Newsman: Christina Yuna Lee woman was stabbed to death in her Manhattan apartment early Sunday morning. A knife-wielding stranger followed her into her sixth-floor Chinatown apartment. Christina Yuna Lee was trapped as She was stabbed more than 40 times while screamed for help.
Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was found in her bathroom early Sunday after her attacker followed her into her Chinatown apartment, according to police statements and local media reports.
Police said Assamad Nash, 25, was charged with murder and burglary. Nash had been charged in multiple other misdemeanor cases in recent months, including assault and property damage, court records show. In those cases, he was being represented by the Legal Aid Society, which declined to comment. It was unclear if he had an attorney in the murder case.
Judge Weiner ordered Nash to return to court on Feb. 18. Should he be convicted of the first-degree murder charge, Nash faces a maximum sentence of life without parole.
The motive for Nash’s actions remains under investigation; the Manhattan DA’s office is examining whether Nash allegedly targeted Lee based on her race. For now, he was additionally booked on two first-degree burglary charges, one of which was described as “sexually motivated.”
Prosecutors said the stranger, Assamad Nash, 25, allegedly stabbed Lee, 35, more than 40 times — leaving her partially naked and lying in a pool of her own blood inside the bathroom.
Nash was taken into custody following a brief standoff with police at the scene, and later charged with first-degree murder. He had been out on supervised release after being arrested three times in four months last fall for misdemeanor crimes including assault, illegally selling MetroCard swipes and vandalizing MetroCard vending machines in the subway system.
But Nash is now behind bars indefinitely after being arraigned Monday night in New York Criminal Court on the murder charge. Judge Jay Weiner, who presided over the arraignment, remanded Nash without bail after Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran outlined on the record the grisly details of the heinous crime that has shocked and horrified an entire community.
According to prosecutors, Lee arrived at her Chrystie Street residence at about 4:20 a.m. on Feb. 13, ascending the six flights of stairs leading to her walk-up apartment. Assamad Nash allegedly silently followed her inside just as the front door was closing. A neighbor called 911 after hearing screams. The suspect initially tried to flee via the fire escape, but police said he was arrested after barricading himself inside the apartment.
Christina Yuna Lee was found dead in her bathroom stabbed 40 times after a man. When police arrived on the scene, they heard Lee’s screams, but by the time they broke down her steel door, it was too late. Nash was found hiding under her bed, police said.
Though police have not said whether Lee’s killing was being classified as a hate crime, public officials in New York swiftly condemned the gruesome act.
“This is the definition of horrific. … We stand with our Asian community today,” Mayor Eric Adams tweeted Sunday.
Added Gov. Kathy Hochul: “We have seen far too many acts of violence against AAPI New Yorkers in recent months. We must make sure every community is safe in our state.”
Chilling surveillance video published by the New York Post showed Lee walking into her apartment just before 4:30 a.m. Sunday. A man follows her in before the door fully closes.
Lee worked at Splice, a digital music platform, the company confirmed to The New York Times. She was a graduate of Rutgers University and had worked in photo and video for companies such as Marriott and Toms, her social media accounts show.
Lee’s death comes just weeks after another woman of Asian descent, Michelle Alyssa Go, died after being shoved in front of a subway train at the Times Square station. Go’s death also sparked outcry from advocates who said the attack and others in recent months during the pandemic have had a chilling effect on people of Asian descent in the United States.
Last week, a man was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, weeks after Yao Pan Ma, a 61-year-old Chinese immigrant, died from his injuries stemming from an attack last year.
More than 10,000 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been recorded since March 2020, according to the latest report from Stop AAPI Hate, a group that has been tracking violence and other forms of discrimination and harassment against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group also surveyed more than 1,000 respondents and found roughly 1 in 5 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders had experienced a hate incident in the past year.
Two brutal killings in the span of less than a month have left Asian American women in New York City on edge. And in metropolitan areas around the country, they say there’s constant reason to be looking over their shoulder.15, 202201:36
Authorities are investigating if Lee was the target of a crime due to racial animus or belief. Go’s attacker was not charged with a hate crime. But for women who say the incidents deeply impacted them, the labels don’t make much of a difference.
