NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The sidewalk memorial for Christina Yuna Lee, who was stabbed to death in her Chinatown apartment last weekend, was vandalized days after her murder.
Lee’s landlord, Brian Chin, found the memorial defaced on Wednesday morning.
“The street was just full of smashed glass. The candles had been strewn over. The signs had been ripped off of the tree. And flowers had been scattered over the sidewalk,” Chin told WABC-TV.
The makeshift memorial grew outside Lee’s Chrystie Street apartment in the days after she was killed early Sunday morning.
While Lee’s murder is not currently being investigated as a hate crime, members of the Asian community said they feel unsafe, and several rallies have been held outside her building this week to urge the city to do more to protect residents.
“We’re angry and as a community we’re saddened,” Chin said.
After finding the memorial destroyed, Chin got to work cleaning it up and rebuilding it with the help of others. He said while the murder and vandalism are horrible, the outpouring of support is uplifting.
“We retaped the signs to the trees. We wrote new messages. We placed new candles. We placed more flowers,” Chin said. “It’s beautiful honestly to see the community care so much about a woman who didn’t deserve this.”
In a criminal complaint, prosecutors said Lee, 35, was killed by a homeless man, Assamad Nash, 25, who grabbed the front door to her building before it closed and followed her up six flights of stairs to her apartment. He then allegedly stabbed her more than 40 times.
Lee was found dead in the bathroom, while Nash was discovered hiding under a bed with a knife nearby, according to prosecutors.
Nash was charged with murder, burglary and sexually motivated burglary.
The stabbing has renewed debate about the state's bail reform, as the suspect was out on supervised release with three open criminal cases, including for assault.
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