Red Notice for Murder: The hunt for Russian fugitive Viktoria Nasyrova
Produced by Chris O'Connell and Jonathan Leach
[This story first aired on Oct. 21, 2017]
A glamorous seductress with a love for furs made an error while driving through Russia. It seems she forgot to hide the body of her alleged victim -- whom she had in the front seat of her rental car.
The mistake, which was caught on traffic cameras, would eventually put her in the middle of an international manhunt and a target for a tough-talking New York private eye.
"48 Hours" and correspondent Peter Van Sant travels from New York to Russia with a daughter who's convinced that woman in the front seat is her missing mother.
THE CASE OF A LIFETIME
Herman Weisberg: 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.
Herman Weisberg: I worked for 20 years in the New York City Police Department. 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.
Herman Weisberg: I 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.
Herman Weisberg: I have a client … she's affectionately known as the "Mitzvah Lady" around our office. …And mitzvahs in -- 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 peoples problems, including Nadia Ford's.
Herman Weisberg: The "Mitzvah Lady" looked into her eyes and -- and saw that she was going through the worst possible situation and just couldn't help herself.
Ford now had one of New York's finest private investigators on the case trying to solve the disappearance of her mother, Alla Aleksenko.
Nadia Ford: My mom was everything for me … everything. …The person who raised two kids back in, you know, Russia in '90s on her own, have four or five jobs and, and you know, trying to give her kids the best.
Peter Van Sant: Growing up … had you actually dreamed about going to America?
Nadia Ford: Of course. I grew up on "Tom and Jerry," "Curly Sue," and -- all these great movies ... funny comedies …. Of course I wanna -- I wanna 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, she was looking forward to visiting her mom in their hometown of Krasnodar, located near the Black Sea.
Peter Van Sant: And so every day you would talk to her?
Nadia Ford: Every day. Every day.
And Nadia started hearing more and more about her mother's new best friend, a woman named Viktoria, who had moved next door.
Peter Van Sant: So here is your mother. …And here is Viktoria. …And they seem like an odd couple.
Peter Van Sant: Your mom -- looks like my -- my mother.
Nadia Ford: Right.
Peter Van Sant: And here looks a woman like a glamorous Hollywood … star.
Nadia Ford: Yep.
Peter Van Sant: You just wouldn't think they'd hang out with each other.
Nadia Ford: She was always trying to be very friendly to her. You know, and my mom, she trust everyone.
In fact, Viktoria was planning to come to New York and offered to bring some presents to Nadia from her mother.
Nadia Ford: It was money -- $6,100. …she bought this mink -- mink coat. It's a Russian thing. And she bought two of them.
Viktoria took the money and the coats, but kept putting off the New York trip.
Nadia Ford: And my mom was like, "I'm worried about the money and coats, that I feel like she's not gonna give me back." … she was very -- very afraid.
Then, on Saturday, October 4, her mom said Viktoria agreed to return the money and the coats. But the next morning, Nadia became alarmed when her mother didn't answer her phone.
Peter Van Sant: How many times did you call your mother that day, October 5th?
Nadia Ford: Oh, a lot. A lot. Like a hundred.
Peter Van Sant: Really? A hundred times?
Nadia Ford: At least. At least. I tried everything.
Peter Van Sant: And she would not answer.
Nadia Ford: No.
Peter Van Sant: So what are you thinking?
Nadia Ford: I got afraid, because for eight years she never happened that she didn't answer the phone. Never.
Frantic, Nadia called Viktoria with a simple question.
Nadia Ford: "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, "OK. Where's my mom?"
Viktoria claimed that Alla was on a trip with a friend, and that her phone had probably died. But Nadia didn't believe it.
Peter Van Sant: So what raised suspicion about Viktoria for you?
Nadia Ford: Unfortunately that happened on Monday when I came to work and I -- print out my mom's phone log -- phone call log, and I saw the last person who called her. It was Viktoria.
Viktoria last spoke with Alla at 11 p.m. The records showed no other calls after that.
Nadia Ford: And that's it. And then my heart dropped. …I just cried. I just left everything.
She headed right for the airport.
Peter Van Sant: There's a race against time here, right?
Nadia Ford: Yeah. …And you always know you have your mom. Doesn't matter what's happened in your life. …I just started to have this feeling that something happened.
Peter Van Sant: Something terrible.
Nadia Ford: Something terrible happened.
UNRAVELING A MYSTERY
Nadia Ford: I hope this trip will bring me some sort of closure.
"48 Hours" 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.
Nadia Ford: It became my life…to find the person who did this to my mom.
Nadia's hometown of Krasnodar is a popular tourist town about 750 miles south of Moscow, near the Black Sea. It is also where her mother, Alla Aleksenko, mysteriously disappeared in October of 2014.
It had been only three days since Nadia last heard from her mom. She called Viktoria and asked her to meet out in front of the apartment building.
Nadia Ford: When she basically walk down the stairs, I move towards her. And I hug her like bear hug.
Peter Van Sant: A Russian bear hug … And what are you communicating to her with this rough hug of yours?
Nadia Ford: That I will choke you to death if you don't tell me where is my mother. …So she pushed me away and she's starts yelling that, "Your mother is alive! She's alive!"
At that moment, Nadia was certain Viktoria had done something to her mother.
Nadia Ford: And then she ran up the stairs and then I'm like, "Where are you going? Why are you running?"
Peter Van Sant: And she runs up here, are you chasing her?
Nadia Ford: Exactly, yeah.
Viktoria retreated to her apartment, not knowing that Nadia had called the police who were lying in wait.
Nadia Ford: And then the police are going after her.
Nadia Ford: She can feel it. That I'm so angry and I'm so, like, I'm ready to freakin' kill her.
Cops briefly questioned Viktoria in her apartment – located right next door to Alla's -- then left the scene. It appeared she convinced them she'd done nothing wrong.
Peter Van Sant [inside Alla's apartment]: This apartment has been left exactly as it was from three years ago, correct?
Nadia Ford: That's correct.
Peter Van Sant: You haven't touched anything?
Nadia Ford: No.
It's a haunting time capsule. The food Alla bought is still in the refrigerator. And in nearly every picture frame is Nadia.
Peter Van Sant: What struck you about this room when you came in?
Nadia Ford: Everything was spotless clean and it's a kitchen.
Nadia Ford [motioning towards the refrigerator]: There is no fingerprints on the metal handles.
Peter Van Sant: Do you think it was wiped down?
Nadia Ford: Absolutely.
The home had been looted. Family heirlooms, expensive jewelry – all gone. And whoever did this also stole most of her mother's life's savings: $50,000 that Alla kept in a secret hideaway. It was gone.
Peter Van Sant: Who would know of this secret space?
Nadia Ford: Viktoria.
Remember, Viktoria and Alla had become close friends.
As we inspected the apartment, Nadia showed "48 Hours" a mysterious discovery she made in her mother's closet.
Nadia Ford: My mother left me a message.
The message? She had scrawled something on the wall.
Nadia Ford: [Inside the closet with a flashlight]: In Russian—den'gi—it means money.
Peter Van Sant: And it tells you what?
Nadia Ford:It tells me that the last person, the person who kidnapped her, the person who she was with at that moment -- that's Viktoria.
Nadia took her evidence to the cops. Again, she says, they dismissed her dark tale.
Peter Van Sant: What are the police and the district attorney and what are these people saying to you?
Nadia Ford: Just wait. She's gonna come back.
She hounded the police so much, Nadia says they gave her a nickname.
Nadia Ford: "Crazy American daughter who's looking for her mother."
Peter Van Sant: You may have been a little crazy, but you had a purpose.
Nadia Ford: 'Cause I knew, I knew from the start.
Undaunted, Nadia carried on her search -- posting flyers 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.
Nadia Ford: I went to the room and there was a lady from the back and the body shape looked like my mom [cries] and when she turned it wasn't her. I was devastated.
In an act of desperation, she even pleaded with Viktoria in a text.
Nadia Ford: Listen, I give you everything. My apartment, money, you name it. Please just give me my mom back.
Then, Nadia had a hunch.
Nadia Ford: We're on a highway that Viktoria had my mom.
What if traffic cameras photographed Viktoria the night Nadia's mother went missing?
Peter Van Sant: But you gotta get access to these photographs. How do you do that?
Nadia Ford: 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 Alla's apartment, Nadia hits pay dirt.
Nadia Ford [Pointing to the traffic camera]: There's the camera, right there. That's the speeding camera that showed that my mom was with Viktoria.
Pictures from that traffic camera changed everything. Ford is certain that is Viktoria Nasyrova behind the wheel. And she knows who riding in the passenger seat.
Peter Van Sant: There's no doubt in your mind.
Nadia Ford: No.
Peter Van Sant: And what's the date that this picture was taken?
Nadia Ford: October 5th in the morning. Ten o'clock.
Peter Van Sant: October 5th. The day that you lost all communication with your own mother.
Looking at the picture, Ford thought her mom was still alive.
Nadia Ford: Back in 2014, this camera gave me hope.
Nadia finally had solid proof that Viktoria knew what happened to her mom. She called the lead detective.
Peter Van Sant: What does the detective say?
Nadia Ford: He said, "I know. I have these pictures."
Ford was shocked to learn that investigators had seen the pictures too, and were aggressively working the case. They had confirmed Viktoria rented the car with plates matching what was seen on the traffic camera. So they brought her in for questioning and then they gave her a lie detector test.
Nadia Ford: 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 Aleksenko?" She said, "No." It was a lie. And so on and so on.
Peter Van Sant: Every single question she's asked she fails.
Nadia Ford: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: Do they arrest her right there?
Nadia Ford: No.
Peter Van Sant: She was allowed to leave until they got the results back from reading the graph.
Nadia Ford: Exactly. Yes.
After taking that lie detector test, Viktoria decided not to stick around for the official results. Instead she fled to Moscow, and caught the first flight out of Russia.
Finally, Russian authorities issued a warrant for Viktoria Nasyrova's arrest; the charge, murder. Nadia had two objectives: find her mom and hunt down Viktoria.
Nadia Ford: She cannot get away with this.
TRACKING VIKTORIA
With Viktoria Nasyrova on the run, Nadia Ford desperately continued her search for her mother … hoping against hope to find her alive.
Nadia Ford: 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 who had shocking details of how Viktoria escaped.
Peter Van Sant: A police officer who was involved with this case was having sex with Viktoria?
Nadia Ford: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: You believe that that officer put up a roadblock in this investigation -- to protect Viktoria?
Nadia Ford: Right. Yeah. They took him off the police. They kicked him out.
Frustrated, she traveled from Krasnodar to Moscow to meet the head of the Russian national police.
Peter Van Sant: Is it like the head of the FBI in America?
Nadia Ford: Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
Peter Van Sant: And so this girl from Krasnodar comes and says what?
Nadia Ford: "Please help me." … And he was able to help me.
But help soon turned to heartbreak when, in April 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.
Nadia Ford: I said, "No. That's not her. No. It's -- it's just remains. It just -- why you show me -- showing me the bones?" …And then a few minutes later, I started looking at her teeth.
Peter Van Sant: And you knew. You knew it was your mother.
Nadia Ford: Yeah. And yeah. So I basically recognized my mom by her teeth.
The Russian town of Armavir is about 110 miles from Krasnodar. It's important to this case because it's where Viktoria Nasyrova grew up – and where Alla's body was dumped. Nadia took "48 Hours" to the remote location where her mother's body was found.
Nadia Ford: She kidnapped her, killed her, and burned the body. … That's it.
Interpol issued a red notice for Viktoria Nasyrova's arrest for murder. Nadia returned to New York to pick up the pieces of her shattered life.
Nadia Ford: I went back home and I didn't do anything for three weeks … Viktoria took everything from me. My family, my life, my mom, my everything.
But Viktoria couldn't take away Nadia's determination. On a whim, she turned to Facebook. And you'll never guess who she found.
Nadia Ford: Viktoria was posting pictures … all over the Facebook. Checking in at this place and that place. Beautiful life. …Somehow she obtained a fake passport with a fake name …So she flew to Mexico.
Peter Van Sant: Having a great time.
Nadia Ford: Yeah. And from Mexico she flew to New York.
Nadia reported all this to police and immigration officials. But they couldn't find Viktoria. Enter private investigator Herman Weisberg, who found a crucial clue -- not on the street, but online.
Peter Van Sant: So some killers leave behind DNA. …What did Viktoria leave behind?
Herman Weisberg: A Facebook profile. …I never look at what people want me to see on these sites. I'm used to looking at everything except for what's supposed to draw your attention in.
Late at night, Weisberg obsessively scrolled through Viktoria's profile, looking for clues and finding them in unlikely places.
Herman Weisberg [pointing to a photo of Viktoria]: 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 head rest.
Peter Van Sant: This right here?
Herman Weisberg : Yeah, the black leather with the white-light gray stitching on it -- it made the car that much more unique to me.
Peter Van Sant: You have this picture, this intriguing clue of stitching on this headrest. What do you do with it?
Herman Weisberg: 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.
Peter Van Sant: Hundreds of cars in here.
Herman Weisberg: Yeah. Probably thousands all over the place. So it's real easy to look into dashboards and to look for the kinda detail I was looking for.
Row after row, car after car, then a Chrysler caught his eye.
Peter Van Sant: So you look inside the car and what do you see?
Herman Weisberg: All right, it's got the same stitching
It was an important lead. The stitching matched a Chrysler 300. Now for the hard part: find the specific car Viktoria was driving.
Herman Weisberg: Again, this was such a wild goose chase at this point.
But Weisberg saw that a series of likes on Viktoria's Facebook page were clustered around Sheepshead Bay, a Russian neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Peter Van Sant: So you sent some of your investigators to look for one of these Chrysler 300s. Did they have any luck?
Herman Weisberg: Well, yeah. We found a bunch of them. …And 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 "48 Hours" into the area he searched in March 2017. He called Van Sant to the scene when he once again found the Chrysler 300 at the heart of this investigation.
Peter Van Sant: What did you find? What's going on?
Herman Weisberg [leads Van Sant to the car parked on the street]: I actually-- we spotted the-- I spotted the car. The actual car that she took that picture in.
Peter Van Sant: This is it. This is the car.
Herman Weisberg: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: Take a look inside. You see the stitching?
Herman Weisberg: Yeah. Hard to miss now.
Peter Van Sant: There it is.
Herman Weisberg: Now you see how unique it is, right?
Peter Van Sant: This is only an area of 8.5 million people. And you found the car.
Herman Weisberg: It wasn't a needle in a haystack. You had to find the haystack first. And then to 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.
Herman Weisberg [Referencing a photo of Viktoria]: But when you look at it and you see that -- that telephone pole and the location of that manhole cover and that manhole cover … And if you look over there [at the actual location] you've got the telephone pole and you've got the two manhole covers. …So then I started sayin', "The puzzle was starting to come together for us." You know?
Peter Van Sant: Herman, this is brilliant, through that reflection in her glasses, you figure out this is the apartment building where the man who owns that Chrysler 300 lives. And with Viktoria in the picture, you thinking she might be living with this guy?
Herman Weisberg: … it looks like she took a selfie there. And it -- and it all starts to make sense.
It appeared Viktoria was now living in Nadia's own backyard.
Peter Van Sant: How far away does she end up living from where you live in Brooklyn?
Nadia Ford: A few blocks away. Like, I don't know, four or five blocks away.
Peter Van Sant: You gotta be kidding me. …Did you try to go find her?
Nadia Ford: No.
Peter Van Sant: Why?
Nadia Ford: 'Cause I would kill her.
Peter Van Sant: Now, if you're a internationally wanted fugitive, is it a good idea to wear reflective sunglasses for photographs?
Herman Weisberg: I would say that's probably lesson 101 in the international fugitive school of hiding that you should not do.
Viktoria's new life in America also mirrored her alleged violent past in Russia. Weisberg learned she was a suspect in a series of crimes in New York City.
Herman Weisberg: Viktoria Nasyrova definitely had to be stopped. She was gonna continue drugging and poisoning people to get what she wanted.
THE RUSSIAN TEMPTRESS
Two years after dodging a gruesome murder charge in Russia, Viktoria Nasyrova was living the high life. Little did she know, Weisberg was hot on her trail.
Herman Weisberg: She walks around as if she belongs there in Brooklyn, and she posts about it. It's very unusual.
And just two weeks into the hunt, Weisberg not only discovered the car Viktoria drove in that Facebook selfie, but he narrowed Viktoria's location to an apartment building in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
Herman Weisberg: We got lucky early on. And we spotted Viktoria and her boyfriend out here.
The boyfriend was the owner of the Chrysler 300 and lived in that apartment building.
Peter Van Sant: How did you confirm, yes, this is definitely Viktoria?
Herman Weisberg: Mostly it came down to her clothing.
After nearly 20 years as a New York City police detective, Weisberg learned a valuable lesson when chasing down a suspect.
Harold Weisberg: 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 Viktoria had a favorite pair of boots.
Herman Weisberg: 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.
Peter Van Sant:this exotic, sultry, sexy woman...how you absolutely confirm it's her is not necessarily her face [laughs] , but her feet.
Herman Weisberg: Her shoes. Yep.
Weisberg soon discovered that Viktoria was a one woman walking crime wave, scamming people in every possible way.
Herman Weisberg: She eventually fell into the world of being an escort. A dominatrix. She would knock out with knockout drugs, Rufenal, whatever she was using. And take money, watches, jewelry, whatever she could get.
Herman Weisberg is convinced that Viktoria has dozens of victims who are reluctant to report her to police.
Herman Weisberg: A lotta these victims just go away 'cause nobody wants to go into a precinct and say, "My dominatrix just stole my Rolex and $4,800 from me and I think was drugged," because at the end of the day every single cop listening to that story and every single wife of these guys is gonna say, "What was that first part again? It was a dominatrix?"
Ruben Borukhov, who runs a dry cleaners in Queens, had no idea that Viktoria was an alleged escort, dominatrix or killer when they met on the Russian online dating site, "Mamba.ru."
Ruben Borukhov: I was single at the time. …We started chatting and we setup a date. She said she's a good cook and I said I love to eat.
The two arranged to meet at Viktoria's apartment for dinner, where she served up a dish to die for.
Ruben Borukhov: The only thing I remember, I just took one bite of fish and I was out of it in five minutes.
Borukhov passed out, and while he remained unconscious, Viktoria allegedly went on a shopping spree.
Ruben Borukhov: She took, like, $800 maybe $1,000 all together in cash, $2,400 in American Express.
Peter Van Sant: So she's livin' high on the hog on your money.
Ruben Borukhov: Absolutely.
Two days later, Borukhov -- barely conscious -- was literally taken to the cleaners.
Ruben Borukhov: And she is 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.
Ruben Borukhov [shows Van Sant the inside of a safe]: I had some money in the basement, couple of hundred. She took the watch.
Video shot by one of Borukhov employees captures a glimpse of Viktoria sitting in the boss's chair.
FEMALE VOICE [VIDEO]: Maybe he take pill or something, right.
After cleaning out the cash register, Viktoria fled the scene. The video also shows Borukhov being carried by paramedics to the hospital.
Peter Van Sant: What was it like for you to watch that video?
Ruben Borukhov: I was surprised. It's like it's not me. It's not possible. For a week I was in the hospital.
Peter Van Sant: Did you almost die?
Ruben Borukhov: I think so, that's how I was.
Despite it all, Borukhov, surprisingly, has some respect for Viktoria.
Ruben Borukhov: I love her. …She's a professional. She needs an Academy Award.
Olga Tsvyk, a Queens stylist, is another survivor of Viktoria's cooking. Viktoria was just another customer until one day she showed up on Tsvyk's doorstep -- this time with dessert.
Olga Tsvyk: She came with cheesecake. Three small pieces.
Peter Van Sant: Did you pick it up and take a bite?
Olga Tsvyk: Yes. …After this part I don't remember nothing.
When Tsvyk woke up, Viktoria was standing at her bedside with a second course: a bowl of hot soup.
Olga Tsvyk: 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, Tsvyk was found unconscious on the bedroom floor. Her clothes had been changed into lacey lingerie. Lying next to her were some prescription pills. It looked like an overdose.
Peter Van Sant: Why did she do that?
Olga Tsvyk: She want to make like, suicide, you know?
Peter Van Sant: And why would she want you dead?
Olga Tsvyk: Because she wants use my I.D.
Peter Van Sant: Your identity?
Olga Tsvyk: Identity, yeah.
Peter Van Sant: Because the two of you look similar?
Olga Tsvyk: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: For you, meeting Viktoria Nasyrova almost cost you your life?
Olga Tsvyk: Yeah. …Almost cost me my life.
Viktoria'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.
Herman Weisberg: I think that dog was getting a little too much attention and Nasyrova didn't like that. So Nasyrova got rid of the dog. …allegedly, again, on the beagle's birthday. I'm a dog lover, so that's tough.
Joey the beagle's demise didn't sit well with Viktoria's neighbors, either.
Karen Hill |Neighbor: She killed his dog, that bitch. She killed his dog.
Herman Weisberg: Every time you learn something else about this woman, you realize that if she was left unarrested, this could of really ended poorly for Brooklyn [laughs].
From Facebook to the Chrysler 300 to the apartment building in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, Weisberg knew the hunt was over. On March 20, 2017, he alerted the NYPD that Viktoria was in her apartment.
Herman Weisberg: 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, who often placed her victims in restraints, suddenly found herself in handcuffs.
Peter Van Sant: You look at her in the eye?
Herman Weisberg: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: Does she see you?
Herman Weisberg: Oh, yeah.
Peter Van Sant: What do you say?
Herman Weisberg: I said, "Good morning, Viktoria" [laughs].
Herman Weisberg: I felt good for Nadia, you know? For me, it was-- it was a great day at work. For her, that's a life changer.
Nadia Ford: I just cried. I -- I couldn't believe that it's actually happened [cries]. It's a miracle.
News of Viktoria Nasyrova's arrest made headlines from New York to Moscow.
Though authorities may never know the full extent of Viktoria's alleged crimes, one person does, and "48 Hours" went to Rikers Island jail to meet her.
CONFRONTING AN ALLEGED KILLER
Three years after Viktoria Nasyrova 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.
Peter Van Sant: How does a girl from a small town in Russia end up in Rikers jail in New York City?
Viktoria Nasyrova [in English]: This is fantastic story.
Peter Van Sant: A fantastic story, you say—
Viktoria Nasyrova: Yes.
Peter Van Sant: Viktoria, people who don't care for you have called you a sociopath, a psychopath … a devil.
Viktoria Nasyrova: I am not a killer. …I'm woman. Only woman.
Viktoria Nasyrova [Translated from Russian]: It sounds like a bad dream, and that I'm going to wake up, and all of this will be gone.
But if it's a bad dream for Viktoria, it's a nightmare for Nadia.
Nadia Ford: She's a psychopath and there is nothing else you can expect from psychopath.
Viktoria claims that Russian police are framing her and points to the traffic cam pictures as evidence.
Peter Van Sant [Holding the traffic cam photo]: Viktoria, this is a picture of your rental car. There is a person sitting next to you in this car, and that sure looks like Alla.
Viktoria Nasyrova (in English) ...This is fake.
Peter Van Sant: This is a fake picture.
Viktoria Nasyrova: Yes.
Peter Van Sant: …That is Alla sitting right next to you.
Viktoria Nasyrova [Translated from Russian]: 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.
Nadia Ford: Viktoria's pathological liar. …She use any words -- anything to just continue of doing what she was doing.
Peter Van Sant: Your car is tracked with GPS to the area where Alla'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?
Viktoria Nasyrova: No.
She told "48 Hours" there were two people who would confirm her story. So when we were in Russia, we went to speak with them -- her parents:
Peter Van Sant: Valentina? Valentina?
Peter Van Sant: Are you Takir?
Takir | Viktoria's father: Dasvidaniya.
Peter Van Sant: Dasvidaniya.
Peter Van Sant [to cameraman] Come here. You need to speak Russian to him.
Cameraman: Tashir, Valentina, Viktoria -- CBS News.
Peter Van Sant: Viktoria wants me to speak to you. Please come out of your house and talk.
Cameraman: He call police.
Peter Van Sant: He said he'd call the police?
Cameraman: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: Well, that's not very friendly. … I think we're done here.
Peter Van Sant: Where does the case go from here?
Herman Weisberg: It stays in America for a while. …She's got enough to keep her behind bars for now.
Viktoria is currently charged with 18 felonies in New York City, including grand larceny in Ruben Borukhov's case and attempted murder in Olga Tsvyk's case.
Herman Weisberg: We need to make Viktoria pay for the crimes that she's committed here.
But with no extradition treaty between the U.S. and Russia, the question remains: will Viktoria stand trial for murder? While "48 Hours" was in Krasnodar, Van Sant asked the top official in the investigation.
Peter Van Sant: And what he told me was "there is no question that Viktoria Nasyrova committed this murder." And their message to American prosecutors is that they would like to see Viktoria 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.
Herman Weisberg: Nadia Ford is a very intelligent person. … She did things that a lot of people wouldn't have thought were possible. …And she basically solved a homicide.
In a cemetery not far from where her mother was abducted, Nadia was finally able to give Alla a proper funeral. There, etched in stone is her mother's name -- but something is missing.
Nadia Ford: I don't know the day, the minute, the second when she died.
Nadia Ford: ...And Viktoria knows the date. …if she's not gonna tell me how she killed, tell me the date, when.
Peter Van Sant: Does this in any way close a circle for you?
Nadia Ford: It will be open til the moment she'll be behind the bars the rest of her life for what she did.
Today, the woman at the center of this case awaits her fate in jail. But the memories of Nadia's mother remain alive as ever.
Nadia Ford: My mom gave me the most important thing in life … I know what feeling of family means. …I know what love means.
Viktoria Nasyrova has been in jail since March 2017. She will stand trial in New York for her alleged crimes.
Russia will then formally request Viktoria Nasyrova be sent back to stand trial for the murder of Nadia's mother Alla Aleksenko.
