Mystery as influencer vanishes after Christmas party as chilling phone messages uncovered

Concerns have been raised for an Austrian influencer who disappeared after heading home from a Christmas party.

Police have been frantically searching for Stefanie Pieper, 32, since she vanished last weekend following the festive bash on Saturday (22 November).

The alarm was raised after she failed to turn up to a photoshoot on Monday (24 November), prompting the worried photographer who she was supposed to work with to head to her home in Graz.

According to reports, the snapper was greeted by Stefanie's partner, a 31-year-old Slovenian man known as Peter M, who let him inside the apartment.

The photographer then called the police a short time later, who found her phone dumped in a nearby bush as they began searching the area.

The device allegedly contained a number of troubling WhatsApp messages which were sent by Stefanie shortly before she disappeared, with one describing a 'creep' who she encountered.

Police in Austria are currently searching for Stefanie Pieper (Instagram)

In one, it's reported that she told a pal that there was 'a creep in the stairwell', while she then described how this individual cut a 'dark figure' in another.

The social media star, who has over 42,000 Instagram followers, is believed to have sent the texts shortly after letting a friend know that she had arrived at her apartment building safely.

Reports claim she had left a Christmas party so that she could take her Golden Retriever for a walk early the next morning.

But Stefanie has not been seen or heard from since 7am on Sunday (23 November) - which is the same day that neighbours told cops they had heard 'loud noises' coming from her flat.

Her distraught mother, Csilla Legenstein, has offered a financial reward for information about her daughter's whereabouts.

The missing influencer messaged a pal about a 'creep' lurking in the stairwell of her apartment building (Facebook/Österreich findet euch)

In a social media post, she wrote: "My daughter has been missing since [Sunday] morning. Any helpful information will be financially rewarded. Please help me find my daughter."

In wake of Stefanie's disappearance, it has been reported that her boyfriend Peter was arrested in neighbouring Slovenia while trying to cross the border.

Police are said to his red Volkswagen Golf abandoned and burned out in the town of Šentilj - and he reportedly could not offer up an explanation as to why.

Peter was arrested by Slovenian authorities and remanded in custody, ahead of an extradition hearing. Sniffer dogs have reportedly been sent to his grandmother's home to scour the garden.

Cops have also confirmed that two other men are under investigation in relation to Stefanie's disappearance.

Stefanie is described at being around 5ft 9in, with shoulder-length, dark blonde hair and a slim build, while she also has her mother's name tattooed on her left forearm.