An Asian American woman was stabbed to death in her Chinatown apartment early Sunday morning by a stranger who followed her inside, according to police and multiple reports.
Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was discovered by cops in her bathtub, where she was “bleeding from multiple wounds to the body,” police sources told the New York Post. Lee’s alleged killer, Assamad Nash, was found hiding under her bed, the outlet reported.
“No charges have been established as of yet,” an NYPD spokesman told The Daily Beast, who said the department is planning to officially release the suspect’s name later on Monday. But the Post and The New York Times, both citing unnamed police officials, identified the alleged killer as Nash. Police officials said they do not believe the two knew each other prior to the deadly attack.
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Surveillance footage provided to the Post by Lee’s landlord appeared to show the suspect following the New York-based multimedia producer into the vestibule of her building on Christie Street.
“He grabbed the front door just before it closed,” the building owner told the outlet. “He followed her all the way up, hanging back, staying one floor behind her all the way up to the sixth floor. Then, he waited until her door was just about closed and he went in.”
One of Lee’s neighbors told the Times that he was jolted awake around 4:30 a.m. Sunday by screaming that “sounded like something out of a movie.” A woman who lived across the hall from Lee called 911, and cops arrived on the scene minutes later.
Nash had allegedly attempted to flee down the building’s fire escape, then barricaded himself inside Lee’s apartment when his plan was foiled. Officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit broke down the front door, and found a blood-covered Nash hiding inside, according to reports. Lee was pronounced dead at 5:55 a.m. The grisly slaying has not yet been classified as a hate crime, according to authorities.
Lee, who previously lived in New Jersey, was “a New York-based creative producer dealing in national-scale marketing content for select names like Google, Twix, Equinox, TOMS, Cole Haan and ALDO,” says her website. “Christina upholds the integrity of these diverse brand directives while lending her unique aesthetic sensibility and management style.”
In a statement issued Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain who retired from the force in 2006, said, “I and New Yorkers across the city mourn for the innocent woman murdered in her home last night in Chinatown and stand with our Asian brothers and sisters today. The NYPD is investigating this horrific incident, and I thank them for apprehending the suspect. While the suspect who committed this heinous act is now in custody, the conditions that created him remain. The mission of this administration is clear: We won’t let this violence go unchecked.”
Over the past two years, cops have seen a spike in attacks targeting Asian Americans, retired NYPD Det. Sgt. Joseph Giacalone, who now teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told The Daily Beast. Hate crimes against Asian American New Yorkers rose by 361 percent in 2021, according to the NYPD. Across the country, anti-Asian hate crimes jumped by 73 percent in 2020, compared with a 13 percent rise in hate crimes across all categories, according to the most recent FBI data available. An October 2021 poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that one in four Asian households in the U.S. reported “fearing someone might threaten or physically attack them because of their race/ethnicity.”
Nash, who was arrested and taken to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation, is expected to be charged Monday. He is reportedly homeless, according to ABC 7. He has been arrested at least three times over the past year on misdemeanor charges that included assault, harassment, and illegal use of MetroCards, court records show. Nash was released without bail in all three incidents.
Ishan R. Banerjee of the Legal Aid Society, Nash’s public defender in the three previous cases, declined to comment when reached by The Daily Beast. A spokesman for the Legal Aid Society, Redmond Haskins, told The Daily Beast, “We have no comment on the pending cases but may when Mr. Nash is arraigned and if we’re assigned to that case.”
At a press conference on Sunday, New York State Sen. John Liu (D) said, “Now, maybe this is a hate crime. Maybe this is not a hate crime. But it’s yet another Asian woman... and the city continues to seemingly talk about long-term solutions without providing the relief that the community needs and demands right now.”
