48 Hours - Red Notice for Murder - Encore

Episode Date: July 8, 2018

A Brooklyn woman turns to a New York private eye for help tracking down a Russian beauty she believes robbed and killed her mother. Can they find her? "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van ...Sant investigates. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,
Starting point is 00:00:35 and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert
Starting point is 00:01:00 to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. There's a lot going on in New York City. Not all of it is good. People pay me money to find out sometimes the not so good things. Sometimes I get hired to follow a cheating spouse.
Starting point is 00:01:42 I get hired to track down somebody blackmailing someone. Go out there, you're hunting. My name is Herman Weisberg. I'm a private investigator here in New York City. I was hired to hunt down and assist in the apprehension of Victoria Nassirova. Victoria Nassirova came from a small town in Russia. She's voluptuous. And she can be charming in a strange kind of way. Victoria Nassirova's dangerous, arrogant, cunning. Turns out this woman was on the Interpol list.
Starting point is 00:02:21 A red notice, it's called. And this is for murder? This is for murder right here. Victoria Nasirova allegedly killed Nadia Ford's mother in Russia. My mom is everything for me. Was she your best friend? Yeah, absolutely. And you miss her, don't you? A lot. She tells me a pretty wild story. Her mother went missing in Russia, and Nadja went over there to find her. I just left everything.
Starting point is 00:02:50 Not every daughter would jump on a plane in the middle of the night and go back to her homeland to find out what happened to her mother. And I'm trying to track down the killer of my mother. You were willing to cross an ocean and go anywhere in Russia to get this thing solved. I struck down the killer of my mother. You were willing to cross an ocean... Any border. ...and go anywhere in Russia to get this thing solved. Not only in Russia, anywhere in the world. She just was a dogged investigator.
Starting point is 00:03:14 She just didn't stop at anything. And I went to the police right away. What motive would Victoria have had to kill your mother? Money. Money. Victoria Nassirova had to feel the pressure of Nadia Ford and the Russian authorities closing in on her in Russia.
Starting point is 00:03:31 She had the opportunity to flee. She took it. Of all the places in the world to go, Victoria ends up in Brooklyn, just blocks away from Nadia. Brooklyn is the perfect place to come. It's an easy place to hide. I gave myself a 0% chance of finding her. Miss Ford was in danger.
Starting point is 00:03:55 I fear for my own life. I haven't seen somebody this ruthless in a long time. She's pure evil. Pure evil. She's a dangerous person. Victoria Nassirova had to be taken off of these streets. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? ad-free with a 48 hours plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time,
Starting point is 00:05:10 only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now
Starting point is 00:05:38 by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. I guess I have a unique view of the world because of my job. In my world, there are a lot of bad people doing a lot of bad things. And when people find themselves a target of bad people, they call someone like me. We're the last of the guns for hire, so to speak. Herman Weisberg knows crime. I worked for 20 years in the New York City Police Department,
Starting point is 00:06:31 first as a police officer on patrol. After that, I went to narcotics. After 14 years as a detective, he turned in his badge to start his own investigative agency, Sage Intelligence Group. Can't get this out of my blood the whole detective the instincts having a little heightened sense of awareness and in march 2017 he came across a case of a lifetime it all started with a mysterious wealthy woman with a heart of gold i have a client with a mysterious wealthy woman with a heart of gold. I have a client.
Starting point is 00:07:05 She's affectionately known as the Mitzvah Lady around our office. Mitzvahs in Jewish culture are good deeds and nice things that you can do for people. Weisberg once fixed a problem for the Mitzvah Lady. Now she pays him to fix other people's problems, including Nadia's. The Mzvah lady looked into her eyes and saw that she was going through the worst possible situation
Starting point is 00:07:31 and just couldn't help herself. Nadia now had one of New York's finest private investigators on the case, trying to solve the disappearance of her mother, Alla Aleksenko. My mom is everything for me, everything. The person who raised two kids back in, you know, Russia in the 90s, on her own, have four or five jobs and, you know, trying to give her kids the best. Growing up, had you actually dreamed about going to America?
Starting point is 00:08:01 Of course. I grew up on Tom and Jerry, Curlless You, all these great movies, funny comedies, and of course I want to see it, of course. Nadia Ford first came to the United States in 2007 to study. She got married and divorced, and in the fall of 2014, Nadia was looking forward to visiting her mom in their hometown of Krasnodar, located near the Black Sea. And so every day you would talk to her? Every day. Every day. And Nadia started hearing more and more about her mother's new best friend, a woman named Victoria, who would move next door.
Starting point is 00:08:48 Here is your mother, standing next to you. Right. And here is Victoria. Right. And they seem like an odd couple. Your mom looks like my mother. Right. And here looks a woman like a glamorous Hollywood star.
Starting point is 00:09:04 Yep. You just wouldn't think they'd hang out with each other. She was always trying to be very friendly to her. And my mom, she trusts everyone. In fact, Victoria was planning to come to New York and offered to bring some presents to Nadia from her mother. It was money, $6,100. She bought this mink coat.
Starting point is 00:09:27 It's a Russian thing. And she bought two of them. Victoria took the money and the coats, but kept putting off the New York trip. And my mom was like, I'm worried about the money and the coats, that I feel like she's not going to give me back. She was very, she was very afraid. Then, on Saturday, October 4th, her mom said Victoria agreed to return the money and the
Starting point is 00:09:53 coats. But the next morning, Nadia became alarmed when her mother didn't answer her phone. How many times did you call your mother that day, October 5th? Oh, a lot. A lot. About a hundred. Really? A hundred times? At least. At least. I tried everything. And she would not answer? No. So what are you thinking? I got afraid. Because for eight years, it never happened that she didn't answer the phone. Never.
Starting point is 00:10:19 Frantic, Nadia called Victoria with a simple question. Where's my mom? You're supposed to meet her. You were the last person who saw her. Where's my mom? And she goes, I went to her apartment. We had a tea, and then I left. And I'm like, okay, where's my mom?
Starting point is 00:10:40 Victoria claimed that Ala was on a trip with a friend and that her phone had probably died. But Nadia didn't believe it. So what raised suspicion about Victoria for you? Unfortunately, it happened on Monday when I came to work and I print out my mom's phone lock, phone call lock. And I saw the last person who called her. It was Victoria. Victoria last spoke with Ala at 11 p.m. The record showed no other calls after that.
Starting point is 00:11:15 And that's it. And then my heart dropped. I just cried and I just left everything. She headed right for the airport. I just left everything. She headed right for the airport. So there's a race against time here, right? Yep. You always know you have your mom. It doesn't matter what's happening in your life. And I just started to have this feeling that something happened.
Starting point is 00:11:40 Something terrible? Something terrible happened In the Pacific Ocean Halfway between Peru and New Zealand Lies a tiny volcanic island It's a little known British territory Called Pitcairn And it harboured a deep, dark scandal There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10
Starting point is 00:12:10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse
Starting point is 00:12:33 and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own.
Starting point is 00:13:04 She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts,
Starting point is 00:13:42 or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C True Crime shows early and ad-free right now. I hope this trip will bring me some sort of closure. We brought Nadia Ford from her home in New York City to Russia to show us exactly how she investigated her mother's disappearance and searched for her killer for six months back in 2014. And it became my life to find the person who did this to my mom.
Starting point is 00:14:29 This is Nadia's hometown of Krasnodar, a popular tourist town about 750 miles south of Moscow, near the Black Sea. It is also where her mother, Alla, mysteriously disappeared in October of 2014. This is your mother's apartment building? Yes, Peter. It had been only three days since Nadia last heard from her mom.
Starting point is 00:14:55 She called Victoria and asked her to meet out front. When she basically walked down the stairs, I moved towards her, and I hugged her, like bear hug. It's a Russian bear hug, right? Exactly. What are you communicating to her with this rough hug of yours? They'll choke you to death if you're not going to tell me where's my mother. So she pushed me away, and she started yelling that, your mother is alive, she's alive.
Starting point is 00:15:23 At that moment, Nadia was certain Victoria had done something to her mother. And then she ran up the stairs. And then I'm like, where are you going? Why are you running? And if she runs up here, are you chasing her? Exactly, yeah. Victoria retreated to her apartment, not knowing that Nadia had called the police, who were lying in wait. The police going after her. She can feel it that I'm so angry and I'm so like,
Starting point is 00:15:48 I'm ready to freaking kill her. Cops briefly questioned Victoria in her apartment, then left the scene. It appeared she convinced them she'd done nothing wrong. Which is her apartment? Which is Victoria's? This is Victoria's apartment, the wide door, and this is my mom's apartment. Right next door neighbor's?
Starting point is 00:16:04 Right, right, like next door, as you can see. This apartment has been left exactly as it was from three years ago, correct? That's correct, yes. You haven't touched anything? No. It's a haunting time capsule. The food a la botte...
Starting point is 00:16:20 No, they're dry. ...still in the refrigerator. And in nearly every picture frame is Nadia. What struck you about this room when you came in? Everything was spotless clean, and it's a kitchen. Well, there is no fingerprints on the metal handles. You think it was wiped down? Absolutely. The home had been looted.
Starting point is 00:16:43 Nothing. Are the cards gone? Nothing, nothing. Family heirlooms, expensive jewelry, gone. Everything. And whoever did this also stole most of her mother's life savings, $50,000 Allah kept in a secret hideaway. If you take this off. It was gone. And this off, it's right over there. Who would know of this secret space?
Starting point is 00:17:12 Victoria. Victoria. Remember, Victoria and Ala had become close friends. As we inspected the apartment, I want to show you something in this closet, Peter. Nadia showed us a mysterious discovery she made in her mother's closet. The message? She had scrawled something on the wall. In Russian, it means money. And it tells you what? It tells me that the last person, the person who kidnapped her, the person who she with at that moment, that's Victoria.
Starting point is 00:17:46 Nadia took her evidence to the cops. Again, she says they dismissed her dark tale. What are they telling you? What are the police and the district attorney, and what are these people saying to you? Just wait, she's going to come back. She hounded the police so much, Nadia says, they gave her a nickname.
Starting point is 00:18:12 You may have been a little crazy, but you had a purpose. Because I knew. I knew from the start. Undaunted, Nadia carried on her search, posting flyers like this one and driving thousands of miles across Russia searching for clues. One night she drove six hours after getting a tip that her mother was in a hospital. I went to the room and there was a lady from the back, in the body shape, she looked like my mom.
Starting point is 00:18:51 And when she turned, it wasn't her. I was devastated. In an act of desperation, she even pleaded with Victoria in a text. Listen, I give you everything. My apartment, money, you name it. Please just give me my mom back. Then Nadia had a hunch. Nadia, where are we right now? We're on the highway that Victoria had my mom. What if traffic cameras photographed Victoria the night Nadia's mother went missing?
Starting point is 00:19:26 But you got to get access to these photographs. How do you do that? It's Russia. You buy things. You have money, you buy things. She checked every camera around town and circled outward. And about 100 miles from Ala's apartment... That's the camera. Is she right there? Nadia hits pay dirt. Pull over on the right here, and we'll walk back to it.
Starting point is 00:19:48 That's the camera right there, you see? Speeding camera, that's... That's the camera that my mom was... that showed that my mom was with Victoria. These are the pictures that changed everything. Nadia is certain that is Victoria Nazarova behind the wheel. And she knows who's riding in the passenger seat. No doubt in your mind.
Starting point is 00:20:14 No. What's the date that this picture was taken? October 5th in the morning, 10 o'clock. October 5th, the day that you lost all communication with your own mother. Looking at this picture, Nadia thought her mom was still alive. Because back in 2014, this camera gave me hope. Nadia finally had solid proof that Victoria knew what happened to her mom. She called the lead detective.
Starting point is 00:20:45 What does the detective say? He said, I know I have these pictures. Nadia was shocked to learn that investigators had seen these pictures too and were aggressively working the case. They had confirmed Victoria rented this car with these plates, so they brought her in for questioning. Then they gave her a lie detector test.
Starting point is 00:21:07 So the question was about the car, if she was driving and she was alone in the car. And she said, yes, I was alone, which was a lie. Do you know where is the body of Alexenka? She said, no, it was a lie. And so on, so on, so on. Every single question she's asked, she fails. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:26 Do they arrest her right there? No. She was allowed to leave until they got the results back from reading the graph. That's correct, yes. After taking that lie detector test, Victoria decided not to stick around for the official results. Instead, she fled here to Moscow and caught the first flight out of Russia. Finally, Russian authorities issued a warrant for Victoria Nazarova's arrest.
Starting point is 00:21:51 The charge? Murder. Nadia had two objectives. Find her mom and hunt down Victoria. She cannot get away with this. hunt down Victoria. She cannot get away with this. How Nadia's search for her mother took her to an unimaginable place. Now on Facebook at 48 hours.
Starting point is 00:22:23 With Victoria on the run, Nadia desperately continued her search for her mother, hoping against hope to find her alive. I dedicated my life to that. I quit everything and everyone. I didn't believe that my mom is not alive. Nadia had spent six months in Russia. She was broke. Her boss had given her time off without pay. Then, more bad news, this time from a Russian detective
Starting point is 00:22:50 who had shocking details of how Victoria escaped. A police officer who was involved with this case was having sex with Victoria. You believe that that officer put up a roadblock in this investigation to protect Victoria. Right. Yeah, they took him off the police. They kicked him out.
Starting point is 00:23:13 Frustrated, she traveled from Krasnodar to Moscow to meet the head of the Russian National Police. Is it like the head of the FBI in America? Exactly, yeah. Yeah. So this girl from Krasnodar comes and says what? Please help me. And he was able to help me.
Starting point is 00:23:32 But help soon turned to heartbreak when in April of 2015, Nadia got a disturbing phone call. Charred human remains were found in a remote area a three-hour drive from her mother's apartment. Nadia was called in to make an identification. I said, no, it's not her, no. It's just remains. Why are you showing me the bones? And then a few minutes later, I started looking at her teeth.
Starting point is 00:24:02 And you knew it was her mother? Yeah, and yeah. So I basically recognized my mom by her teeth. Behind me is the Russian town of Armavir. It's about 110 miles from Krasnodar. And it's important to this case because it's where Victoria Nasarova grew up. Why is that significant?
Starting point is 00:24:22 Because less than a quarter mile from where I'm standing right now is where Alaa's body was dumped. And her daughter, Nadia, is about to take us to the location. Not an easy drive for you to make. The body was here. This is where Allah's body was placed and burned. She kidnapped her, killed her, and buried the body.
Starting point is 00:25:04 That's it. Interpol issued a red notice for Victoria Nazarova's arrest for murder. Nadia returned to New York to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. I went back home, and I didn't do anything for three weeks. Victoria did everything for me, my family, my life, my mom, everything. But Victoria couldn't take away Nadia's determination. On a whim, she turned to Facebook. And you'll never guess who she found.
Starting point is 00:25:42 Victoria was posting pictures all over Facebook, checking in at this place, that place. Beautiful life. Somehow she obtained a fake passport with a fake name, so she flew to Mexico. Having a great time. Yeah. From Mexico, she flew to New York. Nadia reported all this to police
Starting point is 00:26:00 and immigration officials, but they couldn't find Victoria. Enter private investigator Herman Weisberg, who found a crucial clue, not on the street, but online. So some killers leave behind DNA. What did Victoria leave behind? A Facebook profile. I never look at what people want me to see on these sites. I'm used to looking at everything
Starting point is 00:26:24 except for what's supposed to draw your attention in. Late at night, Weisberg obsessively scrolled through Victoria's profile, looking for clues and finding them in unlikely places. This particular picture was the most beneficial. She's wearing the Ray-Ban sunglasses again that are mirrored, and she took a great picture for us to see the dashboard of the car. You could see that unique configuration. But more importantly, the stitching on that back headrest.
Starting point is 00:26:53 This right here. Yeah, that's just black leather with a white or light gray stitching on it. It made the car that much more unique to me. You have this picture, this intriguing clue of stitching on this headrest. What do you do with it? I decided the next morning I was going to be at a big parking lot at a train station. He wanted to look at as many different kinds of cars as possible to find the make and model that had that stitching. And it's a big hub for the railroad. Hundreds of cars in here.
Starting point is 00:27:25 Yeah, probably thousands all over the place. So it's real easy to look for the kind of detail I was looking for. Row after row. Car after car. Then a Chrysler caught his eye. So you look inside the car, and what do you see? All right, it's got the same stitching. And show me on your phone.
Starting point is 00:27:48 There's her mirrored sunglasses. The stitching over here. It was an important lead. The stitching matched a Chrysler 300. Now for the hard part. Find the specific car Victoria was driving. Again, this was such a wild goose chase at this point. But Herman saw that a series of likes on Victoria's Facebook page
Starting point is 00:28:10 were clustered around Sheepshead Bay, a Russian neighborhood in Brooklyn. So you sent some of your investigators to look for one of these Chrysler 300s. Did they have any luck? Well, yeah, we found a bunch of them. Then the next day, I had somebody run the license plates, and luckily we found one that came back to a Russian-sounding name. Weisberg took our 48 Hours crew into the area he searched in March 2017. He called me to the scene when he once again found the Chrysler 300
Starting point is 00:28:41 at the heart of this investigation. What's going on? I couldn't resist. I actually spotted the car, the actual car that she took that picture in. This is it? Yeah. This is the car? This is the car, yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:55 Take a look inside. Do you see the stitching? Yep. It's hard to miss now. Oh, there it is. Now you see how unique it is, right? Yeah. This is only an area of 8.5 million people, and you found the car.
Starting point is 00:29:09 It wasn't a needle in a haystack. You had to find a haystack first, and then find the needle, and this was pretty much the clincher of this. This was that moment. And when Weisberg went to the address connected to that car, he could also see she took a selfie in front of that building. When you look at it and you see that telephone pole and the location of that manhole cover
Starting point is 00:29:33 and that manhole cover, and if you look over there, you've got the telephone pole and you've got the two manhole covers. So then I started saying, the puzzle is starting to come together a little bit more for us, you know. This is brilliant, Herman. Through that reflection in her glasses, you figure out this is the apartment building where the man who owns that Chrysler 300 lives.
Starting point is 00:29:57 And with Victoria in the picture, you're thinking she might be living with this guy? It looks like she took a selfie there, and it all starts to make sense. It appeared Victoria was now living in Nadia's own backyard. How far away does she end up living from where you live in Brooklyn? A few blocks away, like, I don't know, four or five blocks away.
Starting point is 00:30:20 You've got to be kidding me. No. Did you try to go find her? No. Why? Because I would kill her. Now, if you're an internationally wanted fugitive, is it a good idea to wear reflector sunglasses for photographs?
Starting point is 00:30:36 I would say that's probably lesson 101 in the international fugitive school of hiding that you should not do. national fugitive school of hiding that you should not do. Victoria's new life in America also mirrored her alleged violent past in Russia. Weisberg learned she was a suspect in a series of crimes right here in New York City. Victoria Nassirova definitely had to be stopped. She was going to continue drugging and poisoning people to
Starting point is 00:31:03 get what she wanted. Herman Weisberg's cyber hunt for Victoria revealed online at 48hours.com. Two years after dodging a gruesome murder charge in Russia, Victoria Nazarova was living the high life. Little did she know, Weisberg was hot on her trail. She walks around as if she belongs there in Brooklyn, and she posts about it. It's very unusual.
Starting point is 00:31:56 And just two weeks into the hunt, Weisberg not only discovered the car Victoria drove in that Facebook selfie, but he narrowed her location to this apartment building in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. We got lucky early on, and we spotted Victoria and her boyfriend out here. The boyfriend was the owner of the Chrysler 300 and lived in that apartment building. How did you confirm, yes, this is definitely Victoria? Mostly it came down to her clothing. After nearly 20 years as a New York City police detective,
Starting point is 00:32:28 Weisberg learned a valuable lesson when chasing down a suspect. When people run, they throw away a jacket or they turn their shirt inside out. Bottom line is, nobody ever changes their shoes. And it turns out that Victoria had a favorite pair of boots. Turns out that Victoria had a favorite pair of boots. The surveillance video that one of my people did got a nice shot of those shoes. When I was able to zoom in on one and look at the Facebook photo, it was a perfect match. This exotic, sultry, sexy woman, how you absolutely confirm it's her is not necessarily her face, but her feet.
Starting point is 00:33:04 Her shoes, yep. Weisberg soon discovered that Victoria was a one-woman walking crime wave, scamming people in every possible way. She eventually fell into the world of being an escort, the dominatrix. She would knock out with knockout drugs, Rufinol, whatever she was using, and take money, watches, jewelry, whatever she can get. Weisberg is convinced that Victoria has dozens of victims who are reluctant to report her to police.
Starting point is 00:33:38 A lot of these victims, they just go away because nobody wants to go into a precinct and say, my dominatrix just stole my Rolex and $4,800 from me, and I think I was drugged. Because at the end of the day, every single cop listening to that story and every single wife of these guys is going to say, what was that first part again? It was a dominatrix? Meet Ruben Borikoff. How you doing? How are you? Who runs a dry cleaners in Queens.
Starting point is 00:34:06 He had no idea that Victoria was an alleged escort, dominatrix, or killer when they met on this Russian dating site. I was single at the time. We started chatting and we set up a date. She said she's a good cook and and I said I'd love to eat. The two arranged to meet at Victoria's apartment for dinner, where she served up a dish to die for. The only thing I remember, I just took one bite of fish, and I was out of it in five minutes. Ruben passed out, and while he remained unconscious,
Starting point is 00:34:44 Victoria allegedly went on a shopping spree. She took like $800, maybe $1,000 altogether in cash, $2,400 in American Express. So she's living high on the hog on your money. Absolutely. And then she brought me here. Two days later, Ruben, barely barely conscious was literally taken to the cleaner she was walking here and there and making some stories to my workers oh we had wine he drank two bottle of wine i don't remember nothing i had some money in the basement couple hundred here. She took it. She took the watch. On her deal. Meth, yes, meth. This video, shot by one of Ruben's employees, captures a glimpse of Victoria sitting in the boss's chair.
Starting point is 00:35:33 Maybe he took pill or something, right? After cleaning out the cash register, Victoria fled the scene. This is Ruben being carried by paramedics to the hospital. What was it like for you to watch that video? I was surprised. It's like it's not me. It's not possible. For a week I was in the hospital. You can barely eat. Did you almost die? I think so. That's how I was.
Starting point is 00:36:02 Hi, Ruben. I think so. That's how I was. Hi, Ruben. Despite it all, Ruben surprisingly has some respect for Victoria. I love her. She's a professional. She needs a Academy Award. Olga Tisvik, a Queen's stylist, is another survivor of Victoria's cooking. Victoria was just another customer until one day she showed up on Olga's doorstep, this time with dessert.
Starting point is 00:36:38 She came with cheesecake, three small pieces. Did you pick it up and take a bite? Yes, yes. After this part, I don't remember nothing. When Olga woke up, Victoria was standing at her bedside with a second course, a bowl of hot soup. Probably I ate the soup because I don't remember. I believe that she poisoned soup too, because it was not enough with cheesecake. Two days later, Olga was found unconscious on the bedroom floor. Her clothes had been changed into lacy lingerie. Lying next to her were some prescription pills. It looked like an overdose.
Starting point is 00:37:22 Why did she do that? She wanted to make like suicide, you know. And why would she want you dead? Because she wants use my ID. Your identity? Identity, yeah. Because the two of you look similar. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:40 For you, meeting Victoria Nazarova almost cost you your life. Yeah, almost cost me my life. It seems Victoria's rampage had no limits. Her now ex-boyfriend told 48 Hours that not only did she allegedly steal from him, but that she killed his beloved beagle, Joey. I think that dog was getting a little too much attention, and Nassi Rova didn't like that, so Nassi Rova got rid of the dog, allegedly, again,
Starting point is 00:38:11 on the beagle's birthday. I'm a dog lover, so that stuff. That guy, I've seen him on TV. And Joey the beagle's demise didn't sit well with Victoria's neighbors either. She killed his dog, that bitch. Killed his dog. Every time you learn something else about this woman,
Starting point is 00:38:31 you realize that if she was left unarrested, this could have really ended poorly for Brooklyn. From Facebook to the Chrysler 300 to this apartment building in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, Weisberg knew the hunt was over. And on March 20, 2017, he alerted the NYPD that Victoria was in her apartment. They called me and said, one under, which is the radio call sign between cops to say that there's somebody under arrest. The Russian temptress,
Starting point is 00:39:08 who often placed her victims in restraints, suddenly found herself in handcuffs. You look her in the eye? No. Does she see you? Oh, yeah. What do you say? I say, good morning, Victoria.
Starting point is 00:39:21 I felt good for Nadia. You know, for me, it was a great day at work. For her, that's a life changer. I just cried. I couldn't believe that it's actually happened. It's a miracle. News of Victoria's arrest made headlines from New York to Moscow. Though authorities may never know
Starting point is 00:39:45 the full extent of Victoria's alleged crimes, one person does, and we're on our way to Rikers Island Jail to meet her. Victoria Nazarova? Yes. Peter Van Sant. Nice to meet you.
Starting point is 00:39:58 It's nice to meet you. Please have a seat. Thank you. Thank you. Three years after Victoria Nazarova fled Russia and a murder charge, the once glamorous seductress is but a shadow of her former self, having traded in her expensive furs for a prison jumpsuit. How does a girl from a small town in Russia end up in Riker's jail in New York City? This is a fantastic story, yes. A fantastic story. Yes. Victoria, people who don't care for you have called you a sociopath, a psychopath, a devil.
Starting point is 00:40:54 I'm not a killer. I'm woman. Only woman. It sounds like a bad dream that I'm going to wake up and all of this will be gone. But if it's a bad dream for Victoria, it's a nightmare for Nadia. She's a psychopath and there is nothing else where you can expect from psychopaths. Victoria claims that Russian police are framing her and points to these traffic cam pictures as evidence. Victoria, this is a picture of your rental car. There is a person sitting next to you in this car. And that sure looks like Allah.
Starting point is 00:41:40 This is fake. This is a fake picture? Yes. You can hold this. That is Allah sitting picture? Yes. You can hold this. That is Allah sitting right next to you. I understand you. I know very well how Russian police work and how it's possible to make it look like a person is somewhere he never was.
Starting point is 00:42:03 Victoria is a pathological liar. She used any words, anything, to just continue doing what she was doing. Your car is tracked with GPS to the area where Ala's body was found. You flunked a lie detector test. You fled to Mexico. It is time now for you to tell the truth. Yes? No.
Starting point is 00:42:27 She told us there were two people who would confirm her story. Valentina? So when we were in Russia, we went to speak with them, her parents. Are you Tahir? Good evening, guys. Good evening. You need to speak Russian too. Tahir? Valentina? До свидания, ребята. До свидания. Вы должны говорить на русском, тоже. Тахир, Валентина, Виктория просила вас поговорить с CBS News.
Starting point is 00:42:54 Виктория хочет, чтобы я говорил с вами. Пожалуйста, отходите из вашего дома и говорите. Он сказал, что он звонит полиции. Он сказал, что он звонит полиции? Да. Ну, это не очень дружно. Мы закончили здесь. He called police. He said he called the police? Yeah. Well, that's not very friendly. I think we're done here. Where does the case go from here?
Starting point is 00:43:13 It stays in the, in America for a while. Thank you very much. Thank you. She's got plenty to keep her in jail for now. Victoria is currently charged with 18 felonies in New York City, including grand larceny in Rubin's case Victoria is currently charged with 18 felonies in New York City, including grand larceny in Rubin's case and attempted murder in Olga's case. We need to make Victoria pay for the crimes that she's committed here.
Starting point is 00:43:43 But with no extradition treaty between the U.S. and Russia, the question remains. Will Victoria stand trial for murder? While we were in Krasnodar, we asked the top official in the investigation. And what he told me was, there is no question that Victoria Nazarova committed this murder. And their message to American prosecutors is that they would like to see Victoria extradited to Russia to face trial here. One other thing that he had to say was about Nadia, that her investigation was so outstanding that if she ever wants to be a detective, he would hire her. Nadia Ford is a very intelligent person.
Starting point is 00:44:20 She did things that a lot of people wouldn't have thought were possible. She basically solved a homicide. In a cemetery not far from where her mother was abducted, Nadia was finally able to give Allah a proper funeral. There, etched in stone, is her mother's name, but something is missing. I don't know the day, the minute, the second when she died. When Victoria knows the date. If she's not going to say how she killed her,
Starting point is 00:44:55 at least tell me the date, when. Does this in any way close a circle for you? It will be open till the moment she'll be behind the bars for the rest of her life for what she did. Today, the woman at the center of this case
Starting point is 00:45:13 awaits her fate in jail. But the memories of Nadia's mother remain alive as ever. My mom gave me the most important thing in life. I know what feeling of family means.
Starting point is 00:45:30 I know what love means. Victoria Nassirova has been in jail since March 2017. Nassirova will stand trial in New York for her alleged crimes. Russia will then formally request Nassirova to be sent back to stand trial for the murder of Nadia's mother. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.

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