True Crime All The Time - Viktoria Nasyrova

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Viktoria Nasyrova fled Russia after the police questioned her about her alleged involvement in the murder of her next-door neighbor. She ended up in New York City, the same place where her next-door neighbor's daughter lived. The daughter was hunting Viktoria and an international warrant was out for her arrest.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Viktoria Nasyrova. You would think that an international fugitive would want to stay in the shadows. But that wasn't Viktoria's style. She posted to Facebook and continued her criminal ways in the United States. You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 398 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime. Mike Gibson. How are you? Hey, I'm doing okay. How about you? I'm doing well. I talked about it on Patreon, but it's been, you know, a very busy week for me.

You've been busy. Moving kids back into, back to school, into new apartments. The dog, Ivy, the new T-Cat dog. She got spayed. and just a lot going on already this week. That's a lot, man. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Deidre Sanderson.

Hey, Deidre. Karen Dahl. What's going on, doll? Rita Walts. Ah, the waltz. Charlotte Rosetti. Hey, oh, I like that name. Rosetti.

It's like a good Italian wine. I know you just like to say that. Jessica Jackson. What's going on, JJ? Stephanie and Quaid. Well, hey, Steph and Quaid. which on Patreon you thought was one person. It could have been.

Chrissy Johnson. Hey, Chrissy. Craig Anderson. What's up, Anderson? Judy Ohanart. I think it's O'Nardt. Okay. Yeah.

It could be. Yeah. And last but not least, Nancy Nelson. From the famous Nelson family. Do you drag it out because you're trying to figure out what you're going to say? Absolutely. Okay. I figured that, but I'm.

hated to call you out. And then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Kim Hudson. What's up, Kim? So we appreciate all the support, the new support, the continued support. Gibbs, we have an episode out right now on true crime all the time unsolved, where we're talking about 18-year-old Roxanne Paltov, who was last seen walking away from an Austin motel in 2006. And this is one of those unsolved cases where, you know, there is a person who plays a very central role. And that is Roxanne's boyfriend. You know, he told everyone a story about them getting in a fight and her walking away. But I think a lot of people think he knows more about what happened than he's told.

Well, when you hear the case, your good chances you're going to agree with some of the things that are going to be put out there. Yeah. You know, Roxanne, every time I hear that name. You think of the police song? I do. I can never get past it. Every time. If someone is introduced to me as Roxanne or you see the word, I mean, it's the first thing that pops in my head.

Well, it was a big song for, you know, us growing up. Yeah. Yeah. And you heard it a lot. You don't hear it as much anymore. But you also don't hear the name Roxanne all that much. That's true. And maybe that's part of it.

Yeah. All right, buddy. are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I'm excited for this one. Yeah, we're talking about Victoria Nazerova. And this is a little bit of a different case, a departure, right, from what we normally do on T-CAT. Victoria Nazerova fled Russia after the police questioned her about her alleged involvement in the murder of her next door neighbor.

But despite an international warrant for her arrest, she spent almost two years. years living in Brooklyn, you know, going on dates with guys, drugging them and stealing their money. So she basically fled Russia, came to the United States and committed a bunch of crimes over here. Alla Alexenko was a woman in her early 50s who lived in Krasnodar, Russia. Ella's daughter, Nadia Ford, told CBS that she raised two children on her own and worked four or five jobs to provide for them. Four or five jobs. That's a lot of jobs. Well, you know, some people have to have a second job, maybe a third. But when you get into the area of four or five, I don't even know how you have time to do that. It's a lot of juggling. Well, and I'm thinking not a lot of sleep probably.

Yeah. Nadia moved to United States in 2007 to attend school. But she's a lot of juggling. But she's, remained close to her mother and spoke to her every day. In 2013, Nadia began hearing more and more about her mother's new next door neighbor in her apartment building, a woman named Victoria Nazerova. It seemed like Victoria was her mother's new best friend. Nadia described her mother as a trusting person, and Victoria was very friendly. Well, and we know a lot of people will take advantage of those really trusting people. Well, and if you're going to, going to take advantage of someone, if you've made them your mark, then doesn't it make sense that you would come off as this extremely friendly person?

Absolutely. It's going to be easier to befriend them. Yeah. You're not going to get over on them by acting like a mean person. Yeah. You can't be in an ass. You got to draw them in. Yeah.

Victoria visited New York City in September 2013. Ala told Nadia that she was coming and asked if she would give her a tour. Nadia's first impression of Victoria was that she was very friendly. Victoria asked her how to obtain a green card. In an affidavit filed in U.S. immigration court, Nadia wrote that Victoria was unemployed and needed money. Because she was close friends with Allah, she knew that she had made $53,000 from selling her deceased mother's home.

And Gibbs, let's face it, that's a lot of money, especially for a person who's described as having to work four or five jobs. Yeah, that's a good chunk of change. As their friendship deepened, Victoria made efforts to alienate Allah from her other friends by talking badly about them. And she eventually convinced her to break up with her live-in boyfriend Evgeny Shabana. So sounds like maybe she was manipulated? Yeah, I would say that. It also kind of reminds me of, you know, a lot of the cases we do where a husband alienates or cuts off his wife or tries to from family, friends.

Is this the exact same thing pretty much that we're seeing here? Oh, I think so. It's a power play, right? Yeah. you know, if you're going to try to take advantage of someone, in this case, you know, Victoria, is it going to be easier if you're seen as kind of the, the only person that the mark, as we'll call her, needs in her life? Yeah, because you're making yourself the only person they really can only trust. Everybody else, well, I thought I could trust them, but from what you're

telling me I can't trust them. So I'm just going to stick with you. Well, and I'm trusting you even more now because you're giving me this valuable information. Yes, exactly. That may not be true, but that's, that's how the person might see it. Nadia Ford wrote in the affidavit on September 24th, 2014. My mom received the text message, which stated that she was in danger and that Shabalin was a scam artist who wanted to take her money and department. Nadia continued. continued in the affidavit. That phone number was later investigated. On the day of the anonymous text message, it tracks exactly to the geographical locations where Nazerova went. It was proven by detectives. She used it. Her motive was to kick Shabalin out of the apartment. Sure. Isolate

Allah even more. Yeah. I mean, I think it's a pattern that we're seeing. In the fall of 2014, Alla told Nadia that she was going to send her some special gifts, which were to be delivered by Victoria. Victoria was supposed to be bringing about $6,000 worth of cash and valuable items, including two fur coats. There's a lot of fur coats in Russia. Well, it does get very cold. Yeah. They have a lot of mink, don't they? That sounds right.

I'm kind of remembering, was it, quirky park or whatever that movie was back in the day? Yeah, I actually think you got it right. Oh, man, I'm good. You said gorgie or gorky? If you didn't hear me the first time. Because now I don't know if you did get it right. Victoria had told Alla that she was planning a trip to New York and offered to bring the gifts with her. Victoria took the money in the coats from Ala, but kept pushing back her departure date.

Alla became worried that Victoria was never going to give the items back. On October 4th, 2014, Alla took her. told Nadia that Victoria had agreed to give the money and codes back. On the fifth, Nadia tried to call her mom, but didn't get a response. She called her about a hundred times, but could not get in touch with her. So that's never good. No, 100 phone calls is a lot. Yeah. And, you know, my other thought is her mom's in Russia. She's in New York. And we've had cases like that, right? It's not like you can jump in your car and run over and check on somebody. Well, in this case, it's not like you can even jump on an airplane that quick and be there

to check. No, it's going to take a while, right, to get from New York to Russia. So Nadia reached out to Victoria, telling her that her mom was supposed to meet her, meaning Victoria was probably the last one to see her. Victoria said she went to Allah's apartment. They had tea and she left. She said that Allah had gone on a trip with a friend, and her phone probably died. But Nadia didn't believe her.

She decided to print out her mother's phone records and saw that her mom last spoke to Victoria at 11 p.m. on October 4th. There were no calls made after this. So does your anxiety go up at that point? Well, I think it does. Your concern, your anxiety, all these different, you know, things. Number one, you don't know where your mom is. you're hearing things from her supposed best friend that you're not quite buying, but you're so far away.

And then when you look at the phone records, things aren't adding up. Yeah. So you're probably even more suspicious. Nadia put her life in New York on hold and boarded the first flight to Russia. She arrived a couple of days later and would spend the next six months in Russia searching for her mother. Six months. You talk about, you know, that is putting your life on hold.

Sure is. Nadia called Victoria and asked to meet in front of the apartment building. She had already contacted the police who were waiting nearby. Nadia said she grabbed Victoria in a bear hug, which was not meant to be a friendly jester. Victoria pushed her away and yelled, your mother is alive. She's alive. And it was at that moment, Gibbs, that Nadia said, she felt,

certain. Victoria did something to her mother. It would be a strange thing to hear somebody say that. Your mother is alive. Your mother is alive. It took me to give you a bear hug for you to tell me this. Well, and it's coming from kind of out of the blue. Yeah. Doesn't make sense. Victoria then ran to her apartment. The police followed and briefly questioned her there. Nadia entered her mother's apartment. She noticed that it was spotless. Basically, she said it looked like it had been wiped down. She quickly realized the home had been looted. Allah's family heirlooms and expensive jewelry were gone,

as well as perfumes, documents, and bottles of alcohol. She kept the majority of her life savings, which included the $53,000 from the sale of her late mother's home in a secret place. But that money was gone too. And I say $53,000, but obviously, it was in rubles or yeah you know a Russian currency but to my way of thinking Gibbs 53,000 dollars let's say we're talking U.S. dollars the equivalent of that in Russia would be a boatload of money yeah I would think so to most people even more than it would be to us here

I mean, if you're working four or five jobs, that $53,000 is probably a nice little security blanket. But I also found it interesting that she kept it in cash hidden in her home, her apartment. I mean, she obviously didn't even trust the banks there. Yeah. And I don't know, maybe that's not that strange for people in Russia to be a little distrustful of banks. I don't know. Nadia also saw that her mother left. the message in her closet. She had written the word money in Russian. Nadia felt certain that

Victoria had befriended her mother because she was after her cash inheritance and that she had harmed her mother to obtain it. And we know that people do this all the time, right? Whether you want to call them confidence, men, scam artists, but by and large, when we talk about it, we are normally talking about men doing it, but women do it as well. I almost think women could probably do it better. In some cases, I would think so. I think less women would be inclined to do it than men. But I think you're right, like many things, if they put their mind to it, they probably would do it better than most men would.

You're pretty good at scamming. I am. You scamming out of last pizza before. you scam me out of dessert. Things I all paid for. So how is that a scam? I scammed you out of your free dinner. Yeah, I'm just saying, you know,

yeah, you're good at it. Nadia took all her evidence to the police, who didn't seem all that concerned. They said Victoria would most likely return in a few days. But Nadia was persistent. She contacted the police so frequently that they nicknamed her the crazy American daughter who's looking for her mother.

Well, you know what? Sometimes you got to be that crazy American daughter or whoever to get things rolling, get things done. Yeah, I get what you're saying. You can use whatever term you want, you know, the squeaky wheel gets the grease or the early bird gets the worm or whatever it is. But being persistent in certain situation does pay. off because who hasn't had someone who was hounding them and at a certain point you just did what

they wanted you to do so that you could be done with them so they leave you alone yeah yeah so you didn't have to deal with them anymore days after allah went missing her son received strange messages from someone impersonating his mother the messages said per the new york post don't look for me and let me live mine. I'm happy now. My life is good. I will pray for you. Nadia received messages from the same number that said,

sweetie, don't worry about me. I'll notify you about where I am soon enough. And let's just, you know, break this down. When you analyze it, your mom is missing. But then all of a sudden starts texting people in the family, hey, let me live my life. don't come looking for me. I'll let you know where I am sometime.

That's not most people's mom or how they would act. Doesn't even seem believable. No. No, and I think they knew that that wasn't their mom. According to Nadia, it was believed that Victoria fled to a friend's home with the stolen goods, which included several bottles of alcohol. Nadia was later able to speak to the woman Victoria stayed with who informed her that one of the bottles was Hennessy, which was Allah's favorite drink. I was thinking maybe vodka, but...

Why? Because she's Russian? Yeah. Not all Russian people drink vodka. Right. So you just debunked your own stereotype. I know. Although a lot of people do. Yeah.

But Hennessy's not bad. I know you like a little Hennessy every now and then. Nadia was determined to find her mother. She traveled across the country. She posted flyers. She also reached out to Victoria pleading with her to bring her mother back. So I don't think there's any doubt that Nadia at this point was convinced Victoria had something to do with whatever happened to her mom. She didn't know what that was a part of it.

Definitely some type of involvement. Yes. During her travels, Nadia, noticed that most of the main roads had traffic cameras. She wondered if one of them photographed Victoria the night her mother went missing. And she decided to look into this, you know, as a potential leap. Smart lady. Yeah, very smart. It also sounds like, you know, she's Nancy Drwing this thing on her own. Yeah. We mentioned it. The police didn't take it all that seriously. CBS asked Nadia how she got access to the cameras. And Nadia said, it's Russia.

You buy things. You have money. You buy things. Everybody's on the take, it sounds like. It sounds like money talks and BS walk. Yes. Nadia checked every camera around town and worked her way out 100 miles from her mother's apartment building.

And just think about how much work that would be and, you know, how much time that would take. Very time consuming. But she eventually found a camera that captured Victoria with her mother. The pictures. were blurry, but Nadia was certain. Victoria was driving, and her mother was slumped over in the passenger seat. This photo was taken at 10 a.m. on October 5th. And that was the day that she lost contact with her mom.

I think you'd be kind of excited that you found this potential evidence, but also pissed off, but also sad. I mean, I think the range of emotions will be all over the place. Yeah, I'm sure she's been going kind of running the game. it during this entire time. She was already suspicious of Victoria, but now she feels like maybe she has some proof. She thinks it's Victoria and her mom in this photo,

and it just happens to be the day that she lost contact with her mom. Yeah. Nadia called the police. According to 48 hours, a detective told her, I know, I have these pictures. The police confirmed that Victoria rented a car with the same place. number captured on camera. Okay. So now, even though these pictures are blurry, there's no doubt, right? This is a picture of Victoria. She rented the car. It has to be her in there.

Officers had tracked Victoria down and brought her in for a polygraph. She was asked if she was alone in the car. She said she was and said she didn't know where Allah's body was. Victoria was allowed to leave before the official results were sent to the police. By the time they realized she failed every question. She had traveled to Moscow and boarded the first flight out of Russia. Wow. They had to wait for the results. They gave her enough time to get on a plane.

And that just seems like a kind of a bad system. Nadia stayed in Russia and continued searching for her mother. She told 48 hours, I dedicated my life to that. I quit everything in everyone. I didn't believe that my mom is not alive. Nadia's boss had given her time off without peck. But she'd been there for like six months. And so, you know, she was running out of money.

Which makes it tough to have resources. To continue to, you know, do these searches. Around that time, a detective informed her that a police officer involved in the case was having sex with Victoria. He had been removed from the police force. Wow, man. Ethics. And this comes up a lot, right?

We talk about police officers quite a bit, the power that they have, the responsibility that they have. But how compromised does an investigation get if you have someone in authority, law enforcement, who is sleeping with, I'll call her kind of the prime suspect. Yeah. Can't help the case. And do you think it's a coincidence? Or does it make more sense that Victoria befriended, and I'm using my air quotes here, someone in law enforcement began this relationship, maybe to get information, maybe to have an ally in case you needed one?

Absolutely. Isn't that what a good scam artist or con artist would do? For sure. Cover your bases. And to me, it sounds like that's what she was doing. Nadia wrote in court documents that the officer admitted having sex with Nazaroba the night after he searched my mom's apartment saying, I had sex with her, but only after she murdered. Only after.

That makes it even worse. It does. He's saying that as though that softens the blow. You shouldn't be upset with me. I waited until after. In April 2015, Nadi received a call that charred human remains were found in a remote area in Armavir, about 110 miles away from Allah's home in Krasnodar. Victoria grew up in this area.

According to oxygen, authorities were able to find the remains by tracking Victoria's phone records when she was with Allah. So if things were a little unclear up to this point, does this, you know, kind of bring everything into focus? Yeah. Almost crystal clear now. That Victoria had something to do with the death of Nadia's mom, Allah. Nadia was asked to identify the remains. She said she identified her mother by her teeth.

That would be hard to do. Well, unless you, you know, had someone who had a very distinct set of teeth. I mean, obviously a dentist could do it with dental records, but just a relative, it does seem like it would be hard to do unless you're talking about someone with a very distinct set of teeth. Nadia told the New York Post, all that was left basically was a skull and bones. No legs, no left hand. I couldn't believe it. I think it'd be very hard to see. You know, you finally get the call.

They found your, they believe could be your mom. You got to go there and help identify the body. Or in this case, skull and bones. Well, and it's the culmination, right, of what had been at least six months worth of work, but also worry, concern, sadness, grief, all of those things. By this point, Interpol had already issued an international arrest warrant for Victoria charging her with murder. Nadia returned to her home in Brooklyn. But even there, she was still focused on finding Victoria. Surprisingly, Victoria was still active on Facebook and posting photos

of her travels. She went to Mexico before coming to New York City around 2014. Kind of brazen. Yeah, you would think if you were on the run and wanted for murder. You could stay off Facebook for a little while. I would think you'd want to. You'd want to. But no. Hey, you know, I'm in Cozumel drinking a pinia collada and I have to post it on Facebook. Yeah.

Here's my selfie. And then basically, you know, I'm in New York City. You're telling people where you are and there's an international arrest warrant out. on you. Nadia contacted the police and immigration officials, but they couldn't locate Victoria. Now, let's face it, you can say you're in New York City, but then tracking someone down within New York City, you know, it's not like you're in Des Moines, Iowa. Well, exactly. And even Des Moines, a bigger city, but not like New York City. I mean, every time I go to New York City, I was trying to find those Pace guys. Yeah, because you want that Pace Picante. I do. Right from the

And I'd never find them. But I look hard. Well, I assume they're in the park somewhere sitting around a campfire eating paste pecanti because that's how they are in the commercials. Yeah, that's new. That's no, that's not who I find around the campfires. Victoria was arrested in May 2016 for stealing two furs worth more than $500. But the police didn't connect her to the international murder case at that time.

I guess they didn't run her through Interpol. I guess not. Court documents stated that in addition to shoplifting, Victoria had a record of committing fraud, at least twice. She allegedly attempted to use her boyfriend's death certificate to claim his inheritance in Moscow and forged degrees and fake diplomas to do so. Forging degrees? And using fake diplomas?

Is not okay? No. Oh. No. I know that's something that you were not aware of, but it sounds a little. catch me if you canish. The New York Post reported that Victoria worked as an escort slash dominatrix. When she came to New York, she called herself Rachel or Mara when working with clients.

Victoria would later say that most of her clients were married men. Well, there's a shocker there. Yeah. I mean, I had to look up what a dominatrix was because I, you know, I'm not aware of what that is. and you told me what it was right off the bat and said, why did you need to look that up? I said, well, that's just not something that I'm familiar with. I'm just assume that's what that door over there is always locked has behind behind it, you know. Victoria wanted to maintain a certain look for her job.

So in early 2016, she started visiting a salon in Forest Hills, Queens, where she met a stylist named Olga Sibid. Olga worked as a skin beautification technician. who specialized in eyelashes. Okay. Well, everybody needs some skin beautification. But with a specialty in eyelashes. Which has nothing to do with skin.

Well, it's attached to skin. I don't know. Yeah, well, I'm just saying. Olga recalled that Victoria was friendly but pushy. She repeatedly suggested they spend time together outside of work. She felt uneasy and refused her offers to hang out. Olga also noticed that she and Victoria, Victoria had a strong resemblance. So obviously, Olga had a bad feeling about this woman. She was going to pluck her

eyebrows, but that was going to be it. That's as far as this is going. You've, you ever had a close resemblance to somebody? Besides George Clooney. I thought you were going to go with George Costanza. You couldn't even say his name? I couldn't. on August 28th, 2016, Victoria contacted Olga and told her that she was leaving for a trip to Mexico in a few days and was having an eyelash emergency. Now, I've had a number of emergencies in my life. Some, you know, quite serious, some not as serious. I have never had an eyelash emergency.

I don't even know what that would consist. I don't either. Like, hey, you got to get me. in the day. I shaved half one off or? Yeah. Olga was off that day and told Victoria, she didn't have any appointments available. Victoria pleaded with her and asked if she could come to her apartment to get her lashes fixed. Olga agreed. This was the first time she had ever taken a client at her home. As a thank you gesture, Victoria brought three slices of cheesecake, which she said came from a famous bakery,

Victoria quickly ate two slices and insisted that Olga tried the third. Olga didn't really want to eat it, but she did it to be polite. And about 20 minutes later, she became extremely sick. She started to lose consciousness and she vomited. She told Victoria she was feeling bad. Her last memory was Victoria walking around her bedroom, telling her she would clean up. And then Olga had no memory of the next several days. Wow.

So obviously Victoria put something in this cheesecake, but whatever she put in there was pretty strong. I'm just trying to figure out how come Victoria ate two pieces. Because I'm assuming she knew that which piece had the stuff in it. No, I'm just thinking two pieces of cheesecake. That's a lot. Well, she was really selling it, right? This is so good.

Look at me. I'm eating two of them. I'm eating two pieces. You got to have this last one. Olga's neighbor later told the police that a woman came to Olga's room the next morning with chicken soup. She came back downstairs quickly, cleaned the bowl, and left. CBS reported that the woman came and went a few times and told the neighbor that Olga was sick. Olga's neighbor became worried when he didn't see or hear from her all day.

So he went to her room to check on her. He found Olga unconscious on her bed. and he described as a very unusual scene. Her skin was pale. She was dressed in lingerie. And there were pills scattered on the floor. Her room was extremely hot because the heat had been turned all the way up, even though it was summertime.

That would be bizarre. But let's think about it. Why would someone do that? Unless you're trying to set something up. Yeah, I mean, to me, this seems like, Victoria is setting up a scene where Olga has overdosed on pill and turning the heat up is going to make the rate of decomposition quicker than it normally would be because I don't know why else you would do it.

Right. Olga spent three days at the hospital. Hospital staff performed a urine analysis and a complete blood count test. Both came back negative for illicit substance. Obstances. Olga was discharged on September 1st, 2016. When she returned home, she realized she'd been robbed. Almost $4,000 in cash had been stolen, as well as purses and jewelry. Most importantly, her passport and documents, giving her permission to work in the U.S., were gone. So critical documents. Critical documents, but it also goes back to Olga saying that her, her, and Victoria, you know, had a very similar look.

Now, it gives Victoria basically a new identification. You do have to think that she did not select Olga just randomly. After she learned her sister was sick, Olga's sister Irina flew to New York and contacted the police. On September 2nd, Detective Kevin Rogers went to Olga's apartment responding to the report, the valuables were stolen from her room. Olga told him she just returned from the hospital and explained how her client, Victoria Nazerova, came to her home and offered her cheesecake, which made her sick.

And at this point, Olga was still very ill. She was in and out of consciousness. She was experiencing dizziness and nausea. She later said she didn't remember the detective asking her questions that day. Man, it had to be really something strong in there. Yeah, because she'd already been to the hospital, was discharged, was back at home, and was still messed up. Detective Rogers was suspicious and thought Olga was on drugs.

He told Olga that he wanted to believe her story, but it just wasn't adding up. Olga insisted that she was telling the truth. Detective Rogers then saw the cheesecake container in her trash can, which added more credibility to her story. He collected it at, evidence. And I get it. It's, you know, it's a little bit of a far-fetched story, right? Yeah. This woman came to my house. She gave me some tainted cheesecake. She stole all my stuff.

Olga told the detective that she was hospitalized twice. He called local hospitals to confirm, but they wouldn't give him patient information, which caused him to believe that she could potentially still be lying. He tried to locate Victoria, but couldn't. And the king's, case went cold until Olga's neighbor came forward and described the mysterious woman who visited Olga's apartment on August 29. The neighbor also described the bizarre scene when he found Olga. Detective Kevin Rogers wondered if someone tried to kill Olga and staged it to look like a suicide. And it was at this point that he apologized to her for not believing her. Yeah, I mean, I understand he had questions and just wasn't positive, but

I also can see how Olga would be like, why would I make this stuff up? It does seem like a strange thing to make up. Yeah. When Olga was well enough to return to work, she spoke to a client about Victoria and her mystery illness, the client told Olga that her husband's friend had a similar experience and gave her the number of a man named Ruben Borikov. In June 2016, Rubin matched with a woman named Anna on a Russian dating side, the woman said she loved to cook and they arranged to meet at her place for dinner.

This woman served Ruben a piece of fish. He took a bite and lost consciousness within five minutes. He later woke up in the hospital. But despite rounds of testing, doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Two days later, Rubin was released, but as he described it, he was still out of it. So something's really strong but yet can't be identified. by the hospital. A woman took him to his dry cleaning business. One of his employees decided to record this suspicious incident. Rubin described what happened to 48 hours, saying, she's walking here and there, making some stories to my workers. Oh, we had wine. He drank two bottles of wine. I don't remember nothing. Rubin's sister called an ambulance. The woman fled, but not before she

stole cash from his safe and a watch. Ruben soon realized that someone had charged around $2,600 to his credit card. So Rubin sent Olga a picture of the woman, and she realized that the woman was Victoria Nazaroba. She's working her scams everywhere. But isn't that what these types of people normally do? Yeah, it's what they have to do. They hop from scam to scam, from person to person.

So police started looking for similar cases across New York. York City and found two more men in Coney Island who had been drugged and robbed. Like Rubin, they met Victoria online. One of the victims was able to share the address where he met his date. With this information, the police confirmed that the woman they were seeking was Victoria Nazaroba, who had previously been arrested for theft. In early 2017, Nodia Ford learned that Victoria was living in New York City. And basically, she was living blocks away from her in Brooklyn. I think that would be really frustrating to find out that she was that close to you and you didn't

know it. I mean, get it. I know two blocks in Brooklyn's not as a close. Still two blocks? What's two blocks? Just not as close as you would think. But, you know, this is a woman in Nadia who believes in her heart that this woman killed her mother.

And she has been looking for her. So I agree with you to find out that she had been that close to her for some time. That would be, you know, a tough pill to swallow. According to the New York Post, the people she was staying with filed a police report against her. They claimed she admitted to killing a la Alexenko during a night of heavy drinking. Now, they thought it was a joke, but Victoria insisted it was true. They Googled her and found out that she was wanted for murder. So, yeah, I could see why you might want to file a police report after learning all of that.

Maybe get your locks changed. And get your locks changed. But the police were not able to find Victoria. Nadia Ford hired P.I. Herman Weisberg from Sage Intelligence Group to find Victoria. Weisberg found Victoria through ads on Russian dating sites and social media. she was advertising herself as a dominatrix slash escort. He believed Victoria was using these ads to target victims. And I'll be honest with you, Gibbs.

I never really understood the whole dominatrix thing. No? No, not at all. I mean, I'm pretty sure I don't have to pay someone to find somebody to treat me like garbage. That's not that hard to find. I don't think. You don't need to pay someone to tell you.

you what to do. No. No, I already have that. Wiseberg looked through victorious Facebook photos. She had recently posted a selfie in which she was wearing reflective sunglasses. Wiseberg studied the reflection, which showed the interior of her car. And the headrest of the car had very unusual stitching. Wiseberg went to a train station parking lot where he knew there would be hundreds of different vehicles. And he spent an looking around and identified the make and model of the vehicle in Victoria's photo, a Chrysler 300. His next goal was to find Victoria's vehicle.

And this is obviously a lot of legwork on the part of this PI, but pretty ingenious, really, if you think about it. But also not very smart of Victoria. Again, posting all this stuff on Facebook when you're wanted. You're just inviting or giving people the necessary information needed to try to track you down. I think she just thought she was uncatchable. Well, I think that's a common thing, right? A lot of criminals are very overconfident.

And sometimes that leads to their downfall. Weisberg went back to Facebook and saw that Victoria liked in reviewed restaurants in a heavily Russian neighborhood of Brooklyn called Sheep's Head Bay. He sent out his team to find a Chrysler 300 in the area. They found dozens and took down the license plate information. From that, Weisberg obtained a list of names. One of the names seemed Russian. His team determined that Victoria's boyfriend owned the vehicle and that she was living with him.

Weisberg's team watched the building. They saw several women who looked like Victoria. but they wanted to be sure before they went to the police. So Weisberg decided to rely on a technique. He learned from his time with the NYPD. He told 48 hours, I was in narcotics where you're always constantly chasing people. And when people run, they throw away a jacket where they turn their shirt inside out. Bottom line is nobody ever changes their shoes.

I got into a habit of when I sized somebody up, I know. what kind of shoes everyone's wearing. Good point. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think this guy was, you know, fairly intelligent. So he reviewed surveillance footage from the building and saw Victoria wearing a pair of Bay shoes, which were also featured in her Facebook photo. So, you know, at that point, he felt sure of her address and identity. Wiseberg said he first called Interpol and Homeland Security, but neither took action. He then called the NYPD. Victoria was arrested on March 20th, 2017.

And I was kind of shocked by that, honestly. I mean, you know, if you call Interpol and you say, I know where someone is and they have an international murder warrant out on them, you'd think they'd kind of snap into action. Yeah, like, why wouldn't they go into action? But apparently the New York City Police Department did. And Victoria was arrested on March 20th, 2017. When the police searched her apartment, they found Olga's employment authorization card, her Ukrainian passport, and her missing jewelry. Investigators noticed that the two women looked remarkably similar.

They both had dark hair, a similar complexion, and similar facial features. And they both spoke Russian. For Victoria, she found the perfect doppelganger? Yeah. Yeah, she did. But here again, you know, when you're... found and then these items are found in your possession. They become very damning. I mean, what's going to be your story? I just found these in the street and I picked them up and I thought,

oh, she looks like me. I'll keep them. It's not going to fly. No, it's not going to work. Brian Flynn, a former detective, told the show snapped, they're not 100% twins, but they can be mistaken for each other. I believe she was trying to change her identity to be Olga, to how who she actually was, maybe because of the interpol warrant. And all of that makes sense. I guess what doesn't make sense is that, you know, she was still posting all this stuff on her own Facebook page. Okay. Change your identity, right? She's attempting to do that. Well, cut the Facebook stuff out as well. As part of it. If she was smart, she would have done that a long time ago, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But she didn't. And again, are some people so addicted to Facebook that even in the face of being wanted for murder, they can't help but post what they had for dinner. Yeah, because they're addicted to social media. Yeah, I get it. And I'm not making fun of people who do that, but I really don't care what you had for dinner. Yeah, I know you hate that. Okay, that looks like a nice burger.

Thank you. After the arrest, Detective Kevin Rogers learned that Olga's ID was found in Victoria's apartment. He saw the resemblance, and he too believed Victoria was going to kill Olga to assume her identity. To support his theory, he sent the cheesecake container taken from Olga's apartment to a lab. The lab found nothing at first, but then a second round of testing was completed. The Department of Homeland Security tested it. and the DEA tested the pills found that Olga's apartment. Both agencies detected phenazepam,

a depressant developed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, which is legally available in Russia via prescription. It can be used to treat seizures, anxiety, and muscle spasms. But too much can cause respiratory depression or even death. And I think that's true of a lot. lot of the depressants or anxiety medications that are out there taken as prescribed. I'm sure they're fine. But if you take too much of them, there can be very serious consequences.

Well, obviously, she had Olga take some of this, but not enough to kill her. No, but it must have been a lot, right? We described it. Some of these people that she did this to, you know, they were in the hospital multiple times and even when they got out, they were still out of it for days. Investigators also found Victoria's DNA on the cheesecake container, further implicating her in the crime, in a 2017 interview with 48 hours, Victoria denied poisoning Olga, saying, I know this young woman. I can tell you that I did not force her to eat it. Okay. Those are not

the same thing. No, it's not. You don't have to force. You don't have to force. You don't have to force someone to eat something to poison them. The mere fact that you laced something that you then offered them just because they ate it willingly does not absolve you of your criminality. Yeah, exactly. She also insisted she had nothing to do with Allah Al-Alexenko's disappearance and did not kill her. Victoria claimed the Russian police were framing her and the traffic camera photos were fake. She said, 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. She said that her parents could confirm her story. The 48 hours team attempted to speak to her parents while they were in Russia,

but her father threatened to call the police. So maybe they did not want to or could not confirm her story. All we know is they didn't want to talk to 48 hours. All we know is they didn't want to talk to 48 They didn't want to be involved. 48 hours also asked the lead investigator if Victoria would go to trial for murder in Russia. He responded, there is no question that Victoria Nazerova committed this murder. Russian officials said they wanted to see Victoria extradited to stand trial. Victoria was asked by 48 hours if all the accusations were false. She said, no, I admit doing part of it, but I will only talk about it at the trial.

Mysterious. Yeah. I did some of it. What part? The escorting, the dominatrixing. I don't think either of those are words, but I'm using them as though they are. I mean, maybe she's going to admit to the drugging and the robberies. But I can't imagine she's ever going to admit to murder, especially in Russia.

Yeah, I agree. She also did an interview with the New York Post. in 2017 where she said it was plain cheesecake. It tasted like a regular cheesecake, nothing out of the ordinary. Okay, again, what something tastes like does not necessarily mean it wasn't laced with something. Yeah, there's a lot of drugs, medications that you can put in food that you're not going to know that it's there. That maybe don't have a taste. Victoria also noted the last time I saw Olga, she was already not feeling good, she said she either ate something or got food poisoning.

Well, I'm pretty sure the last time she saw her, she poisoned her. On August 1st, 2017, Victoria turned down a plea deal. She had been offered three to nine years for pleading guilty to third degree grand larceny. Now, she'd been indicted on 29 total counts. She'd been charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property on two separate incidents that occurred since she came to the U.S. She was accused of stealing and pawning two rings, a necklace and a money clip, all worth more than $50,000. She used the alias Rachel Bergman. She was also accused of stealing a Rolex and other valuable items from another man.

So what do you think, Gibbs, about turning down this? Plead deal. I think it's a bad idea. I mean, three to nine years, why wouldn't you want to take that unless you're just so overly confident that you're not worried that you're going to go down for this? Well, I don't know how confident she could have been. I mean, we've talked about some of the evidence against her. It seemed pretty overwhelming. Now, I get it. Nobody wants to do three to nine years. But you have to think that the alternative, if convicted on 29 counts, would be a heck of a lot more. Because three to nine years, you're not going to do the whole nine, right? You're going to be out in maybe four and a half, give or take. Victoria told officer she pawned some of the items on

behalf of her undocumented roommate. And the other items were gifts from men she dated. Oh, that undocumented roommate. Don't know where that person is now, can't give you their information. Victoria's boyfriend told 48 hours that he was another one of her victims. She stole from him and killed his beloved dog. According to P.I. Herman Weisberg,

Victoria was jealous of all the attention. He was giving his dog, so she poisoned the dog on its birthday. So she's even an animal killer. which to some listeners might be the most heinous thing she's done. I was thinking the same thing. But either way, you know, however you look at it, nobody's going to think it's good. You know, she took a human life, she took a dog's life.

This is a woman, if all of this is true, that basically cared very little about other living creatures. All she cared about was what she could get from. people. But I'm sure she'll have a different story. Yeah, obviously. She told the New York Post in 2017 that the dog had an epileptic episode and died the next day. On February 15th, 2018, Victoria was charged with attempted murder in the case of Olga Civic. On June 4th, 2019, Victoria pleaded guilty to petty larceny, a misdemeanor. This was in connection. to the earlier cases involving two male victims she met online. For this, she received 90 days in jail.

Due to pandemic delays, Victoria's attempted murder trial did not start until January 30th, 2003. In opening arguments, ADA Constantinos Litturgis said that Victoria wanted to kill Olga because she was desperate to never return to Russia. And I think that's a pretty good theory. You know, if you're wanted for murder in Russia, I think a lot of people would do whatever they had to do not to be caught and sent back to Russia. Yeah, you're going to want to stay where you're at now. And by finding Olga, that was going to be her best opportunity.

To fly under the radar. Yes. If she could stop posting to her own Facebook. Yeah. I keep going back to that. Her ego got in her own way. It was also said that Victoria's visa was set to expire and she was afraid of facing charges in Russia. As quoted by CBS, prosecutors argued that Victoria made a cold and calculated plan to isolate Olga, to get her alone in her room, to poison her to try to kill her and then to take her identity.

Prosecutors described how Victoria was the last one to see Olga. it. She brought cheesecake, which made Olga extremely sick. It was when Olga got home from the hospital that she realized she'd been robbed. The jury heard that Victoria's DNA had been found on the cheesecake box. Olga was one of the most important witnesses at Trump. She was asked if the person who tried to poison her was in the room and she looked directly at Victoria and identified her. And that's a strong statement. Yeah, because you have the victim who did not die, recovered, and therefore is able to sit there, you know, on the witness stand and in like a dramatic television moment, point out who did this to you? Unlike the moment in the movie with, uh, peshi, with the older lady

up on the, uh, stand. Oh, whose glasses didn't have the correct magnification. According to the New York Post, Olga testified that Victoria told her she needed an emergency lash touch-up and said she would bring her some cheesecake. Olga testified that after eating the cheesecake, I started to look to lie down on the bed. I started to look for a pillow. I was realizing that I was losing consciousness. And I said to her, Vika, I'm feeling really bad. I started feeling very nauseous. I wanted to vomit.

I started the vomit right by my bed onto the floor. I told her Vika, I'm going to throw up right now. She said, don't worry about it. I'll clean it up. I remember she went to the bathroom and came back with bounty. Okay, bounty's a good start.

You might need a little bit more. Yeah, we think so. More than the quicker picker up her. Maybe a solvent as well. Several victims didn't want to testify at trial. but Ruben Baruchoff did. He wanted to stop Victoria from harming anyone else. Now, why would there be a number of people who would not want to testify at this trial?

Well, it might come down to how they met. You mean on the escort slash dominatrix website? Yeah. And also the fact that it was said a lot of these guys were married. Excuse me, sir. How did you and Victoria meet? I plead the fifth. my wife's in the room. I don't recall.

No, I mean, I get it. If you testify and tell the truth. Now, I don't know why they didn't compel some of these people because it seems like they could have compelled them to testify. But it sounds like they gave them the option. Well, if you give these people the option, they're going to say, no. I don't want anybody to find out, you know, what happened. But good for Rubin for doing so, right? he didn't want this woman to be able to go on to keep harming people.

He testified that he met Victoria, who was using the name Anna on a Russian dating app in June 2016. She invited him to dinner at her apartment. As quoted by the New York Post, he said, The thing I remember is getting up. We toasted and I took two pieces of fish and that's it. It was like five minutes. I got knocked out.

I didn't know what was going on. on, I still don't remember. When speaking to the post in 2017, Rubin recalled how Victoria was adamant that he eat the fish as soon as he showed up. You walk in the door and someone is shoving fish in your face. It just came out of the oven. It's really hot. You need to eat it right now.

Right now you need to eat this. Eat this fish. Eat this fish. Rubin testified that as he was recovering, he realized that his new watch was missing in his credit card had been charged. Nadia Ford testified on the third day of Trump. Prosecutors weren't allowed to go into specifics about the murder charge in Russia, but Nadia did explain her mother's disappearance to the jury. She testified that she flew to Russia when her mother fell ill with a cold and stopped responding to her calls and messages. She called and texted on

October 5, 2014. But her mother didn't answer. She called Victoria, who was, was her mother's neighbor at the time. Victoria said she saw her mom the day before. When Nadia flew to Russia, she learned her mother had died and that her house was robbed. Nadia testified that she worked with the police to arrange a sting operation and asked Victoria if she killed her mother. Victoria was questioned and released. And we talked about that, right?

It was kind of a strange situation, sure, of allowing her to leave while the results of this polygraph were, I guess, being analyzed, the defense didn't call any witnesses. Instead, they argued there was no direct evidence of anyone seeing Victoria putting drugs in the cheesecake and doctors found nothing unusual in Olga's system. They also argued that even if Victoria poisoned the cheesecake, it wasn't enough to prove she wanted Olga death. Now, it doesn't surprise me they didn't call any witnesses. I don't know who they would have called. And, you know, they have to argue something. We talk about this quite a bit.

Yes, no one saw her put the drugs in the cheesecake. But how could a jury not believe that she did? And then this argument that even if she did do it, it's not because she wanted, it doesn't prove that she wanted Olga dead. Yeah, she just wanted her incapacitated. So she could steal her stuff. Yeah. Yeah, maybe, maybe.

But on February 8th, 2023, Victoria was found guilty of attempt to, murder, attempted assault, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and petty larceny. On April 19, 2003, Victoria was sentenced to 21 years in prison, followed by five years post-release supervision. During sentencing, the judge called Victoria an extremely dangerous woman. And I would say that's a pretty apt description. I would agree. Victoria shouted, fuck you in the judge's direction.

according to the New York Post. Okay. How is that ever going to help you? Exactly. By telling the judge to F himself or herself. In her victim impact statement, Olga said that she was unable to sleep for months. After she was poisoned,

she was terrified to work and was distrustful of others. She was constantly in fear that Victoria would come back and finish what she started. I get it. you know, that's definitely going to change your life. In a big way. And this is a woman who we said, right, was very trusting of others. Well, that all changed and would change for most people when someone tries to kill you.

And this notion or this thought of, well, is she going to come back and finish the job? How could you not worry about that? The defense asked for leniency in sentencing, noting that Victoria has a young son who needs a bone marrow transplant and she wanted to reunite with him before he died. In September 2023, it was reported that Victoria was selling her artwork from prison. Victoria told the New York Post, my so-called signature work is letters of people's names with butterflies and other things in 3D. You would be very surprised. I get an enormous amount of pleasure from seeing people's faces when I give them what they ordered from me. Nobody ever expects

it. I can call what I make without false modesty, works of art. Even for me, they look like little miracles. Well, she's pretty full of herself. She really is. You know what? I don't give a rat's ass about your little 3D art. You know what? She doesn't want to talk to the New York Post about. trying to kill a woman. Yeah. Here in the U.S., all of these men that she drugged and robbed and many of those people never even came forward and a woman in Russia that she most probably killed. Yeah.

She's leaving all that out. Yeah. Let's not talk about that. Let's talk about my 3D art because it puts a smile on my face. Exactly. She also said that it's been hard for her to talk to others since she was moved to the Westchester County Women's Prison. She said, I don't want to sound like I'm better than others, although in some ways I am.

But to find a person on your intellectual level, it's hard to find people here that I can really communicate with. I want to talk about art, culture, travel, books. And she is so full of herself. Basically, she said, everyone in here is a dumbass. And they're too dumb for me to even have a conversation with. You know what they always say about the person that thinks they're the smartest person in the room? They're usually the smartest person in the room?

No. Oh, what do they usually say? They're the dumbass. Oh, I never heard that saying. That's something I made up. Oh, okay. That's why I've never heard it. It always kills me because, you know, I get it.

Some people might think that way. But why would you want to verbalize that to the New York Post? Do you not realize that you're making yourself? sound like a horse's ass. Yeah. And don't you realize that? I'm pretty sure that you get newspapers in prison. So some of the other people who, contrary to her belief, I'm sure can read, might take offense to some of the things that she is saying about them.

So she thinks we're all dumbasses, eh? Or show her. Now, she did insist that she was innocent. And she said that she was on edge at all times. She said, I never robbed anyone, I never killed anyone. I never tried to kill anyone. They sentenced me to 21 years for a crime I did not commit. Oh, she was framed.

Okay. She said her mandated anger management courses were bullshit, adding, I do have anger issues, but they are not the kind of anger issues that these classes can help me with. It's funny to start off a sentence. These anger management classes are bullshit. Fuck you, Judge. And then to admit that you do have anger issues, but these classes can't help you. Victoria also discussed her conflicts with other inmates saying, once I got into a fight and I was so

angry that I just kept beating her and she was covered in blood. Then I realized that if I don't stop, I'm going to seriously maim her. So I stopped. I'm starting to think you might not be on the intellectual level you think you are. Yeah, I don't think so. Finally, she claimed that Olga framed her and put the drugs on the cheesecake box so that she could stay in the U.S. According to oxygen, Victoria is scheduled for release in 2038. She will face deportation once she's released, but it's not known if she will go to trial for murder in Russia.

He's got to make out of prison first. Well, and does she want to get out? I mean, everybody wants to get out of prison. Sure. But in this case, getting out means you're going to be deported and they're probably going to grab you up right away. Yeah. And possibly put you on trial for murder. And you might get put in a rougher prison.

Well, I would assume it's going to be rougher than where she's at right now. Yeah. And I'm okay with that. Yeah, I'm okay with it too. I mean, this is a woman who, again, just cared about. about nothing but herself. As a lot of criminals do, let's face it.

I mean, the one thing I will say is Gibbs, make sure in 2038 that you're not on some of those Russian dating sites and the dominatrix sites that you normally visit. That's a long time off. I know, because she's probably going to, if she's not deported,

maybe you can go back to that. You don't want to get caught up in that again. I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to say, old she's going to be at that point. Maybe you should be figuring out how old you're going to be at that point. But, you know, as we wrap this one up, what she did over here was horrible. I mean, she tried to kill a woman.

Sure, she did. To basically assume her identity, you know, she was drugging and robbing all these guys, you know, that she was meeting off this site. But it's hard not to think that she killed her neighbor in Russia and got away. with it and fled the country and, you know, came to New York and, but, you know, it's a person who couldn't just stay low and, you know, under the radar. She had to keep committing crimes and ultimately she got caught. I do agree with the judge. I think she's a very dangerous woman. Yeah, she's not a good person. I mean, think about what she told the paper. You know,

I got in a fight. I was so angry. I just kept hitting this woman, kept hitting this woman. All of a sudden, I realized, I'm really going to hurt her. So I better stop. So I stopped. Can't wait for them to play that at the parole hearing. But that's it for our episode on Victoria Nazarova. A little bit of a different type of episode for us. But, you know, I found a lot of it fascinating.

We've got some voicemails Gibbs. You want to check those out? Sarah. Hey, guys. This is Annie from Long Island, New York. Listen to your podcast all the time. I love it. listening to the Kimberley Rico episode and man oh man, it must have been a flippant nightmare for defense counsel.

It wasn't a matter of who she told. At that point, it's a matter of who didn't she tell because she clearly told everybody. Anyway, thinking about Gibby and what's going on with him and prayers to him and just grateful to you guys for keeping us all entertained and informed. you and God bless. Have a great day. Keep your own time taken. Bye. All right. Thanks for the voicemail. We love you too. And we did get a lot gips of voicemails just like that, talking about you and, you know, very nice. I couldn't play them all. Yeah, I definitely appreciate the kind words. Yeah, I definitely wanted to play one for sure.

Hi, this is Ashley. I'm actually from Batavia, Ohio. So not terribly far from you guys. I only just started listening to you guys probably last December of 2023, and I'm more than halfway through. I started from the end and worked my way back. I think I just reached 197 or something like that, but you're one of the only podcasts I listened to. Your banter, everything is just top knot. but I just thought I'd call in and send my regards. I know Gibby just lost a fan number and I wanted to some of my condolences. I really appreciate that there was still a story sent out for the podcast.

I'm not yet a Patreon supporter, but I hope to be one soon. Keep your head on the table. Have a great day. Okay, so I played two. Yeah, you did. Yeah, I couldn't remember. But again, like I said, there were a lot. Yeah.

So there was a lot of people who sent in voicemails who didn't get played, but they were all very, very nice. She's nearby, you know. From. Yeah. Atavia. As you would call it. Oh, all right, buddy. We had no mail bag this week.

So that's it for another episode of True Crime all the time. So for Mike, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.