A Russian fugitive with a taste for expensive furs has been accused of poisoning her look-alike with a cheesecake and then stealing her identity and other property and hiding out in the United States.
Viktoria Nasyrova was arraigned Tuesday on a 10-count indictment including charges of attempted murder, burglary, assault and others.
The 42-year-old was arrested March 20, 2017 in Brooklyn after finally being tracked down due to her latest alleged crime. Her lawyer declined to comment on the charges.
Nasayrova is also accused of fleeing to New York in 2014 after allegedly killing another woman and seducing the lead detective in her prosecution.
Viktoria Nasyrova was arraigned Tuesday on a 10-count indictment including charges of attempted murder, burglary, assault and others
The 42-year-old was arrested March 20, 2017 in Brooklyn after finally being tracked down due to her latest alleged crime. Her lawyer declined to comment on the charges
Nasayrova is also accused of fleeing to New York in 2014 after allegedly killing another woman, Alla Alekseenko, and then seducing the lead detective in her prosecution
Prosecutors say Nasyrova visited the Queens home of the fellow Russian speaking victim Olga Tsvyk in 2016 bearing a cheesecake tainted with phenazepam, a powerful Russian-made tranquilizer.
The 35-year-old victim, who bares a striking resemblance to Nasayrova, ate the cheesecake, became ill and passed out, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors say Nasyrova visited the Queens home of the fellow Russian speaking victim Olga Tsvyk in 2016 bearing a cheesecake tainted with phenazepam, a powerful Russian-made tranquilizer
She was found the next day on her bed unconscious and dressed in lingerie with pills scattered about as if she tried to kill herself.
The victim later realized her passport, employment card, a gold ring and cash were missing.
If convicted, Nasyrova faces up to 25 years in prison.
Nasayrova is also wanted in Russia for the slaying of a Alla Alekseenko, 54, whose remains were found burned and buried two miles from her home in Krasnodar.
The victim’s body was spotted in the front seat of Nasyrova’s car by traffic cameras, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed when she was arrested in 2017. Investigators said she was motivated by money.
The victim’s daughter, Nadezda Ford, said she got a text message purporting to be from her missing mother shortly after her mother’s disappearance saying: ‘Sweetie, don’t worry about me, I’ll notify you about where I am soon enough.’
But the message came after traffic camera footage appeared to show her mother dead in Nasyrova’s passenger seat on the day she disappeared, October 5, 2014.
Nasayrova is also wanted in Russia for the slaying of a Alla Alekseenko (pictured left and right with her daughter Nadezda Ford), 54, whose remains were found burned and buried two miles from her home in Krasnodar
The victim’s body was spotted in the front seat of Nasyrova’s car by traffic cameras, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed when she was arrested in 2017. Investigators said she was motivated by money
The victim’s daughter, Nadezda Ford, said she got a text message purporting to be from her missing mother shortly after her mother’s disappearance saying: ‘Sweetie, don’t worry about me, I’ll notify you about where I am soon enough.’ But the text came after the time-stamped security footage
Once settled into her home in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, police said she enjoyed a lavish lifestyle of diamonds and furs, paid for by the men she lured into her life. Pictured is her Brooklyn apartment block
Alekseenko’s body was found months later, and investigators found $17,000 in cash and jewelry missing from her home.
She has denied any part in the Alekseenko murder.
Nasayrova was allegedly able to escape Russia by having sex with a local police officer. By November that year she had moved to New York.
Once settled into her home in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, police said she enjoyed a lavish lifestyle of diamonds and furs, paid for by the men she lured into her life.
She allegedly drugged and robbed each male before moving onto her next target.
Nasayrova was eventually tracked down last year by a private detective Herman Weisberg, who was approached by Ford after she learned her mother’s suspected killer was living near to her in Brooklyn.
‘A Good Samaritan who knew the daughter of the murdered Russian woman got in touch with me and told me the story,’ Weisberg told DailyMail.com. ‘She offered to pay whatever cost for me to track her down and bring her to justice.’
Ford ‘was living in fear of this woman, had already moved once and was heartbroken over the loss of her mother,’ said Weisberg.
The intrepid detective discovered that Nasyrova was still regularly using Facebook under a different name, and found her secret profile.
Nasayrova was eventually tracked down last year by a private detective Herman Weisberg, who was approached by Ford after she learned her mother’s suspected killer was living near to her in Brooklyn
‘After poring over pictures I realized the stitching on the leather car seat in one of her selfies was unique to a high-end Chrysler. I then had my surveillance team scour Sheepshead Bay until we found the vehicle,’ the gumshoe said.
The team found the vehicle, a Chrysler 300, and began a stakeout. Weisberg’s discovery paid off – they’d located the mysterious fugitive.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce said: ‘She’s a con artist who meets people online through a dating site and then drugs them at some point, and takes their property from them and flees’.
She was arrested by the NYPD Warrant Squad on an open warrant for the alleged seduction robberies after Weisberg alerted investigators to her location, since Russia doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
‘She embarked on a life of crime here, and we don’t have the whole story yet. We only have bits and pieces’, Boyce added.
‘What’s incredible is that Nasyrova wasn’t living like she was on the lam – we pictured her out shopping for a 50-inch widescreen TV,’ said Weisberg.
‘We think she was empowered by her previous arrest for shoplifting, which didn’t pick up the fact she wanted by Interpol for this murder.’
Nasyrova was arrested in May of 2016 for stealing two furs worth $532 from a Century 21, but wasn’t flagged as an international fugitive at the time.
‘It would have made her feel like she had slipped the net,’ said Weisberg. ‘Not now.’