In what is said to be an elaborate scheme to steal someone's identity, a New York woman is accused of trying to kill her friend with poisoned cheesecake.
Trial began Monday for Viktoria Nasyrova, a Russian native charged with multiple crimes including attempted murder, burglary and assault.
Nasyrova was arrested in March 2017 and accused of trying to kill her lookalike friend, Olga Svyk, in August 2016 by feeding her tranquilizer-laced cheesecake and then stealing her passport, cash and other property after trying to make it look like a suicide attempt, the Associated Press reported.
Both women have dark hair, the same skin complexion and speak Russian, prosecutors said. Nasyrova, described as being "desperate to never return to Russia," allegedly devised a plan to kill Svyk and steal her identity.
Prosecutors allege Nasyrova got Svyk, an esthetician specializing in eyelashes, in her grasp by faking an eyelash emergency and requesting to visit her home, CBS New York reported. She arrived with a cheesecake that authorities say was laced with the powerful tranquilizer Phenazepan, a drug found only in Russia.
Svyk ate the cheesecake, felt sick and laid down. She was found by a friend the next day, unconscious and surrounded by pills. When she returned home from the hospital, she realized that her passport and employment authorization card were missing, along with a gold ring and cash, the AP reported.
At the time, Nasyrova was a fugitive from Russia -- accused of drugging and killing a woman there before fleeing to New York, according to the AP. She was also suspected of drugging men in New York and robbing them when they passed out, CBS reported.
Nasyrova denied trying to poison Svyk in a 2017 interview from jail, telling 48 Hours "I know this young woman. I can tell you that I did not force her to eat it," referring to the cheesecake.
Nasyrova faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
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