Female boxer ‘arrested on suspicion of beating 61-year-old husband to death’

Viviane Obenauf (left) fighting Katie Taylor at Manchester Arena in 2016

Credit: Andrew Couldridge/ Action Images via Reuters

A leading woman boxer has been arrested in Switzerland on suspicion of killing her husband, according to reports on Monday.

Viviane Obenauf, a three-time challenger for world boxing titles, is reportedly being held on suspicion of beating her husband to death with a blunt object. The 34-year-old Ms Obenauf was born in Brazil but is a long-term resident of Switzerland. 

Her husband, a 61-year-old Swiss restaurateur named only as Thomas F under local privacy laws, was found dead at his Des Alpes restaurant in Interlaken in October. He had suffered trauma from a blunt instrument and his injuries suggested a “sustained violent assault”.

Ms Obenauf has been in custody for a month but has only now been identified as the chief suspect in her husband’s death. Suspects are not generally named under Swiss law and prosecutors have refused to comment on her identity, but Switzerland’s Blick newspaper claimed to have confirmed it from three independent sources.

The killing took place in the Alpine town of Interlaken

Credit: Eddie Mulholland

Ms Obenauf married Thomas F, a popular local figure in Interlaken, in January. Despite the 30-year age difference friends described them as a “happy couple”. But Ms Obenauf reportedly moved out of their shared apartment to the nearby village of Oberried three weeks before her husband’s death.

Local residents told Blick police arrived at her home in the village in four unmarked cars on November 9 and questioned her inside for several hours.

She was reportedly remanded in custody for three months on November 12. According to Blick, witnesses saw her taken to the hearing in the nearby town of Thun.

Ms Obenauf was born in Rio de Janeiro and grew up in the Brazilian city of Juiz de Fora. She started boxing in 2004 at the age of 18 and turned professional in 2014. She challenged for the IBO female lightweight title in 2017, the IBF female super featherweight title in 2018, and the IBO female super featherweight title in 2019.

She has a nine-year-old son from a previous relationship.