Viktoria Nasyrova is a woman living in New York City who attempted to murder a rival by giving her a poisoned cheesecake. According to police reports Viktoria Nasyrova, who works as a dominatrix, attemted to kill her rival by giving her a cheesecake that had been poisoned with a Russian tranquilliser Phenazepan.
After eating two pieces of the cheesecake Olga Tsvyk began to feel real sick and would eventually collapse. Viktoria Nasyrova would put pills around Olga Tsvk body to make it appear she had died from a fatal overdose. Viktoria Nasyroya would then steal Olga Tsyk identification before fleeing.
Thankfully Olga Tsvk would survive the bizarre murder attempt and tell her story to police. Turns out besides leaving the poison cheesecake Viktoria Nasyroya also left behind all kinds of DNA. Now the trial for Viktoria Nasyrova trial is beginning and if convicted may spend up to 25 years behind bars.
Viktoria Nasyrova More News
A New York woman accused of attempting to kill her doppelganger friend by giving her a poisoned cheesecake before stealing her identity allegedly left evidence behind, the prosecutor said Monday.
Viktoria Nasyrova, a Russian native, left DNA evidence all over the cheesecake box and spoke about her alleged crimes in jailhouse interviews, Assistant District Attorney Konstantinos Litourgis told jurors.
“The DNA that was on that container belongs to Viktoria Nasyrova,” Litourgis said in his opening statements. “So on top of everything you’re going to hear from civilian witnesses, you’re going to learn that there’s a cheesecake container that had [tranquilizer] Phenazepam in it and also had the defendant’s DNA on it.”
Media interviews Nasyrova gave after her arrest will also be a focus during the trial, the prosecutor said.
“She was asked this specific question … ‘There is a woman named Olga who looks a lot like you who said that you poisoned her with a piece of cheesecake in order to steal her identity,’” Litourgis said.
The alleged victim in the case is Olga Tsvyk.
“You know what this defendant did when she was asked that question? She smiled. And you know what her answer was? ‘I can tell you I know this person. I know who you mean. I did not force her to eat the cheesecake.’”
Tsvyk, an eyelash stylist, testified Monday that Nasyrova had arrived at her home in Queens in August 2016, claiming she needed an emergency touch-up appointment.
“She told me, ‘I’m right now in Brooklyn. I want to bring you some famous cheesecake from a famous bakery.’ I told her, Viktoria, that’s not needed, just come over,'” Tsvyk said.
Tsvyk said Nasyrova ate two slices of cheesecake immediately after her arrival before Nasyrova offered her a third slice that prosecutors say was laced with Russian tranquilizer Phenazepan. Tsvyk said she began to feel sick about 20 minutes after eating the cake.
“I started to look to lie down on the bed,” Tsvyk told the jury. “I started to look for a pillow. I was realizing that I was losing consciousness and I said to her, ‘Vika, I’m feeling really bad.’ I started feeling very nauseous. I wanted to vomit. I started to vomit right by my bed onto the floor.”
“I told her, ‘Vika, I’m going to throw up right now.’ She said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I will clean it up.’ I remember she went to the bathroom and came back with Bounty,” Tsvyk continued.
Prosecutors claim Nasyrova then stole Tsvyk’s passport, cash and other belongings, and tried to make the incident look like a suicide attempt by scattering pills around the victim’s body.
“Everything was done in this case very carefully and very methodically by this defendant … not only did she poison Olga in order to impersonate her … she also staged her bedroom to make it look like suicide,” Litourgis told the jury.
But Litourgis says she left her DNA on the cheesecake box and that additional evidence also proves she tried to kill Tsvyk.
Another witness the prosecution intends to call during the trial is a man who claims Nasyrova drugged him after they met on a Russian dating site in 2016.
Litourgis said that man ate fish and veggies Nasyrova had cooked, and that he woke up three days later in a hospital.
His symptoms almost mirrored that of Olga’s,” Litourgis said, noting that the man’s watch and cash had been stolen.
Nasyrova pleaded guilty in a separate case to attempted petit larceny in Brooklyn Supreme Court in 2019, following allegations she drugged and robbed men she met on dating apps. She is also accused of drugging and killing her neighbor in Russia, torching the body and fleeing to New York.
But her attorney, Christopher Hoyt, told jurors the current case was not as “open and shut” as prosecutors claim.
Nasyrova faces up to 25 years in prison if she is convicted of attempted murder, burglary and other charges.
Viktoria Nasyrova Guilty
Viktoria Nasyrova gave her beautician, Olga Tsvyk, a slice of poisoned cheesecake on 28 August 2016 before stealing her passport and work permit.
As she learned her fate, Nasyrova, 47, directed an expletive at the judge at the court in the borough of Queens.
A prosecutor called her a “ruthless and calculating con artist”.
Viktoria Nasyrova “is going to prison for a long time for trying to murder her way to personal profit and gain”, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said on Wednesday.
The jury heard that on the day of the attempted murder, Nasyrova went to Ms Tsvyk’s house in Queens with a box of cheesecake – eating two pieces herself, and offering the third, poisoned slice to the then-35-year-old victim.
The eyelash stylist started to vomit and went to lie down. She suffered hallucinations and came close to having a heart attack.
Ms Tsvyk’s friend found her unconscious the next day, her clothes changed to lacy lingerie and pills scattered around the floor as if she had tried to take her own life.
She was taken to hospital, and when she eventually returned home her Ukrainian passport and US work permit were missing as well as jewellery and about $4,000 (£3,300) in cash.
At the time, Ms Tsvyk and Nasyrova looked quite similar, with dark hair and the same skin complexion. They were both Russian speakers.
Phenazepam, a powerful sedative, was detected in remnants of the cheesecake, and the pills strewn on the floor were confirmed to be the same drug.
Viktoria Nasyrova, who lived in Brooklyn, was convicted in February of attempted murder, assault and unlawful imprisonment.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder, according to the New York Post, described Nasyrova on Wednesday as “an extremely dangerous woman” who had concocted a “diabolical” scheme to prey on a friend.
She will be supervised by the court for five years after her release from prison
Ms Tsvyk was allowed to speak in court before the sentence was read.
“It was easy for her to steal. It was easy for her to kill,” she said, according to the Post.
This was not the first time Viktoria Nasyrova has landed in trouble with the law.
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 and stealing her life savings.
Viktoria Nasyrova, who US media reports is a former dominatrix, has also been accused of drugging and robbing men she met on dating websites.
Viktoria Nasyrova Now
DIN: 23G0320
Race/Ethnicity:
Date of Birth:
(age):
WHITE
12/15/1975
49 years old
Custody Status:
IN CUSTODY
Housing / Releasing Facility:
BEDFORD HILLS
County of Commitment:
QUEENS
Date Received (original):
06/15/2023
Date Received (current):
06/15/2023
Admission Type:
NEW COMMITMENT
Aggregate Minimum Sentence
18 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days
Aggregate Maximum Sentence
21 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days
Earliest Release Date
03/16/2035
Earliest Release Type
PAROLE ELIGIBILITY DATE
Parole Interview Date
11/2034
Parole Interview Type
INITIAL RELEASE APPEARANCE
Parole Eligibility Date
03/16/2035
Conditional Release Date
03/16/2035
Maximum Expiration Date
03/16/2038