Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Ho “Alex” Shin was extradited from South Korea and arraigned on indictment charges of murder and related crimes for fatally stabbing 22-year-old Hyun Dae Kim in January 2002 inside an apartment in Flushing. The defendant is also charged with attempted murder for stabbing another 22-year-old victim in the apartment who survived the attack.

 

Shin allegedly fled the country shortly after the attack and was arrested in South Korea by local authorities in December 2025. He was extradited to New York yesterday.

 

District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, 24 years ago, this defendant unleashed a brutal and senseless attack inside a Flushing apartment, repeatedly stabbing two young men and taking one of their lives. He then almost immediately fled the country in an attempt to evade accountability. No matter how much time passes, we do not give up on our victims and their families. Through steadfast collaboration with our federal and international law enforcement partners — including authorities in South Korea — my Extraditions Unit and Homicide Bureau located the defendant abroad and secured his return to Queens.”

 

Shin, 43, was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with two counts of murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second degree, two counts of assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.

 

Supreme Court Justice Jessica Earle-Gargan remanded the defendant and ordered him to return to court on February 17. If convicted, the defendant faces 50 years to life in prison.

 

DA Katz said that, according to the indictment and investigation, on January 6, 2002, at approximately 4:30 a.m., the victims went to a female friend’s apartment, along with the defendant, after a night out. The defendant briefly left the apartment, called his co-defendant, who was 16 at the time, and told him to bring two knives.

 

A short while later, Shin and his co-defendant burst into the apartment and began stabbing Hyun Dae Kim multiple times over a perceived instance of disrespect that took place earlier in the night. When the victim’s friend, Hyun Suk Yu, tried to intervene, the defendant stabbed him as well.

 

Shin and his co-defendant immediately fled the scene.

 

Hyun Dae was rushed to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The second victim survived.

 

Investigators determined that the defendant told acquaintances that he had stabbed someone and needed to get out of town. The District Attorney’s office and the NYPD have been trying to locate the defendant ever since.

 

On December 8, Shin was arrested in South Korea. He was extradited to New York yesterday.

 

The original investigation was conducted by Detective Steven Brown of the 109^th Detective Squad. The recent investigation was conducted by Detective Annamari Bernagozzi of the NYPD’s Cold Case Squad in close partnership with the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, leading to the defendant’s apprehension.

 

The District Attorney’s Extraditions Unit, led by Section Chief Timothy McGrath, played a crucial role in securing the defendant’s return.

 

The District Attorney extends her deep gratitude to our federal law enforcement partners. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with the Ministry of Justice and law enforcement partners in the Republic of Korea to secure the defendant’s arrest and extradition. Shin was escorted from South Korea to New York by the U.S. Marshals Service.

 

Assistant District Attorney Gabriel J. Reale of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, Karen Ross and Jonathan Selkowe, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.