The most recent episode of ‘New York Homicide’ on Oxygen recounts the horrific death of 24-year-old Michelle Lee in her Queens, New York, flat at the end of April 2009. With the aid of her diary writings, the authorities were able to apprehend her killer in a short amount of time while she was a rookie forensic investigator at the NYPD crime lab.
How Did Michelle Lee Die?
2008 saw Michelle Lee, a native of College Point, Queens, earn her degree in forensic science from John Jay College. In September 2008, she began her employment as a forensic investigator with the New York Police Department. By April 2009, the bright woman, who had long aspired to work in law enforcement, was well on her way to becoming a top specialist in drug investigations. Michelle had a female flatmate and lived in a third-floor apartment in the Sunnyside neighbourhood of Queens, close to her family, because she adored them.
Even in a difficult, male-dominated job, she had the self-assurance to boldly wear ‘BarBe pink’ nail paint and yearned to get a pug. Not only did she flourish in this setting, but she also received acclaim for her academic accomplishments from both her former school and former New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly, who called her “exceptionally talented.” Her friends remembered her as a responsible, loving, and kind friend who enjoyed window shopping, Bravo reality shows, and mac and cheese with ketchup.
After returning from a weekend excursion on Sunday night, April 26, 2009, the flatmate went straight to her room to sleep. On April 27, she chose to wake Michelle up because they were going to be late for work. Michelle’s flatmate was also employed at the crime lab. When the 24-year-old unclothed NYPD crime lab worker’s roommate entered her room, she was met with a horrifying sight: a knife embedded in her neck, and she was bound to the bed in a pool of blood. For several days, the authorities presumed she had passed away.
“She (the flatmate) came down the stairs screaming,” said Milenko Mijat, the landlord of the 43rd Street building. “She’s dead in the bed, Michelle,” she sobbed. In addition to the injuries listed above, police sources claim the woman was struck in the head, burned on her stomach with an iron, and strangled with a cell phone charger cable. The official cause of death, as determined by the medical examiner, was blunt force trauma to the head from a hammer. Her body had various injuries, all of which were treated postmortem.
Who Killed Michelle Lee?
Nothing appeared to be gone, there were no indications of a struggle, and there were no marks of forced entry, according to the investigators. It was evident that Michelle’s wrists were bound after her death because there were no bruise marks left on the ligature. The cops discovered no blood spatter despite the fact that she had been severely beaten. In order to preserve trace evidence, such as hair, fibre, skin, and blood that might have become trapped beneath Michelle’s fingernails during a struggle, they took pictures of the scene and wrapped Michelle’s hands in bags.
The investigators also cut the cloth that was used to tie Michelle to the bedpost and covered, then swabbed the kitchen knife that Michelle was killed with for DNA. To look for the fibres and skin cells of the offender, the knots were left whole. The security tape from the flat was too blurry to identify the male suspect Michelle had met with the night of the murder, but they nonetheless checked it. To identify potential suspects and a possible motivation, the forensic investigators gathered personal belongings such as her cell phone, computer, and diary.
Michelle’s diary provided the breakthrough, even though the forensic evidence taken from the crime scene did not match anything in the national database. The entries discussed her contact with a 23-year-old student at her former school, Manhattan’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, named Gary McGurk. In her final journal entry, she said, “Dear Journal, My thoughts are wandering. I’m not prepared to let Gary go. I’m trying to think of the ideal moment to confess my love to him. I really do.
On April 28, in the evening, the NYPD’s 108th precinct interrogation room was where the cops brought him in for questioning. Gary, who was of Irish descent and had a scruffy appearance, was on the verge of obtaining a degree in forensic psychology, a field of study intended to shed light on the motivations of murderers. He had thrown them off with his police training, the investigators quickly realised. According to forensic specialists, Gary attempted to outwit his interrogators by utilising his knowledge to outsmart them in his testimony to the authorities, which showed obvious traces of such training.
Initially, they inquired in a non-threatening manner in an effort to get the suspect to voluntarily divulge information. Gary talked about his family and then related his experiences with Michelle. He talked about how he saw Michelle running at the John Jay gym in the autumn of 2004. After he asked her out, they had a brief romantic engagement that developed into what he called a “friends with benefits.” He also revealed that she had helped him out financially when he was unemployed.
Gary turned to fraud to steal thousands of dollars from her, telling her he had stage IV cancer and didn’t have health insurance. He made up the claim that he had stopped taking his medicine and that the fake cancer had spread to his liver, kidneys, and lungs. “He’s so brave,” Michelle wrote in her diary, overcome with emotion. I’m always thinking. I cry all the time. I adore him a great deal. I hope he feels better. I long to hold him in my arms forever. But Gary insisted he was sick of being the helpless lover who owes his spouse his life.
His new partner verified his claims that he had moved on and was in a new relationship the night of the alleged occurrence. He continued to give a detailed account of the murderous night, detailing his date with his then-girlfriend, the exact times they spent together, the locations of the tube stops, and even the cost of the boat ride. However, his account grew hazy around the approximate time of the murder. Gary went so far as to say that his profession disturbed him. “The pictures turn your stomach,” he said. It’s just too much to bear. Cadavers and photos from crime scenes bother me.
But because to his cell phone records, the authorities were able to establish that Gary had been inside Michelle’s apartment. It was then found that his new partner had given a fictitious alibi. Gary then claimed that Michelle was still alive when he left her without the $500 loan, claiming that he had gone there to get it. But the cops had enough tangible proof to accuse him of tampering with evidence and murder. He managed to flee from his mother’s Woodside, Queens, home in May 2009, taking only a bag of clothes and his passport with him.
Where is Gary McGurk Now?
In order to hide the crime, the prosecution said Garyn tampered with Michelle’s BlackBerry and blood evidence. To confuse the investigators, they claimed he had also changed positions and caused more injuries. Michelle’s realisation that he had conned her could have been a contributing factor. In May 2010, Gary entered a plea of guilty to first-degree manslaughter and evidence tampering. In June 2010, he received a sentence ranging from 29 to 37 years. The 37-year-old, who is being held in the Sullivan Correctional Facility, is scheduled to be released from prison in 2030.
