A German-Iraqi woman accused of finding a doppelgänger online and then killing the woman in order to fake her own death is now on trial.
Sharaban K., as she’s referred to by German media, and her boyfriend, Shequir K., were charged with murder after they allegedly lured the victim, Khadidja O., to Ingolstadt, Germany, and stabbed her to death, People Magazine reported. The couple’s trial began on Tuesday.
Sharaban and Shequir have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors alleged that Sharaban planned to kill the doppelgänger in an effort to fake her own death, after which she planned to go into hiding to avoid her family. Relations between her and her family had reportedly grown strained after Sharaban’s failed marriage, Der Spiegel reported.
“According to the investigation, it can be assumed that the accused wanted to go into hiding due to internal family disputes and for this purpose wanted to fake her own death,” the Ingolstadt public prosecutor’s office said in late January 2023, according to Der Spiegel.
Sharaban allegedly found the 23-year-old victim on Instagram and lured her to her death using promises of a free treatment at a beauty salon. Prosecutors allege Sharaban had sought out other women using the same ruse, the BBC reported.
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The victim was allegedly picked up by Sharaban and Shequir in the southern German town of Eppingen and then driven to Ingolstadt in the German state of Bavaria. While driving, the victim was allegedly stabbed 56 times and beaten before the couple abandoned her body, and their black Mercedes, in a forest.
The similarity between Sharaban and the victim initially led her family and authorities to believe Sharaban was the dead woman in the car, but she and Shequir were arrested the next day after they were seen at a local pizzeria. After interviewing witnesses and online history, Sharaban and Shequir were charged with murder.
The pair is also suspected of attempting to hire a hitman to kill Sharaban’s ex-boyfriend’s brother. They paid the alleged hitman €5,000 to carry out the murder, but the man never killed the brother.
“It was an extraordinary case that demanded all the investigators’ skills,” a spokesman for the local police force, Andreas Aichele, told German media outlet Bild last year. “We don’t have a case like this every day — especially with such a spectacular twist. On the day we found the body, we didn’t expect it to turn out like this.”
Shequir is also accused of trying to persuade a fellow inmate to kill witnesses involved in the case, the BBC reported.
The trial began on Tuesday, but was delayed after defense attorneys argued they needed more time to examine additional documents recently submitted by the prosecution. The court is expected to rule next week on whether it will suspend the trial.