Christina Yuna Lee was stabbed more than 40 times by a suspect who followed her into her Chinatown apartment and imitated her voice when police came knocking, prosecutors said.
The suspect, Assamad Nash, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, burglary and sexually motivated burglary on Monday in the early Sunday slaying of Lee, New York City police announced.
At his arraignment Monday, where he was remanded, prosecutors shared chilling details in the case.
Nash, 25, was seen in surveillance footage following Lee, 35, as she entered her apartment building around 4:20 a.m. Sunday. He followed her up six flights, remaining one flight behind while looking up, before rushing into her unit’s door behind her, according to the criminal complaint.
Neighbors heard Lee scream for help and called police.
When police arrived, they heard Lee’s calls for help before her voice went quiet and the sound of another voice emerged, prosecutor Dafna Yoran said at the hearing.
It was Nash imitating the voice of a woman and claiming they didn’t need police, according to the prosecutor.
He tried to leave through a fire escape but saw an officer on the roof and went back inside the victim’s apartment. The officer saw a yellow object in the suspect’s hand, prosecutors said.
When emergency service unit officers entered Lee’s apartment at 5:40 a.m., they discovered her in the bathroom with stab wounds to her torso. She was naked from the waist up, prosecutors said.
Nash was found hidden under the bed and a yellow-handled knife hidden behind the dresser. He had a stab wound to his torso and cuts on his hands and shoulders, according to prosecutors.
At the time of Lee’s killing, he was out on supervised release on three open cases and also has an extensive record in New Jersey, prosecutors said.
If convicted, he faces a sentence as high as life without parole.
Authorities are investigating if the defendant was the target of a crime due to racial animus or belief.
As Nash was led out of the Fifth Precinct stationhouse Monday in handcuffs, he said, “I didn’t kill anyone.”
NBC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.
Lee was a senior creative producer at Splice, a digital music platform, and a Rutgers University graduate, Variety reported.
In a tribute, Splice said: “Our hearts are broken. Always dedicated to making beautiful and inclusive artwork, Christina is irreplaceable.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
