Ex-NYC model who killed hubby in shocking Fla. slay-suicide cheated on him, feared he’d divorce her: kin
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — The former Big Apple model who fatally shot her day-trader husband before turning the gun on herself feared he would divorce her after she came clean about cheating on him, his brother said Monday.
Grieving sibling Arben “Benny” Krasniqi of Scarsdale told The Post that the family picked up on several red flags about Sabrina Krasniqi, 27, who shot Arben’s younger brother, Pajtim, five times on the oceanfront balcony of their lavish Florida condo just after midnight Wednesday.
“We saw plenty of signs, and now everything makes sense,” the Westchester County resident said. “But they were in love, and never in a million years did we think something like this could happen.
“There was infidelity on her part,” the 43-year-old man said of his sister-in-law, who was originally from Queens. “She came to a point of guilt or something that she just could not take.
“My brother wanted a divorce, and she didn’t take that lightly. And she decided to take her own life and, somewhere along the line, she decided to take my brother’s life.”
Neighbors told cops after the slay-suicide that they had heard vicious fights coming from the troubled couple’s unit in the weeks leading up to horror, according to law-enforcement sources to The Post on Monday. The pair would argue on their balcony as well as in their unit, the residents said.
Benny said his 34-year-old brother, who grew up in The Bronx, was a hard-working, white-collar day trader who dabbled in real estate and cryptocurrency — “He was a genius.
“We’re all just trying to cope,” he said. “My mother’s devastated. We’ve lost someone who is so genuine, who is so loving, who is so intelligent and hard-working and just irreplaceable — and it has left the entire family devastated.
“My brother was full of life. He was full of ambition. He was full of love. And that’s all been taken away from us by a selfish act of one person. One more selfish act from [Sabrina], and [she took] my brother along with her.”
Hallandale Beach police responded to the bloody scene after the shooting triggered their local ShotSpotter system. Cops found the couple’s corpses sprawled outside their 45th-floor unit.
Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Aerial footage of the police investigation showed what looked like bullet holes in a glass door at the home, with pools of blood nearby.
A yellow tarp covered the two dead bodies, NBC 6 reported. Inside the unit sat a teddy bear and a box of roses with a heart on it, the footage showed.
In 2021, while still in New York City, Sabrina, who also went by her maiden name Sabrina Dzaferovic, was a model featured in a TV “Inside Edition” segment, according to Local 10 News.
The couple moved away from their families in New York City to the condo north of Miami about two years ago, Pajtim’s nephew said.
And each time Pajtim would return home to the Big Apple for a visit, he’d make sure to see every member of his sprawling clan, his eldest sister Ardiana said.
“He made time for everyone, and he brought us all together,” she said at the family’s home in Scarsdale.
“That’s why everyone loved him,” she said of Pajtim. “Every time he would come visit my mom and visit for holidays — any visit — he would always make sure that he visited everyone in the family before he went back.
The victim’s other sister, Albana Krasniki Munrett, said, “Our mother’s devastated.
“That’s her baby. He called her every day. He treated my mom like gold.”
Pajtim’s reverence for his family made a deep impression on the young and old, including nephew Arber Gashi, who wrote in a remembrance shared with The Post that his uncle was a “constant source of joy, strength and love.
“He had a unique gift of finding joy in the simplest of things and reminding us that life was worth celebrating,” his nephew wrote.
“He understood that true love isn’t just in grand gestures but in the little moments … the conversations, the shared memories, the quiet support that doesn’t always get recognized — but means everything.”
Benny said his charismatic baby brother was the only one of his siblings born in the United States.
About five years ago, Pajtim was in a terrible motorcycle accident, Benny added.
But in a feat of Herculean physical and mental strength, he brushed off doctors’ recommendations to amputate his leg — and instead suffered through 16 surgeries and an excruciating rehab process.
“He trained, he worked hard … and he beat all the odds, and he came home with both legs,” Benny said.
