Just like in a film – the so-called “doppelganger murder” in Eppingen

It’s a case that seems so bizarre it could have come straight out of a bad crime film:

Since mid-January, 24-year-old Shahraben K. has been on trial at Ingolstadt District Court because, according to the public prosecutor’s office, she and an alleged accomplice, Sheqir K., allegedly killed a “double” of themselves in order to fake their own deaths and start a new life. The background was allegedly family disputes.

For a brief moment, this seemingly absurd plan even seemed to work.

When two acquaintances of the accused found a female corpse in their car in August 2022, they initially assumed that the body was that of Shahraben K due to the close resemblance.

The police and relatives also thought for a short time that the accused had been the victim of a homicide – her father even identified the body as his own daughter.

However, after discrepancies emerged during the autopsy, the investigating authorities were able to track down the accused by means of a DNA comparison, whereupon she and her alleged accomplice were arrested.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the following facts are alleged to have occurred:

The accused allegedly planned to fake her own death in order to escape the family conflict and make a fresh start with her then partner.

To this end, she allegedly searched Instagram for women who looked like her and contacted 23-year-old Khadidja O. from Eppingen. She allegedly offered the later victim of the crime a free treatment in a beauty salon if she advertised the salon.

She and her alleged accomplice then allegedly picked up the 23-year-old at home and killed her in a wooded area with more than 50 stab wounds.

They later drove to Ingolstadt and parked the car with the body there to give the police the impression that the body was that of the accused.

And that’s not all: the accused also allegedly ordered a man to kill the brother of her ex-partner, but he did not fulfil this order.

The co-defendant also allegedly tried to incite a person in custody to kill witnesses at the upcoming trial.

Initially, the two defendants, who are charged by the public prosecutor with murder (§§ 211 StGB) and incitement to murder (§§ 211 para. 2, 26 StGB), remained silent.

The trial, which began on 16 January 2024 and was delayed right from the start due to an application for a stay by the defence, could drag on for a long time – after all, more than 190 witnesses were called by the public prosecutor’s office.

After a few days of the trial, the defendant broke her silence and announced that the co-defendant was to blame and responsible – she had only been present during the offence. Sheqir K. had initially attacked and seriously injured the girl in a wooded area. She had tried to stop him. He then forced her to drive to the car park of a supermarket branch. There she left the car and he stabbed Khadidja O. to death.

The defendant’s statement contradicts the accounts given so far by the investigators and the public prosecutor’s office – the statements currently raise more questions than they answer.

It also remains to be seen whether Sheqir K. will also comment on the allegations.