Featured Image Credit: CBS News
Topics: News, Crime, True crime
Amelia Jones
In a plot that sounds like it's stolen from an Agatha Christie novel, a woman has been convicted of attempted murder after poisoning her lookalike with cheesecake to steal her identity.
Russian-born Viktoria Nasyrova was convicted of attempted murder in February 2023 after giving her lookalike a drug-laced dessert in Queens, New York.
On 28 August 2016, Nasyrova contacted beautician and Ukrainian immigrant Olga Tsvyk, claiming she needed an emergency eyelash repair ahead of her departure for Mexico the following day.
Tsvyk agreed to let Nasyrova come to her house on her day off and, as an apparent 'thank you' gesture, the client arrived with some cheesecake.
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Twenty minutes after Tsvyk tried it, she started to feel unwell and lost consciousness.
When a neighbour went to check on her, Tsvyk was found unconscious in bed, surrounded by pills with the heater on full blast despite the summer heat, prosecutors said.
Tsvyk was checked into New York Presbyterian Hospital in Queens until 1 September.
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To try to get to the bottom of what happened, the hospital did tests on both her urine and blood, which came back negative for illicit substances.
When she found out that Tsvyk was unwell, her sister, Irina, flew from Ukraine to the US to be by her bedside.
Unable to fully unpack the chain of events and finding handbags and other valuables had been taken from her sister's room, Irina contacted the police.
NYPD Detective, Kevin Rodgers, interviewed Tsvyk, who told him about Nasyrova.
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He bagged the cheesecake container for evidence and testing.
It came back positive for a drug called Phenazepam, a potentially lethal sedative primarily found in Russia - and its effects are heightened by heat.
Alekseenko's daughter, Nadia Ford, hired a private investigator named Herman Weisberg to find Nasyrova in early 2017.
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He found her on Facebook, living in Sheepshead Bay, a Russian neighbourhood of Brooklyn.
The reflection in her mirrored sunglasses she wore in selfies meant Weisberg was able to find the car she drove and the apartment building she lived in.
On March 20, 2017, Weisberg alerted local police and she was arrested and taken into custody.
On 15 February 2018, Nasyrova was charged with attempted murder, pleading not guilty.
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Due to delays caused by the pandemic, her trial began in January 2023.
Nasyrova was found guilty of attempted murder, with Tsvyk saying in an interview that she finally feels she has justice.
Judge Kenneth Holder called Nasyrova an 'extremely dangerous woman' while announcing her 21-year sentence.