FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 13, 2026
Defendant Sentenced to 19 Years to Life in Prison for
Murder of Girlfriend in Bedford-Stuyvesant Apartment
Cause of Death Cited as Ligature Strangulation
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the strangulation death of his girlfriend in their Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment. The victim was discovered after a relative asked police to conduct a wellness check at the location.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Kelly Kwak should have been able to feel safe and secure in the home she shared with her boyfriend. Instead, the defendant brutally strangled her to death, ending her life at just 28 years old and devastating everyone who loved her. This sentence holds the defendant accountable for this horrific crime, and my thoughts remain with Kelly’s family and friends, who continue to live with the devastating loss of a young woman taken from them far too soon.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Michael Hosein, 36, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abena Darkeh to 19 years to life in prison. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on July 30, 2026.
The District Attorney said that, according to the evidence, at approximately 10 a.m., on March 10, 2023, a police officer responding to a request for a wellness check at 218 Gates Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant entered apartment 1A and saw the defendant alone in the apartment with the lifeless body of Kelly Kwak, 28.
Video surveillance footage of the area recovered by the police showed the defendant and the victim entering the apartment together on March 6, 2023, at approximately 12:45 a.m. Furthermore, video surveillance does not depict any one else entering or exiting the apartment between 12:45 a.m. on March 6, 2023 and the time the police officer discovered the deceased victim.
The Office of the New York City Medical Examiner determined the victim’s cause of death to be ligature strangulation.
Following an investigation, the defendant was arrested on March 15, 2023 in Brooklyn.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Farin Chasin-Fodeman, of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kori Medow, Domestic Violence Bureau Chief.
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