The woman on trial for allegedly killing her 'doppelgänger'.

A German-Iraqi woman has been accused of murdering her 'doppelgänger'. Prosecutors suggest the motive behind the callous attack was the woman's bid to fake her own death. 

In August 2022, police found a woman's body in a parked Mercedes in Ingolstadt, southern Germany.

She had suffered 50 stab wounds to her face, rendering her nearly unrecognisable. However, reports of her identity initially pointed to one name.

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Family members assumed it was the body of 23-year-old German-Iraqi beautician Shahraban K, who had been reported missing. 

However, an autopsy report the next day raised "massive doubts".

Instead, the body was later found to belong to another 23-year-old woman who some believe "looked strikingly similar" to Shahraban - a woman named Khadidja O.

Khadidja was an Algerian-born beauty blogger who also lived in Germany, not far from Shahraban. She had a large following on TikTok and Instagram, regularly sharing beauty content. 

It was via this very platform that Shahraban apparently came across Khadidja - allegedly believing they could pass as clones of one another. 

Local police have since shed light on what exactly they believe occurred.

They allege that Shahraban conspired with her boyfriend, Sheqir K, to kill Khadidja and then pass off her death as Shahraban's own. As for why she wanted to fake her own death, investigators have only publicly said that Shahraban had "family problems". 

Shahraban and Sheqir's plan was allegedly to "kill Khadidja and place her in such a way that the corpse would be mistaken for the suspect".

Police say: "[Shahraban] subsequently began to contact women who looked similar to her via several social media accounts she used and to persuade them to meet her with false promises. In this context, she chatted with several young women."

It's believed Shahraban offered the woman beauty products as a way to entice her to meet.

Shahraban K believed Khadidja O could be her 'doppelgänger'. Image: Instagram/TikTok.

The duo are alleged to have tracked down Khadidja and stabbed her more than 50 times in the face. Her body was then dumped in Shahraban's car - allegedly to make it look like it was Shahraban who had been killed. 

Prior to going into hiding, Shahraban had reportedly told her family she was going to meet her ex-husband, but when she didn't return, her family grew worried and commenced a search for her. 

It was Shahraban's family who found the car, and the body of a dark-haired young woman who had been brutally murdered. They believed it was their daughter.

Eventually police would track down Shahraban and Sheqir though, and DNA proved it was Khadidja who was deceased.

Last month the duo were arrested and charged with murder. They face life in prison if found guilty.

Police have noted that the murder weapon is yet to be found, but they claim "the burden of proof is overwhelming", the trial set to take place soon.

"You don't get a case like this every day, especially with such a spectacular twist," said the town's police spokesperson, Andreas Aichele. "On the day we found the body there was nothing to prepare us for this development."

Feature Image: Instagram/TikTok.