‘Doppelganger murder’: German woman accused of killing her lookalike in attempt to fake her own death | World News

The woman was accused of looking for a double herself on social networks and killed her, trying to fake her own death.

Authorities say Sharaban K., a 23-year-old Iraqi-born beautician from Munich, searched the internet for women who looked a lot like her before killing one of them to hide, German news outlets reported.

The case has been dubbed the “double murder” in reference to the German folk tale of a ghostly identical spirit, but the word “double” has also come to mean a twin-like stranger.

The suspect and other persons involved in the case are referred to by their first and last names, as is customary in the German legal system.

Police first discovered the blood-covered body last August in a parked Mercedes in Ingolstadt, southern Germany.

The reports initially identified the victim as Sharaban K., but the autopsy raised questions about the identity of the body.

The victim was eventually named Khadija Oh, a 23-year-old beauty blogger from neighboring Baden-Württemberg.

Police later stated that the victim and Sharaban K. were “strikingly similar” in appearance due to their physical resemblance, such as straight black hair.

On August 19, police officers detained Sharaban K. and his friend on charges of conspiracy.

The full scope of the case and their alleged motives were not made public by the authorities until this week, and it has now come to light that prosecutors believe that Sharaban K. planned to fake her death over a dispute with her family.

“The investigation led us to believe that the defendant wanted to abscond because of a family dispute and to that end faked her own death,” said Veronika Grieser of the Ingolstadt prosecutor’s office.

Ms Grieser explained that investigations uncovered several attempts by Sharaban K. to contact women on social media who she looked like in the week prior to the alleged murder.

It is alleged that she acted under false names and tried to arrange meetings with women.

Although many of these attempts were unsuccessful, she eventually managed to arrange a meeting with Khadija Oh, making a “cosmetic offer”, authorities say.

Sharaban K. and Shekir K. are suspected of capturing a woman before taking her to a wooded area between Heilbronn and Ingolstadt, after which they stabbed her to death.

Arrest warrants were issued for both women last week, and each faces life in prison if convicted.

Police spokesman Andreas Aichele told the German tabloid newspaper Bild: “The murder weapon has not been found, but the evidence is irrefutable. The victim was killed with more than 50 stab wounds and his face was completely disfigured.”