Poisoned By Cheesecake, Hunted By Her Own Lookalike

In August 2016, Russian-born Viktoria Nasyrova went to the Queens apartment of her lookalike, 35‑year‑old eyelash stylist Olga Tsvyk, carrying a gift: a slice of cheesecake. Prosecutors said Viktoria had laced the dessert with phenazepam, a powerful sedative, then waited as Olga grew violently ill and lost consciousness, before staging the scene to look like a suicide and stealing her passport, cash, and other valuables in an apparent attempt to assume her identity.Olga survived and later tests found phenazepam on the cheesecake container and in pills scattered around her, with Viktoria’s DNA also on the box, tying her directly to the poisoning. In February 2023, a New York jury convicted Viktoria of attempted murder, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and petit larceny; that April, she was sentenced to 21 years in prison plus five years of post‑release supervision and faces possible deportation to Russia, where she is also wanted on a separate murder charge.