'Doppelganger murder': Woman accused of killing Instagram lookalike in plot to fake her own death
A 23-year-old woman searched for a lookalike on Instagram and killed her with a friend in order to stage her own death, prosecutors and police in Germany say.
MAINZ, Germany — A family dispute, a missing woman, and a body that had been stabbed to death found in the woman's car by her parents: These things, authorities in Germany now say, are not as they once seemed.
Far from being the victim, the woman who had been missing had instead found a lookalike on Instagram and killed her with a friend in order to stage her own death and "start a new life," prosecutors and police in Bavaria now say. The case has been dubbed the “doppelganger murder” by local media.
Arrest warrants on suspicion of murder have now been issued for the woman and her friend, police in the southern city of Ingolstadt, around 50 miles north of the regional capital, Munich, announced Monday. The pair have been in custody since days after the body was discovered.
"I can confirm that the accused 23-year-old female obviously planned to start a new life due to family problems," police spokesperson Andreas Aichele told NBC News. She had set up several social media accounts "to find any persons looking as similar to her as possible,"Aichele said.
"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," Aichele added.
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