Viktoria Nasyrova

Viktoria Nasyrova: Woman guilty of lookalike cheesecake poisoning plot

Published BBC News, 10 February 2023 By Tiffany Wertheimer

Viktoria Nasyrova (left) and Olga Tsvyk (right)

A Russian woman living in New York City has been found guilty of attempting to murder her doppelgänger in a bizarre identity-theft plot. Viktoria Nasyrova tried to kill her beautician Olga Tsvyk in 2016 by giving her a piece of cheesecake poisoned with a strong sedative. However, Ms Tsvyk survived, and when she returned from the hospital, found her identity documents had been stolen.

"This is a bizarre and twisted crime that could have resulted in the death of the Queens woman, whose only fault was that she shared similar features with the defendant. Offering a gift of a cheesecake, the defendant is alleged to have laced the dessert with a Russian drug and presented it to the unsuspecting victim," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement Wednesday. "Luckily, the Queens woman survived the poisoning. The defendant has been apprehended and now faces a long term of incarceration."

At the time, the pair looked quite similar, with dark hair and the same skin complexion, and they were both Russian speakers.

"The jury saw through the deception and schemes of the defendant," Melinda Katz, the Queens District Attorney said in a statement. "Fortunately, her victim survived and the poison led right back to the culprit," Ms Katz added.

The jury heard that in August 2016, Nasyrova, now 47, went to her beautician's house in Queens with a box of cheesecake - eating two pieces herself, and offering the third, poisoned slice to Ms Tsvyk, who was 35 at the time. She started to vomit and went to lie down.

"Before passing out, the woman's last memory was of seeing the defendant walking around her room," Ms Katz's statement said.

Ms Tsvyk's friend found her unconscious the next day, her clothes changed to lacey lingerie and pills scattered around the floor as if she had tried to take her own life.

When she finally returned home, Ms Tsvyk's Ukrainian passport and US work permit were missing, as well as jewellery and about $4,000 (£3,300) in cash, the prosecutor said during opening statements.

The cheesecake, allegedly laced with a powerful Toxin {phenazepam) only found in Russia, Nasyrova's home country.

Phenazepam, a strong sedative, was detected in remnants of the cheesecake, and the pills scattered on the floor were also confirmed to be the same drug.

Nasyrova, who lives in Brooklyn, was convicted on Thursday of attempted murder, assault and unlawful imprisonment.

This is not the first time she has been in trouble with the law.

Investigators say Nasyrova fled Russia after a murder to Sheepshead Bay, where she was arrested on March 20, 2017

In 2015, Interpol issued a red notice for her arrest over the murder of a woman in Russia a year earlier. She is accused of killing her neighbour Alla Alekseenko and stealing her life savings.

The Queens jury’s decision followed a week-and-a-half-long trial in which prosecutors said Nasyrova, 47, sloppily left her DNA all over the cheesecake box — and later blabbed about the crime in several jailhouse interviews. “The jury saw through the deception and schemes of the defendant,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement Thursday. “She laced a slice of cheesecake with a deadly drug so she could steal her unsuspecting victim’s most valuable possession, her identity. Fortunately, her victim survived and the poison led right back to the culprit.”

Nasyrova’s defense attorney had tried to kneecap the prosecution by arguing the victim, eyelash stylist Olga Tsvyk, had originally told an NYPD detective that she’d randomly chosen a piece of the dessert — meaning his client would have been playing Russian roulette when she ate the other two. But the jury didn’t buy it and found the Russian-born alleged serial poisoner guilty of attempted murder, assault, and other charges in the August 2016 crime.

Nasyrova will be sentenced next month and is facing up to 25 years in prison.

Her crimes - both alleged and convicted - were the subject of a documentary by CBS's investigative program 48 Hours in 2017. In an interview with 48 Hours from jail, Nasyrova denied trying to poison her friend.

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US media reports Nasyrova is a former dominatrix and has also been accused of drugging and robbing men she met on dating websites. To buttress their assertion that Nasyrova is fond of poisoning her acquaintances, the prosecution called Ruben Borukhov, 54, as a witness who testified that Nasryova drugged him during a date after the two met on a Russian dating app. Borukhov told jurors that he passed out after eating some drug-laden fish Nasyrova prepared for him. He testified that he doesn’t remember the following weeks, including a pair of hospital trips.

When his wits returned, Borukhov found his new watch missing and his American Express bill loaded with about $2,600 in unfamiliar charges.

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The prosecution also called the daughter of Alla Alekseenko, the Russian woman whom Nasyrova is accused of murder in 2014. The daughter, Nadezda Ford, testified that someone had rifled through her mother’s house after she died and stolen everything from the toothbrush to the family gold.

Ford said she confronted the dominatrix during a police sting following her mom’s death. Russian police arrested Nasyrova and questioned her, but later let her go.

Russian authorities eventually charged her with the murder later that year, and Interpol issued a top-priority Red Notice for her arrest when they found out Nasryrova fled the country.

The NYPD’s warrant squad finally arrested her in 2017, and with Wednesday’s verdict, it seems the raven-haired dominatrix’s luck has finally run out.

External links

• https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/woman-accused-of-poisoning-lookalike-with-cheesecake/

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