Christina Lee’s Savage Murderer, Assamad Nash, Sentenced to 30 Years to Life

One of the most horrific murders in recent New York history—the February 13, 2022 slaying of 35-year-old Korean-American Christina Yuna Lee in her Chrystie Street apartment—has reached at least one point of closure.

On Tuesday July 30, Lee’s killer 27-year-old Assamad Nash, was sentenced to 30 years to life for the heinous slaying, which received worldwide attention both for its brutality and bizarreness.

Having previously found unfit to stand trial, on June 18, Nash plead guilty to second degree murder and first-degree burglary as a sexually motived felony.

The slaying itself took place on a Sunday, sometime after 4:20 a.m. in Lee’s apartment at 111 Chrystie Street, near the corner of Grand Street and opposite Sarah D. Roosevelt Park.

The viciousness of Lee’s death is nearly matched by how unlikely such a horrific death would have seemed to her.

Having returned home from a club by Uber, surveillance video shows Lee—clad in a short dress, dark jacket, white shoes and a white COVID mask—entering her building’s 1st floor hallway, followed just three or four steps behind by her soon-to-be murderer, dressed in a baggy blue pants and a grey jacket.

Somehow, Lee seems not to have noticed the man who quickly snuck in behind her. Nor does it appear likely she knew she was being stalked as she climbed to the stairs to her apartment on the top floor of the six-story walk-up.

The shock and terror the moment Nash pounced on Lee and pushed his way into her apartment would only be exceeded by what followed.

Lee’s neighbor across the hallway heard screaming and called 911 at around 4:22 a.m. “I heard someone else inside her apartment, he was trying to make her quiet. She was screaming ‘Help me!” the neighbor told the New York Post.

Though police from the 5th Precinct arrived within minutes, cops—controversially—wouldn’t enter Lee’s apartment until around 5:40 a.m. In the interim, Nash first told cops to “go away,” and that he was alone in the apartment. Subsequently, Nash tried to flee via the fire escape. Realizing there were police on the roof, he retreated inside.

When Emergency Service Unit officers finally burst in, they found Christina Lee in her bathroom, stripped from the waist up and covered in blood from more than 40 stab wounds to her torso, head and neck.

Cops found the murder weapon—a yellow-handled knife from Lee’s own kitchen—hidden behind a dresser.

Lee’s demonic slayer, himself wounded in the attack, was taken away in an ambulance, while also pretending to be concerned for Lee’s welfare. According to prosecutors, Nash said, “We were partying and the dude escaped”—a blatant lie, as evidence would prove, but one that demonstrated Nash’s cognizance of his actions.

Likewise, in a chilling jailhouse interview with the New York Post that May, Nash said “She was having a party and she invited me over for a drink.” Asked to recall the moments before the murder, Nash said

“I was too high... [on] dust and K2. I don’t remember nothing. I told you. I wasn’t in my right state of mind. It’s crazy being on that stuff.””

At the time of his arrest for Lee’s murder, Nash, whose last address was the Bowery Mission homeless shelter and was often see at Sara D. Roosevelt Park, had four recent open cases against him.

The most serious of these crimes occurred September 28, 2001 at the Grand Street subway station, when he punched 63-year-old David Elliott in the face after he swiped a woman friend into the subway. “That’s the guy that f***ing hit me!” Elliott told the New York Post after Lee’s murder. “He shouldn’t have been out on the streets — hell no.”

Nash’s other recent crimes involved various incidents of subway station vandalism and trying to escape from police.

While many people would reflexively blame New York state’s controversial bail reform policies for Nash’s remaining on the streets, a Daily News review of his criminal record showed that not be the case.

Rather, it was a series of decisions by prosecutors, and judges to treat these misdemeanor crimes lightly. The same apparent disinterest in public seems to extend to Nash’s attorneys, who treated him like a common criminal, not the mentally unstable murderous maniac he soon became. As the News’ observed:

“The question remained unanswered as to why three judges, prosecutors under ex-DA Cy Vance and successor Bragg, and Nash’s Legal Aid attorneys never recommended him for mental health services or a psychiatric exam at any of his court appearances — including his arraignment for Lee’s murder.

According to the DA, defense attorneys never requested an examination at any of his appearances.

And it remained unclear if the Manhattan judges who saw Nash in their courtrooms before the killing were made aware of his extensive New Jersey criminal history. His 18 prior arrests across the Hudson River included charges of robbery, carjacking and burglary, authorities said.”

A graduate of Rutgers University in New York, Christian Lee studied art history, a passion she shared while working at the Eli Klein Gallery specializing in contemporary Chinese art in the West Village before embarking on her successful career as a Creative Director for various retail, fashion, media companies. At the time of her death, Lee worked for the web-based music creation platform, Splice.com.

Members of Lee’s family spoke after Nash’s sentencing. Her father, Songkun Lee, who wept during Nash’s sentencing, hoped a homeless shelter would be named after his daughter, so people don’t forget.

In May, Lee’s aunt Boksun Lee filed suit both NYPD and the city in New York Supreme Court for the wrongful death of her niece.

Among the issues cited in the complaint is the one hour and twenty-minute gap between the arrival 5th Precinct cops and the time when Emergency Service Unit officers broke into Lee’s apartment and the city’s neglect of the public safety issues in Sarah D. Roosevelt Park.

While the city has yet to respond to the charges, Straus News can report that conditions at Sara R. Roosevelt Park around Grand Street remain as they were before Lee slaying: haven for drug addicts and homeless people, some plainly addled, others merely passed out, and not a beat cop in sight.

This isn’t merely a temporary uptick. Gothamist reported on the issue in November 2023, and if any progress has been made, it’s difficult to see.

At a memorial vigil held in Sara D. Roosevelt Park the Monday after Christina Lee’s murder, Asian-American mourners carried signs that read “Enough Is Enough Stop Asian Hate”; “Save Chinatown Our Risk Is Real!”’ “We Want to Walk Without Fear!”; and “We Demand Real Solutions for Homeless and Mental.”

Despite much press attention and the sympathy of politicians, how much has changed?