Woman Allegedly Killed Lookalike She Found on Instagram

Police say she was trying to fake her own death
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 31, 2023 3:00 AM CST
Cops: Woman Killed Lookalike She Found on Instagram
The Instagram logo is seen on a cell phone, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston.   (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

A woman trying to fake her own death found a lookalike on Instagram and murdered her, police say. Last August, a body found covered in blood in a Mercedes parked in southern Germany was identified by family as Sharaban K., a 23-year-old German-Iraqi beautician living in Munich. But questions about that identification were raised during the autopsy process, and the remains were ultimately identified as those of Khadidja O., an Algerian beauty blogger also living in Germany, the Guardian reports. Sharaban K. was detained in August along with another 23-year-old, Sheqir K., but prosecutors are just this week revealing alleged motives in what is being called the "doppelganger murder" in German media, the National reports.

"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," a prosecutor explained Monday. She allegedly found multiple lookalikes on social media and tried to arrange meetings, but was unsuccessful until Khadidja O. agreed to meet. Police say the suspect lured her with an offer of cosmetics, and then, with Sheqir K., picked her up from her apartment. They somehow got her to exit the car while in a wooded area, prosecutors say, then stabbed her to death. Sharaban K.'s parents eventually discovered the body inside the car, which belongs to their daughter, and initially identified the body as belonging to her. Police say the two women looked "strikingly alike," with long, straight black hair and similar complexions. (More Germany stories.)

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