Woman kills Instagram doppelganger to fake her own death, start new life

A 23-year-old German woman has been accused of killing her doppelganger so she could fake her own death and start a new life somewhere else.

The incident came to light last year in August, after the authorities discovered the blood-covered body of the victim in a parked car in Ingolstadt, southern Germany. The victim had been stabbed multiple times, and her face was disfigured.

Initially, the local authorities assumed that the victim was a Munich-based 23-year-old woman referred to as Shahraban K, as German privacy laws allow for the use of only first names and an initial in such cases.

Her family identified the body, but the autopsy results were not to their satisfaction and raised questions about her identity.

It was eventually discovered that the victim was an Algerian citizen named Khadidja O, who lived 100 miles away from the accused woman. Both women had similar complexions and long, straight black hair. They looked "strikingly alike," according to police.

Sharaban picked up Khadidja from her house on the day of the murder and stabbed her to death somewhere between Heilbronn and Ingolstadt.

The accused then drove to Ingolstadt with the victim still in the car. She then left the car in a quiet residential area by the banks of the Danube.

According to local media reports, the accused set up fake social media profiles to first search for her lookalikes. She zeroed in on her victim after scouring several profiles and finally setting up a meeting with the victim.

The woman carried out the crime with the help of a 23-year-old Kosovan named Sheqir K. Both of them have now been arrested in connection with the case, Ingolstadt police spokesperson Andreas Aichele told CNN.

"Investigators now assume that the suspect wanted to go into hiding due to family problems and faked her death," added the spokesperson. The police are also interviewing women whom Sharaban contacted before she ended up killing the Algerian woman.