22 June 2022, Lower Saxony, Salzgitter: Candles, flowers and figurines in memory of a slain 15-year-old lie at a crime scene on a green area on Hans-Böckler-Ring. After the discovery of a dead 15-year-old girl in Salzgitter, two young people are considered urgent suspects. It is a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old, the prosecutor's office Braunschweig announced on Wednesday. Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa (Photo by Julian Stratenschulte/picture alliance via Getty Images)
A 24-year-old German-Iraqi woman has been jailed amid accusations of killing a look-a-like to fake her own death, per The Washington Post.
Local police and prosecutors say the parents of the accused found a bloodied body in their daughter’s car on Aug.16, 2022. At first, they believed the deceased woman was their daughter, identified as Shahraban K. by German newspaper Bild. The parents traveled to Ingolstadt from Munich after Shahraban stopped answering their calls.
Turns out, the deceased person was 23-year-old Khadidja O., an Algerian woman Shahraban found on social media. Below is a video posted by the victim about a week before her death.
@khadija2299 #foryouuuuuuuuuuuuu ♬ áudio dablvz – youcausemebutterflies
Shahraban and her accused accomplice and boyfriend, Sheqir K, have been in police custody since August, when they were 23. However, a local district court issued arrest warrants for murder last week. If convicted, the pair faces life in prison.
Initially, police determined Shahraban was a “victim of a violent crime,” but officials ditched that theory soon after. The fingerprints and DNA collected from the deceased body didn’t match Shahraban’s.
In a press conference, police spokesperson Andreas Aichele said officials also learned about rumors of locals spotting the ‘missing woman’ driving around the Ingolstadt area.
Per Google Translate, Andreas Aichele told Bild:
“It was an extraordinary case that required all the investigator’s skills. 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 develop like this.”
As their investigation developed, police found that Shahraban used social media to locate a doppelganger. Moreover, the victim Khadidja wasn’t the first or only person Shahraban contacted, Attorney General Veronika Grieser confirmed to Bild.
“It has been confirmed that the accused had contacted several women via Instagram before the act who seemed to be of a similar type to her,” AG Grieser said.
Shahraban allegedly used fake Instagram accounts to search the platform for look-a-likes. Police say she spoke with several young women after initiating chats with them.
AG Grieser explained a possible motive involving Shahraban’s family to Bild.
“After the investigation, it can be assumed that she wanted to go into hiding due to internal family disputes and fake her own death.”
At the beginning of August, Shahraban arranged a meeting with Khadidja for Aug. 16. When the day came, Shahraban and Sheqir traveled from Ingolstadt to Heilbronn, about a 2.5-hour drive to pick up Khadidja. But instead of driving to their agreed destination, the accused killers drove back towards Ingolstadt.
AG Grieser says the couple opted for a wooded area along the way as the crime scene. According to Bild, Khadidja was lured out of the car under a planned pretext and stabbed over 50 times.
The investigation is ongoing.
