By Tim Binnall
In a truly strange story out of Germany, authorities say that a woman killed her doppelganger in a bizarre scheme to fake her own death. The astounding case, which came to light this week, reportedly began back in August when the body of a young woman was found in the backseat of a car in the community of Ingolstadt. Based on her appearance, it was initially assumed that the victim was the owner of the vehicle, a woman identified as Sharaban K. However, a subsequent autopsy cast considerable doubt upon the identity of the person in the car, and police soon realized that they were dealing with what they later described as a "spectacular twist."
In a dramatic turn of events this week, police in Germany arrested Sharaban as well as an alleged accomplice and explained that the murder victim was, in fact, a woman identified as Khadidja O. Authorities went on to detail how the young woman had been lured to her death by the two suspects as part of a rather jaw-dropping and sinister plot. Prior to the murder, cops contend, Sharaban had repeatedly used a fake Instagram account to contact multiple women "who seemed to look similar to her" and attempted to set up a meeting with them "by making various promises." The proverbial phishing expedition ultimately led them to Khadidja, who was successfully duped into just such a get-together.
Putting their devious plan into action, police say that Sharaban and her accomplice murdered Khadidja, who is described as being "strikingly" similar in appearance to her accused killer. They proceeded to leave the young woman's body in the backseat of Sharaban's car and parked it in her neighborhood with the purpose of causing the case of mistaken identity that occurred when it was found by her parents back in August. Summing up the motive for the murder, a prosecutor in Germany mused that "the accused wanted to go into hiding because of a family dispute and faked her own death to that effect." Sharaban and her accomplice now face life in prison for Khadidja's murder, for which police say "the evidence is overwhelming."