieper inside a suitcase in a forest on the Slovenian border

Stefanie Pieper, 32, an Austrian influencer, was killed and buried in the middle of a wooded forest inside a suitcase by her ex-boyfriend Patrick M, 31. A detention hearing is underway for Patrick.

Pieper’s body was found by police after they arrested and questioned Patrick. After several rounds of interrogation, he confessed.

He claimed that the crime occurred after the two had a heated argument. Shortly before the hearing, His defence lawyer, Astrid Wagner, said, “My client says he doesn’t understand how he could have been capable of something so terrible.”

Patrick has worked as a former shipping clerk, a waiter, a part-time security guard, and a poker player, news site Kronen Zeitung reported. Wagner said, “My client is completely broken; he deeply regrets his crime.”

“He can’t understand how he could have been capable of killing the woman he loved more than anything.”

He reportedly told his lawyer, “I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to do it” repeatedly. “I was so shocked when I suddenly saw Stefi lying motionless in front of me.” He also said that he carried out the cover-up while in a trance.

He claimed that Stefanie had let him into her apartment on the day she disappeared and spent time with him.

Neighbours said that the two were separated for months, Austrian site OE24 reported. One report said that a resident heard them arguing through the window. Patrick reportedly shouted, “You’ve ruined everything and she yelled back You can leave, but first, I want my money, then you can “

According to the neighbour, “She wanted to break up, he didn’t. Then he probably thought, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can.'”

Other accounts by witnesses contradict the idea that Stfanie let her ex-boyfriend, whom she had avoided at the Christmas party the previous night, enter her apartment. Stefanie had also texted her mother, saying that she had an uneasy feeling that someone was lurking around in the stairwell.

After the killing, Patrick had wrapped Stefani’s body, put her in a suitcase and driven to a forest on the Austrian-Slovenian border. The location is an hour and a half away from her residence. He had also gone back to the apartment to pretend to be taking care of her dog when the police came.