By Gina Martinez
A Brooklyn woman was indicted on a charge of poisoning the cheesecake she gave to her Forest Hills look-alike, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
On Aug. 28, 2016, Sheepshead Bay resident Viktoria Nasyrova, 42, visited the Forest Hills home of her friend, 35-year-old Olga Tsuyk, presenting her a with slice of cheesecake as a gift, the DA said. Nasyrova strongly resembles Tsuyk. Both have dark hair, the same skin complexion and can speak Russian.
According to Brown, after Tsuyk ate the cheesecake, she began to feel sick and lay down. Tsuyk’s last memory before passing out was Nasyrova sitting beside her inside her home, the DA said.
The victim’s friend found her unconscious in her bed the next day, dressed in lingerie with pills scattered around her body, set up to look as if she tried to kill herself, he said. Tsuyk was taken to a hospital for treatment.
When she was discharged from the hospital and returned home, Tsuyk realized that her passport and employment authorization card were missing, along with a gold ring and cash, the DA said. Homeland Security tested pieces of cheesecake that remained in its container and confirmed that the sweet treat was laced with the drug phenazepam, a tranquilizer. The pills found on the floor were tested by the FBI and turned out to be phenazepam, Brown said.
When Nasyrova was arrested March 20 last year, police found Tsuyk’s ring, passport and employment card, the DA said.
Brown called this crime bizarre and twisted.
“This crime could have resulted in the death of a Queens woman, whose only fault was that she shared similar features with the defendant,” he said. “Offering a gift of a cheesecake, the defendant is alleged to have laced the dessert with a Russian drug and presented it to the unsuspecting victim. Luckily, the Queens woman survived the poisoning. The defendant has been apprehended and now faces a long term of incarceration.”
Viktoria Nasyrova, was arraigned Feb. 28 in Queens Supreme Court on a 10-count indictment charging her with second-degree attempted murder, burglary, attempted assault, assault, endangerment, unlawful imprisonment, grand larceny, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, Brown said. She is currently being held without bail.
According to CBS News reports, this is not Nasyrova’s first poisoning. Nasyrova reportedly was suspected by police of drugging and robbing men in Brighton Beach that she met on dating apps. According to CBS, police discovered an international warrant for her arrest in the 2014 murder of a woman in Russia.
Nasyrova’s next court date is May 25. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmart
