A New York woman accused of trying to kill her doppelganger friend by feeding her a poisoned cheesecake before stealing her identity allegedly left behind evidence, prosecutors said Monday.
Viktoria Nasyrova, originally from Russia, left DNA evidence all over the cheesecake box and discussed her alleged crimes in jailhouse interviews, Assistant District Attorney Konstantinos Litourgis told jurors.
“The DNA that was in that container belongs to Viktoria Nasyrova,” Litourgis said in her opening remarks. “So, in addition to everything she will hear from the civilian witnesses, she will learn that there is a container of cheesecake that she had [tranquilizer] Phenazepam on it and it 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.
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Viktoria Nasyrova, a native of Russia, allegedly gave her friend a cheesecake laced with a tranquilizer before stealing her identity, authorities said.
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“He was asked this specific question… ‘There is a woman named Olga who looks a lot like you and she said you poisoned her with a piece of cheesecake to steal her identity,'” Litourgis said.
The alleged victim in the case is Olga Tsvyk.
“Do you know what this defendant did when she was asked that question? She smiled. And do you know what her response was? ‘I can tell you I know this person. I know who you mean. I didn’t force her to eat the cheesecake.'” . .'”
Tsvyk, an eyelash stylist, testified Monday that Nasyrova had arrived at her Queens home in August 2016, claiming she needed an emergency touch-up appointment.
“She told me, ‘I’m in Brooklyn right now. I want to bring you a famous cheesecake from a famous bakery.’ I told her, Viktoria, that’s not necessary, just come over,'” Tsvyk said.
Tsvyk said Nasyrova ate two slices of cheesecake immediately upon her arrival before Nasyrova offered her a third slice that prosecutors say was laced with the Russian tranquilizer Phenazepan. Tsvyk said she started feeling sick about 20 minutes after eating the cake.
“I began to look to lie on the bed,” Tsvyk told the jury. “I started looking for a pillow. I was realizing that she was losing consciousness and I said, ‘Vika, I feel really bad.’ I started to feel very nauseous. I wanted to vomit. I started throwing up right next to my bed on the floor.”
Viktoria Nasyrova, originally from Russia, left DNA evidence all over the cheesecake box and discussed her alleged crimes in jailhouse interviews, Assistant District Attorney Konstantinos Litourgis told jurors.
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“I told her, ‘Vika, I’m going to vomit right now.’ She said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll 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.
“In this case, this defendant did everything very carefully and methodically…she not only poisoned Olga to impersonate her…she also staged her bedroom to make it look like a suicide,” Litourgis told the jury.
But Litourgis says he left his DNA on the cheesecake box and that the additional evidence also proves he 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 the man ate fish and vegetables that Nasyrova had cooked and woke up three days later in a hospital.
Olga Tsvyk fell ill after eating a slice of cheesecake that Nasyrova allegedly poisoned.
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“Her symptoms almost mirrored Olga’s,” Litourgis said, noting that her watch and cash had been stolen.
Nasyrova pleaded guilty in a separate attempted petty theft case in Brooklyn Supreme Court in 2019, following allegations that she drugged and robbed men she met on dating apps. She is also charged with drugging and killing her neighbor in Russia, setting her body on fire and fleeing to New York.
But his attorney, Christopher Hoyt, told jurors that the current case was not as “open and shut” as prosecutors claim.
Nasyrova faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder, robbery and other charges.
