Eyelash Technician Accepting Last Minute Appointments. She Woke Up Days After Being Poisoned by Cheesecake (Exclusive)

YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The latest episode of The Curious Case Of… tells the story of eye technician Olga Tsvyk, who was poisoned by a customer who brought her a tainted slice of cheesecake

• The client, Viktoria Nasyrova, was arrested on 20 March 2017

• The episode airs on January 19 on ID

Eye technician Olga Tsvyk accepted a last-minute request to do a client’s hair, but what happened next would haunt her for years.

The last episode in the second season of ID’s The Curious Case Of… series is called “The Killer Cheesecake.” It tells the story of Tsvyk, who said she was poisoned by a customer who brought her a tainted slice of cheesecake when she arrived for her cosmetic treatment.

The client, Viktoria Nasyrova, turned out to be an alleged Russian fugitive, and she wanted to assume Tsvyk’s “look-alike” identity, Tsvyk claimed. Nasyrova — who was convicted of attempted second-degree murder, attempted first-degree assault, second-degree assault, first-degree unlawful imprisonment and petit larceny in 2023 — denied poisoning Tsvyk.

The episode, premiering on January 19, features tons of twists and turns as the victims and the legal team relive the 2016 case.

Tsvyk, then 35, was working as an eye esthetician when she met Nasyrova through one of her clients. Tsvyk received an urgent request from Nasyrova to perform a treatment on her hair. Nasyrova claimed that she was going on vacation.

Tsvyk, who was born in Ukraine and lives in Queens, NY, arranged for Nasyrova to meet her at home on August 28, 2016. Nasyrova insisted on bringing a cheesecake “from a bakery in Brooklyn” for the appointment,” claimed Tsyvk.

Tsvyk says in the documentary that Nasyrova brought several pieces of cheesecake to her house. She continued to eat two pieces and left one for Tsvyk, who ate the portion. “It was not as delicious as previously advertised,” she remembers.

Tsvyk immediately felt nauseous and threw up on the floor after eating the dessert. Her last memory was of Nasyrova bringing her paper towels to clean up the mess.

Tsvyk was eventually found by salon owner Stella Stepanyan, who grew concerned and went to Tsvyk’s house after she didn’t show up for work, as Stepanyan explains in a video shared exclusively with PEOPLE. She found her employee lying in bed in lingerie and surrounded by pills.

At the hospital, Tsvyk tested negative for narcotics. She was in a stupor for about three days and needed help when she returned home.

Tsvyk later reported to police that thousands of dollars, her purse, clothes, passport and work visa were missing, and that’s when the New York Police Department got involved. (Other valuables, including a gold ring, were also missing, officials said.)

Former detective Kevin Rodgers remembers receiving two calls about an alleged grand theft case on Sept. 2, 2016. As he uncovered the details — which, he said, included Tsvyk’s 107-degree room when she was found and the remote control to adjust the heater that was running under her bed — he grew increasingly concerned.

“Someone intentionally turned up all the heat in late August in New York and didn’t want anyone to turn it off,” Rodgers speculates in the episode.

Shortly after, Nasyrova’s second alleged victim came forward. Queens resident Ruben Buruhkov claimed he met Nasyrova, who reportedly went by the alias Anna, on a Russian dating website. She invited him to her house for dinner, and he remembers feeling that “something was wrong” after a few bites of his meal.

He alleged that Nasyrova proceeded to rob him and drop him off at the shop he owns, with Nasyrova suggesting to his colleagues that he must have drunk too much or used drugs that evening, and reported the allegations to the police. (He later testified about these allegations at Nasyrova’s trial regarding the cheesecake incident.)

After Rodgers received the second report, he discovered an arrest warrant for Nasyrova in Russia, where she was wanted for the alleged murder of a woman.

The story continues with an account of the private investigator Herman Weisberg, who was employed by Nadia Ford, the daughter of Nasyrova’s late neighbor in Russia. (Ford’s mother was the woman who was killed under suspicious circumstances.) Legal analyst Beth Karas also offers commentary.

Rodgers and Tsvyk found the cheesecake container that Nasyrova had brought to Tsvyk’s home and testing revealed traces of phenazepam. The sedative is not typically tested because it cannot be obtained legally in the United States.

Phenazepam can be fatal if one’s body temperature goes above a certain temperature, which elevated the potential crime from grand theft to attempted murder.

Nasyrova was arrested on 20 March 2017 and eventually sentenced to 21 years in prison for poisoning Tsvyk and stealing her identification. Upon her eventual release, she will be subject to five years of supervision.

“A ruthless and calculating confession artist is going to prison for a long time for trying to kill her way to personal profit and gain. Thankfully, the victim survived the attack on her life, and we were able to bring her justice,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement at the time.

Prosecuting Attorney Dino Litourgis says in the documentary that he hopes that Nasyrova will be extradited to Russia to “face justice in that system” after her release.

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Karas reached out to Nasyrova for comment, but she declined to do a free interview.

She did, however, do interviews with the New York Postand in 2023, she told the shop that she has been selling 3D art in prison and continued to insist on her innocence.

The second episode of The Curious Case Of… Death by Detox? premieres January 19 at 10 pm ET, on ID, with new episodes airing weekly. Episodes will be available to stream on HBO Max.

Read the original article on People