Woman on Trial for Allegedly Trying to Ki:ll Lookalike by Poisoning Her Cheesecake So She Could Steal ID
A Brooklyn woman who allegedly tried to murder a lookalike friend by giving her a cheesecake laced with a deadly poison so she could steal the woman’s identity is on trial in New York City.
Assistant District Attorney Konstantinos Litourgis told Queens jurors in opening statements Monday that 47-year-old Viktoria Nasyrova tried to murder Olga Tsvyk because “she was desperate to never return to Russia.”
“This woman concocted a cold and calculated plan to isolate Olga Tsyvk to get her alone in her room to poison her to try to kill her and to take her identity along with other valuables as well,” he said. “It was her identity she was after.”
“Evidence will show Olga Tsvyk was a pretty good lookalike for the defendant,” said Litourgis.
He said Tsvyk, who was from the Ukraine, was especially vulnerable because she had no family in the U.S. “This person was the perfect target for the defendant.”
Tsvyk, an eyelash stylist, met Viktoria Nasyrova at the salon where Tsvyk worked in 2016. Nasyrova became a customer of hers.
Litourgis said Tsvyk divulged to Nasyrova that she was getting her employment authorization card soon.
Litourgis said that in August 2016 Tsvyk received a call from Nasyrova, who claimed she had an eyelash emergency and needed to stop by her home for a quick touch-up.
Tsvyk testified Monday that Nasyrova told her, “I want to bring you some famous cheesecake from a famous bakery.’ I told her, ‘Viktoria, that’s not needed, just come over,'” she said, FOX News reported.
Tsvyk told the jury that Nasyrova ate two slices of cheesecake and left her one. Prosecutors alleged the cheesecake was laced with phenazepam — a powerful Russian-made tranquilizer.
Tsvyk said she became ill about 20 minutes later.
“I started to look to lie down on the bed,” she testified, according to FOX News. “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 said.
Litourgis alleged Nasyrova stole almost $4,000 in cash, a red purse, a ring as well as Tsvyk’s Ukrainian passport and U.S. issued employment authorization card.
She allegedly then staged the crime scene to look like a suicide.
“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 said, FOX News reported.
Litourgis said Nasyrova left her DNA on the container of cheesecake. “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,” he said.
Nasyrova’s attorney, Christopher Hoyt, told the jury that, “This is not an open-and-shut case. We are here today because Ms. Nasyrova is not guilty of these charges,” CBS News reported.
