A German beauty blogger has been accused of murdering a lookalike to fake her own death.
The 24-year-old German-Iraqi influencer, referred to as Shahraban K, is alleged to have stabbed the victim Khadidja O more than 50 times, leaving her face completely disfigured.
Shahraban had reached out to several similar looking women through a fake Instagram account, in order to arrange a potential meeting, prosecutors believe.
She eventually contacted Khadidja, who was also a beauty blogger, and is thought to have lured her to Ingolstadt, Bavaria, in August 2022 under the pretence of selling beauty products.
Local German reports claim the defendant had sought to go into hiding by faking her own death, following a family dispute.
Shahraban’s boyfriend Sheqir K, along with a friend, have also been accused of being accomplices.
"It has been confirmed that the accused had contacted several women via Instagram before the act who seemed to look similar to her," Attorney General Veronika Grieser told German newspaper Bild.
"It can be assumed that the suspect wanted to go into hiding, due to internal disputes with her family, and fake her own death."
Following the murder, Khadidja was left on the backseat of her Mercedes near the Danube river.
A number of knives had been found near the murder location, but police have not yet uncovered the murder weapon.
“The murder weapon has still not been found, but the burden of proof is overwhelming,” police spokesman Andreas Aichele said in a statement.
“The victim was killed with more than 50 stab wounds and her face was badly injured.
“That was brutal in the extreme.”
Shahraban’s parents had initially identified the victim as their daughter, but a later autopsy raised suspicions about her identity.
Shahraban and Sheqir were arrested shortly after DNA samples revealed the victim to be
Khadidja.
“We don’t have a case like this every day – especially with such a spectacular twist,” added Aichele.
“On the day we found the body, we didn’t expect it to develop like this.”