A 23-year-old woman is accused of killing a beauty blogger who looked like her so she could fake her own death.
It follows the discovery of a blood-soaked body in the back of a parked Mercedes in Ingolstadt, Germany, last August.
Police first thought the victim was Munich-based beautician Sharaban K after family members identified her on the body.
But autopsy reports the next day led to questions about her true identity.
The victim eventually turned out to be Khadidja O, an Algerian beauty blogger from nearby Heilbronn, who was also 23.
The two women look very similar, which is why the case is called the ‘double murder’.
“We don’t get a case like this every day, especially not with such a spectacular twist,” police spokesman Andreas Aichele told the Image newspaper.
“On the day we found the body, there was absolutely nothing to indicate it would develop like this. The crime weapon has not been found, but the evidence is overwhelming.
“The victim was killed with more than 50 blows from the knife, the face was completely disfigured.”
Investigators only discovered the alleged motive after Sharaban K, and a person named Sheqir K, were taken into police custody by the Bavarian police.
“Investigations have led us to believe that the suspect wanted to go into hiding because of a family dispute and faked her own death,” prosecutor Veronika Grieser said.
Sharaban K is said to have contacted several women who looked like her in the week before the murder.
She reportedly arranged several meetings under different aliases with other women, but all of these proved unsuccessful.
But Khadija O agreed to meet, lured by what was allegedly an offer of cosmetics.
It is alleged that Sheqir K and Sharaban K picked her up from her apartment on the day of the murder.
They then used a pretext for Khadija to get out of the car before stabbing her to death.
It is alleged that the suspects then lifted the victim into the back seat of their Mercedes and drove to Ingolstadt, where they parked the car in a quiet residential area.
The pair face life in prison if found guilty.
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