A woman in Germany has been accused of killing her doppelganger to fake her own death, with authorities claiming she sought out a victim on social media.
Last August, police in found a body covered in blood inside a Mercedes parked up in Ingolstadt, southern Germany.
The victim was initially named as Sharaban K, a German-Iraqi beautician from Munich, after her family identified the body.
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However, a post mortem examination raised questions about the person’s identity, with the victim later confirmed as 23-year-old Khadidja O - an Algerian beauty blogger from Heilbronn, in the neighbouring German state of Baden-Württemberg.
It has now emerged that Sharaban K, also 23, is accused of plotting the scheme with a friend, having been detained by officers on 19 August last year.
Her alleged motives have now been made public by authorities, who believe she wanted to fake her own death following a dispute with her family.
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Veronika Grieser, of the Ingolstadt state prosecutor's office, said yesterday (Monday 30 January): "Investigations have led us to assume that the accused wanted to go into hiding because of a family dispute and fake her own death to that effect."
Police said the victim and Sharaban K were ‘strikingly alike’ in appearance, which has led the case to be described as the 'doppelganger murder'.
Grieser explained how the beautician had reached out to Khadidja O on social media the week before the alleged murder.
Sharaban K is said to have attempted to set up a number of meetings with the woman using various aliases, but at first failed.
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She then successfully met up with her by making a ‘cosmetics offer’, according to authorities, who say Sharaban K and her friend Sheqir K picked her up and took her to a forested area between Heilbronn and Ingolstadt, where they stabbed her to death.
As is customary within the German legal system, those involved in the case are referred to by their first names and last initial.
Police spokesperson Andreas Aichele told the German tabloid newspaper Bild: “On the day we found the body there was absolutely nothing to suggest things would develop like this. The crime weapon has not been found, but the evidence is overwhelming.
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"The victim was killed with over 50 thrusts of the knife, the face completely disfigured."
Both Sharaban K and Sheqir K face life in prison if convicted.
Topics: World News, Crime
Jess Hardiman