The body of a popular social media influencer has been discovered stuffed in a suitcase in a Slovenian forest, a week after she was reported missing. Stefanie Pieper, a 31-year-old Austrian beauty influencer, was last seen after a Christmas party, while her friends and relatives had been unable to reach her after a photoshoot.

Then, on Friday, she was reportedly found dead in Slovenia after her ex-boyfriend allegedly confessed to her murder and led police to where he had hidden her body. According to the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung, she sent her friends a WhatsApp message stating that she had reached home, followed by a text in which she reported that someone had followed her and was in the stairwell of her house. Local media reported that her neighbours said they heard arguing and allegedly saw Ms Pieper’s ex-boyfriend in the building.

The influencer was last seen stepping out of a taxi with a friend outside her home in Graz, Austria’s second-largest city.

The alarm was raised when Ms Pieper failed to show up for a scheduled photoshoot. When she didn’t arrive for work, the photographer went to her apartment to check on her. He then contacted the police, who later found her phone in a nearby bush.

Ms Pieper’s former partner told police – a week after committing the crime – that he strangled her and then dumped her body in a suitcase, which was abandoned in a forest near the town of Majsperk, northeast Slovenia. It is thought that he then used his red VW Golf to transport her body across the border. Investigators then found his car burned out in a car park near the Mond Casino in Šentilj, close to the border, assumed to have been an attempt to destroy any evidence.

The man, also 31, is a nightclub security guard and initially fled to his native Slovenia but was arrested and extradited back to Austria. Two other men, thought to be the suspect’s brother and stepfather, are thought to have assisted in the crime or covered it up. The motivation behind the horrific offence is yet to be determined.

Austrian officials said: “He was found in the immediate vicinity of the burning vehicle and arrested by the Slovenian police. Extradition to Austria has been requested”.

Ms Pieper’s mum, Csilla Legenstein, had issued a desperate plea while her daughter was still missing: “My daughter has been missing since [Sunday] morning. Any helpful information will be financially rewarded. Please help me find my daughter.”