A New York woman allegedly tried to murder a lookalike friend by giving her cheesecake laced with poison.
Viktoria Nasyrova, 42, a Russian native, has been charged with attempted murder, burglary, attempted assault, reckless endangerment, unlawful imprisonment, grand larceny, possession of stolen property, and larceny, PEOPLE reports.
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According to investigators, Nasyrova, who is wanted in Russia on murder charges in the 2014 death of 54-year-old Alla Aleksenko, attempted to steal the identity of her friend, Olga Tsvyk, who she allegedly looks like, by lacing a piece of cheesecake with a deadly poison.
It is alleged that on Aug. 28, 2016, Nasyrova visited Tsvyk at her home and brought her a piece of cheesecake that she had laced tainted with phenazepam, a powerful Russian-made tranquilizer. Tsvyk passed out and was discovered the following day by a friend, who said that Tsvyk was “unconscious in her bed, dressed in lingerie with pills scattered around her body — as if the woman had attempted to kill herself.”
Tsvyk was rushed to the hospital for treatment, where she told police that the last thing she remembered was seeing Nasyrova beside her. Upon being discharged from the hospital and returning home, Tsvyk “realized that her passport and employment authorization card were missing, along with a gold ring and cash,” according to a statement from Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Tests on the cheesecake showed the presence of the tranquilizer.
“This is a bizarre and twisted crime that could have resulted in the death of a Queens woman — whose only fault was that (they) shared similar features,” said Brown in the statement. “Luckily, the Queens woman survived the poisoning. The defendant has been apprehended and now faces a long term of incarceration.”
Nasyrova managed to elude authorities for a year, but was taken into police custody on March 20, 2017. She has yet to enter a plea to the charges.
