Woman Accused Of Killing Lookalike She Met Online To Fake Her Own Death
By Bill Galluccio
January 31, 2023
Authorities in Germany announced they have filed murder charges against a 23-year-old woman and her friend for killing a stranger in an attempt to fake her own death.
Officials said that the woman, who was not identified, scoured social media last summer to find somebody who looked like her. She reached out to her victim and arranged to meet in person.
When they met up, the woman and her friend allegedly murdered the stranger. They left the body in the woman's car, where her parents discovered it on August 16.
"The suspects came up with the plan to search online for a woman who looked similar to the German-Iraqi, kill her, and place her in such a way that the corpse would be mistaken for the suspect," police said in a statement.
The ruse worked initially as her parents thought their daughter was stabbed to death, but an autopsy raised doubts about the victim's true identity.
Two days later, the woman and her friend were arrested and remain in custody. Police believe the woman wanted to "go into hiding and fake her death due to family problems."
"Investigations revealed contact to several young ladies during a period of few weeks. Investigators assume that under a pretext, she managed to organize a meeting with the later victim. Together with the 23-year-old male, she traveled to the Heilbronn region to pick her up and carry out the planned murder," police spokesperson Andreas Aichele told NBC News.