Woman convicted of attempted murder in poison cheesecake identity theft bid
- Russian-born New Yorker Viktoria Nasyrova was found guilty of trying to kill Ukrainian Olga Tsvyk by lacing the cheesecake with a powerful sedative
- The women look alike and Nasyrova hoped to impersonate Tsvyk after killing her, the district attorney said
A Russian native living in New York City accused of feeding poisoned cheesecake to her lookalike in a bid to steal the other woman’s identity has been convicted of attempted murder, prosecutors said.
Viktoria Nasyrova, 47, was found guilty by a jury of trying to kill 35-year-old Olga Tsvyk with cheesecake laced with a powerful sedative and then stealing her passport and other valuables in August 2016, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a news release.
The two women resemble each other, with dark hair and similar skin tones, and Nasyrova hoped to impersonate Tsvyk after killing her, the district attorney said.
“The jury saw through the deception and schemes of the defendant”, Katz said. “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”.
According to prosecutors, Nasyrova brought the cheesecake to Tsvyk’s home in the Forest Hills section of Queens on August 28, 2016.
Tsvyk ate the cheesecake, felt sick and lost consciousness, prosecutors said. A friend later found her nearly comatose in bed, and she was taken to a hospital for treatment.