German-Iraqi woman allegedly kills doppelganger to fake her own death

A German-Iraqi woman allegedly killed her doppelganger in order to fake her death. The bizarre murder story circled world news on Tuesday.

The woman, identified as 23 year old Sharaban K., allegedly scoured through Instagram to search for a doppelganger as part of a plan to stage her death.

Sharaban, a beauty blogger and web influencer based in Munich, came across the profile of another beauty blogger, a 23 year old Algerian woman named Khadidja O. Khadidja lived in Eppingen, about 160 kilometres away from Sharaban.

Authorities said Sharaban sent Khadija several messages promising her a cosmetics kit, luring Khadija into meeting her.

On the day of the alleged murder, Sharaban and her boyfriend, Sheqir K., reportedly picked up Khadija in their car, drove her into a forest, and stabbed her to death, German media reported. They then left her body in the car outside of Sheqir’s flat in the city of Ingolstadt.

Prosecutors said Sharaban told her family that she was meeting with her estranged husband Ingolstadt, The UK Times reported. Her parents went to look for her in the area, and they then found the car with Khadija’s body inside.

Due to their similar appearances, Sharaban’s parents thought the body was that of their daughter, and that the estranged husband had murdered her.

However, an autopsy revealed that the body was that of 23 year old Khadidja O.

Police then searched through Sharaban’s social media activity and found that she had set up a number of fake Instagram accounts to contact women who looked like her.

It’s still not entirely clear what Sharaban’s motives for her horrific crime were, however, German media has suggested that she was trying to escape from family issues.

Sharaban and Sheqir were initially arrested for manslaughter, and they face life sentences if they are convicted of murder.