Trial Begins for Woman Accused of Finding Doppelgänger on Instagram, Then Killing Her in Twisted Plot

Sharaban K., a German-Iraqi woman, and her boyfriend allegedly brought the victim to the woods and stabbed her to death

• The woman and her boyfriend are charged with murder on accusations they lured the victim to a forest and stabbed her to death

• The female suspect allegedly searched Instagram for a lookalike, and then met the victim after promising her a cosmetics kit

• Authorities say the female suspect wanted to fake her own death to escape from family disputes stemming from her failed marriage

The German-Iraqi woman accused of killing her doppelgänger in August 2022 as part of a plot to fake her own death is now on trial in Germany.

The woman, identified in German outlets as Sharaban K., was charged with murder along with her boyfriend, Shequir K., after authorities claimed they drove the victim, Khadidja O., to a forest in Ingolstadt and stabbed her to death, according to previous reports.

Sharaban and Shequir went on trial Tuesday in district court, according to reports from the BBC, Deutsche Welle and AFP.

The BBC reported that Sharaban, from Munich, had allegedly searched Instagram for women who liked her before finding Khadidja, an Algerian beauty blogger who lived in Eppingen.

Related: Woman Allegedly Used Social Media to Find and Kill Doppelgänger So She Could Fake Her Own Death

Authorities alleged that Sharaban K. sent the victim messages about makeup before allegedly luring her to meet by promising her a cosmetics kit, according to reports.

Authorities alleged that Sharaban wanted to fake her death in an attempt to escape from family disputes that stemmed from her failed marriage, Der Spiegel reported.

Sharaban is accused of abandoning her car in the woods with the victim’s body inside, the outlets reported.

When Sharaban’s family found her car, they initially believed that the body inside was hers, Deutsche Welle reported, before police discovered it was someone else.

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Deutsche Welle, the BBC and AFP also reported that the pair of defendants are also accused of hiring a hitman to kill Sharaban’s brother-in-law.

"It was an extraordinary case that demanded all the investigators' skills," a spokesman for the local police force, Andreas Aichele, told Bild at the time. "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."

According to reports, trial proceedings were delayed after defense attorneys requested a suspension, claiming that the prosecution had only recently submitted additional documents. The court is expected to rule on whether to delay the trial next week, the BBC reported.

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