New York Woman Accused Of Poisoning Look-Alike With Cheesecake And Stealing Her Identity

A Brooklyn woman was indicted February 27 for attempting to murder her look-alike by serving her poisoned cheesecake, according to a press release from the Queens County (New York) district attorney. Viktoria Nasyrova, 42, allegedly served the sinister slice to Olga Tsuyk, then 35, in 2016 in an attempt to kill her and steal her identity.

Tsuyk told authorities that she recalls feeling sick after eating the cheesecake and attempting to lay down and said she saw Nasyrova sitting beside her on her bed before she blacked out.

Tsuyk told CBS News' 48 Hours in 2017 that Nasyrova, who looks strikingly like her, attempted to make her poisoning look like a suicide. She claims that her friends found her unconscious in bed wearing lingerie with prescription pills scattered around her. Tsuyk quickly realized that her passport, employment authorization card, and gold ring were missing, along with some money.

Homeland Security agents were able to test leftover pieces of cheesecake and determined that it was laced with the drug phenazepam, the press release explained. Nasyrova was arrested in Brooklyn in March of 2017 on other charges, and Tsuyk's passport, employment card, and ring were recovered.

According to the 48 Hours report, Nasyrova is also suspected by the NYPD of drugging men in Brighton Beach and robbing them once they passed out, including one man to whom she fed drugged fish after meeting him on a dating site.

Nasyrova, who previously had an international warrant out for her arrest for the 2014 murder of a woman in Russia, is also accused of burglary, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and grand larceny, among other charges in the 10-count indictment. She is due in court May 25, 2018. She could be imprisoned for up to 25 years if convicted.