A 35-year-old Asian woman was brutally stabbed to death inside her Chinatown apartment early Sunday morning by a homeless career criminal. The homeless man, who was out on bail, followed Christina Lee inside her apartment and stabbed her at least 40 times, in a 'sexually motivated' crime, prosecutors said.
According to NYDaily News, the suspect, identified as 25-year-old Assamad Nash stalked Lee in her Chrystie St. building up to her apartment on the sixth floor early Sunday, prosecutors noted during Nash's arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran informed that Nash was charged with murder, burglary, and sexually-motivated burglary in connection with the Asian woman's death. He is being held without bail and could face life imprisonment without parole.
'Calm down, I have a gun'
Yoran said that Nash even tried to mislead the officers who responded to the scene by mimicking a woman's voice telling them that they are not needed. According to a criminal complaint, Nash followed Lee into her building at around 4:20 am on Sunday.
As soon as Lee opened the door to her apartment, Nash ran towards it pushing his way inside. About two minutes later, a neighbor heard a woman's cry for help along with a man's voice saying, "Calm down, I have a gun."
Yoran noted that police arrived at the scene but couldn't get inside the apartment from where Lee's screams could still be heard. After some time, she went quiet. It was then that Nash spoke to the officers from inside the apartment in a woman's voice.
The victim was found naked from waist up
Nash tried to escape from the fire escape but went back inside the apartment after he spotted a cop on the roof. Officers then broke down the door to Lee's apartment to find her on the bathroom floor, naked from the waist up, covered with blood, and stabbed more than 40 times, Yoran noted.
Nash, on the other hand, was hiding under a bed. He suffered a stab wound to his torso along with cuts on his hands and torso. According to Yoran, prosecutors are looking towards a possible hate crime angle as well in the case.
Career criminal
Nash has eight prior arrests in New York City to his name. He was out on supervised release in three misdemeanor cases since September. In a September 28 case, he was accused of punching a man at a subway turnstile.
