Patrick M.
Introduction
Patrick M. is a 31-year-old Slovenian man who was formally charged with murder on September 21, 2026, by the Graz public prosecutor’s office in Austria over the death of his former girlfriend, the Austrian beauty influencer and makeup artist Stefanie Pieper, whose body was found days after her November 2025 disappearance hidden in a suitcase buried in a forest in Slovenia, near the Austrian border. The case drew international attention for its grim details: prosecutors allege Pieper was strangled and stabbed in her Graz apartment, and a forensic report later raised the possibility — which prosecutors themselves could not rule out — that she may have still been alive when she was placed in the suitcase and buried. Pieper, 32, was a social-media creator from Graz with a following for her makeup and lifestyle content, and her killing prompted public mourning in Austria and discussion of femicide and violence against women.
Background Information
Patrick M. was identified in Austrian and German coverage only by his first name and last initial, as is customary in German-language reporting on suspects who have not been convicted; he is reported to be Slovenian and lived in Austria. He and Stefanie Pieper were a couple for several years, according to Bild, which wrote that he apparently could not accept the end of the relationship, and the two were described in later coverage as having been in an on-off relationship after their split. The Daily Mail described him as a 31-year-old part-time security guard and, by local accounts, an unsuccessful poker player. Pieper, born around 1993, was 32 years old and lived in the Geidorf district of Graz; she worked as a beauty influencer and makeup artist, and also took modeling and photography jobs, one of which — a shoot scheduled for the day after she was last seen — is what prompted friends to raise the alarm.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Allegations, not convictions. The charge against Patrick M. — murder — was filed by the Graz public prosecutor’s office and remains unproven; he is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in court. He initially confessed to the killing but now denies the murder allegation itself, admitting only to burying the body, as described below.
Pieper was last seen alive on Sunday, November 23, 2025, after attending a Christmas party in Graz. According to reporting cited by the New York Post, after leaving the party she sent a friend a series of messages warning of “a creep in the stairwell,” and she was not seen again. She failed to appear at a photo shoot the next day — something the photographer told the Austrian outlet 5Minuten she would never have simply cancelled — and the photographer went to her apartment, found her not at home, and alerted police. According to Bild, prosecutors allege Patrick M. killed her that day in her Graz apartment, first choking her until she lost consciousness and then inflicting multiple stab and cut wounds to her neck, before transporting her body in a suitcase across the border into Slovenia and burying it, apparently in the belief that she was dead.
Her body was found about a week later, buried in a forest near the Austria–Slovenia border, and investigators said it bore severe facial injuries in addition to massive neck trauma consistent with strangulation. In March 2026, prosecutors in Graz disclosed that the autopsy could not definitively determine when Pieper died, raising the possibility that she survived the initial attack: “It is entirely possible she was still alive when she was placed in the suitcase,” Dr. Christian Kroschl, spokesman for the Graz prosecutor’s office, told Bild, adding that it was equally possible she died beforehand by strangulation. The Daily Mail also reported, citing local media, that Patrick M. first buried the suitcase in his grandmother’s garden in the Slovenian village of Trniče before later digging it up and moving it to the forest where it was ultimately found.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Patrick M. was arrested in Slovenia, in the town of Šentilj near the Austrian border, after his red Volkswagen Golf was found burned out in the parking lot of the Mond Casino there; officials said he was found in the immediate vicinity of the burning vehicle and taken into custody by Slovenian police, who reported he offered no explanation for the fire, before he was extradited to Austria. After initially remaining silent, he confessed to killing Pieper, according to Bild, and revealed the location of her body to investigators — a confession he attributed, in the account Bild described, to jealousy after the couple’s separation. His brother and stepfather were arrested on suspicion of helping him make the body disappear, but the Austrian investigation against both was dropped after prosecutors could not produce evidence supporting the suspicion, and Slovenian authorities were reportedly considering whether to open their own proceedings. The revelation in March 2026 that Pieper might have been buried alive generated fresh international headlines and, in Austria, renewed public debate over femicide; Pieper herself had used her platform to speak out against violence toward women, which her killing was widely noted to underscore.
Current Status
On Monday, September 21, 2026, the Graz public prosecutor’s office formally charged Patrick M. with murder, as first reported by Bild and picked up by the New York Post the following day. According to Bild, he now contests the murder allegation: having initially confessed to the killing, he has since walked the confession back and admits only to burying Pieper’s body, not to killing her. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of ten to twenty years or life imprisonment under Austrian law, and no trial date has been set.
Impact on Their Career/Life
For Patrick M., the murder charge ends any prospect of returning to ordinary life for the foreseeable future: he faces a possible life sentence, has been identified across international coverage as the charged killer of a well-known influencer, and his case is now headed toward trial in Austria. For Pieper’s family and followers, the charge closed a ten-month wait for formal legal movement in the case but also publicized the prosecutors’ finding that she may have survived her initial injuries, a detail that drew widespread attention and horror.
Sources
- Bild, “Mordanklage! Killer vergrub Influencerin Stefanie lebendig im Wald,” September 21, 2026 — source
- The New York Post, “Jealous ex-lover charged with murdering influencer — who may have been buried alive in suitcase,” September 22, 2026 — source
- Daily Mail, “Police say murdered beauty influencer Stefanie Pieper may have been buried ALIVE in suitcase by ex-boyfriend,” March 18, 2026 — source
- @nypost on X, “Jealous ex-lover charged with murdering influencer - who may have been buried alive in suitcase,” September 22, 2026 — source