German Woman Accused of Killing Lookalike to Fake Her Own Death

A 23-year-old German-Iraqi beautician was detained in August over the murder of a lookalike she tracked down over Instagram and killed in order to fake her own death, authorities said. They believe the suspect did it to escape a “family dispute.” When the body was found in a vehicle in Ingolstadt last year, it was initially identified as that of the beautician, Sharaban K. Doubts surfaced following an autopsy, however, and the body was eventually re-identified as that of Algerian beauty blogger Khadidja O. (German legal cases customarily will refer to victims and accused by their first names and an initial.) “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 spokesperson for the Ingolstadt state prosecutor’s office said Monday, according to The Guardian. Sharaban is believed to have lured Khadidja in with a cosmetics offer after unsuccessfully attempting to contact several other women over social media. Once Khadidja drove out to meet her, however, Sharaban and an accomplice, 23-year-old Sheqir K., allegedly stabbed the Algerian more than 50 times.