Man who followed woman into her NYC apartment and stabbed her to death sentenced to 30 years to life

NEW YORK — A man who followed a woman from the street up six flights of stairs into her New York City apartment and stabbed her to death was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years to life in prison.

Assamad Nash, 27, was sentenced in Manhattan state Supreme Court for the Feb. 13, 2022, murder of 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee.

Nash had pleaded guilty on June 18 to one count each of murder and burglary as a sexually motivated felony.

Prosecutors said Lee was returning home to her building in Manhattan's Chinatown when Nash followed her up the stairs and into her apartment. They said Nash pushed his way inside and attempted to sexually assault her.

Neighbors heard Lee struggling with Nash and called 911, but it took police more than an hour to break the door down and get inside the apartment. They found Lee dead in the bathroom with at least 40 stab wounds.

"Christina Yuna Lee was killed in an unthinkably horrific manner in her own apartment at the hands of Assamad Nash,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. Bragg said Lee's death “not only devastated her family but left a lasting impact on an entire community.”

Lee worked as a senior creative producer at Splice, an online platform for digital music.

Some in New York’s Asian-American community feared that the murder of Lee, who was Korean American, was part of a wave of anti-Asian violence during the coronavirus pandemic. But Nash was not charged with a hate crime.