N.Y.C. Woman Found Murdered in Bathtub After She's Followed Home, Fatally Stabbed in Her Apartment

Christina Yuna Lee, 35, screamed "Help me! Call 911!" as she was repeatedly stabbed in her Chinatown apartment just after she returned from a night out

Christina Yuna Lee
Christina Yuna Lee. Photo: LinkedIn

A New York City woman who'd just gotten home after an evening out on Saturday night was followed into her apartment building where a homeless man stabbed her to death, say police.

Early Sunday morning, Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was dropped off at her building on Chrystie Street in Chinatown, police told WNBC.

Surveillance video revealed that a man followed her into the building, her landlord, Brian Chin, told WNBC.

"She opened the door and he just slipped in right behind her," Chin told WNBC. "She never even knew he was there."

At 4:23 a.m., officers with the New York City Police Department responded to a call about a dispute at the building, NYPD spokesperson Sgt. Edward Riley said in a statement.

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Two terrified young women across the hall from Lee heard her screams and called 911, WNBC reports.

"Upon arrival, police encountered a barricaded individual and were unable to gain immediate access inside of the apartment," Riley said.

When officers were finally able to get into the apartment with the help of Emergency Service Unit officers, they found Lee in the bathroom "with trauma about the body," Riley said.

Lee was pronounced dead at the scene.

Assamad Nash
Assamad Nash.

Officers say they caught the suspect, Assamad Nash, 25, who allegedly tried to get away first by jumping on a fire escape and then by running back inside the apartment and hiding under a bed, the New York Post, WNBC and WABC report.

The New York Post was able to get ahold of the chilling surveillance video, which it described as showing the suspect walk about 6 feet from Lee inside a narrow hallway as she headed to her apartment unit.

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Nash had previously been arrested for a string of misdemeanors, according to court records cited by The New York Times.

In one incident, a 62-year-old man allegedly said Nash had punched him in the face over a MetroCard dispute.

On Monday, Nash was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge and two counts of burglary in criminal court. He is due to return to court on Friday.

Lee was a senior creative producer at Splice, a digital music platform in New York City, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She had described herself on LinkedIn as an "experienced digital producer with a demonstrated history of working across retail, fashion, fitness, media, art and music industries."

A graduate of Rutgers University, she said she was a "strong arts and design professional with a BA focused in Art History."

Lee's slaying is one of a number of attacks against Asian Americans in the last few years.

Calling the slaying "horrific," on Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams said in a Tweet that "we stand with our Asian community today.

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