Fahim Saleh: Personal assistant of tech CEO who was found beheaded and dismembered at $2.2M NYC condo arrested
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: Tech entrepreneur Fahim Saleh's personal assistant was arrested early on Friday, July 17, days after the former was found decapitated and dismembered in his $2.2 million Manhattan apartment. Authorities reportedly arrested the assistant, identified as 21-year-old Tyrese Devon Haspil, Saleh's grisly murder in his Lower East Side apartment earlier this week. It is reported that Hapil is expected to be charged with second-degree murder and other counts.
Investigators in the case believe that the 33-year-old entrepreneur was murdered after he found out that his assistant had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from him, sources told the New York Times. The killing reportedly occurred after Saleh set up a payment plan for Haspil to repay the money he had allegedly stolen from him. The entrepreneur did not report his personal assistant to authorities.
Police believe that Saleh was killed on Monday, July 13, nearly a day before his body was found. Authorities have reportedly not yet announced Haspil's arrest, but are expected to do imminently, according to the outlet. Investigators believe that Saleh's killer returned to his apartment to clean up the mess left behind and dismember the entrepreneur's body in an attempt to dispose of it.
The 33-year-old's body was reportedly discovered by his sister when she visited his apartment on Tuesday, July 14. Saleh's body had reportedly been decapitated and dismembered with parts of it put in separate garbage bags. Investigators also found a power saw and a vacuum cleaner plugged in nearby, which they believe were used in dismembering and the following clean up.
According to official autopsy results released on Thursday, Saleh was first tasered, which rendered him incapacitated, and then stabbed multiple times before he was dismembered. The entrepreneur was reportedly last seen alive just over 25 hours before he was found dead, according to reports.
A police source, earlier this week, had stated that the hitman hired to kill Saleh wore a ninja-style outfit, and was interrupted during the clean up by the victim’s sister who rode the elevator upstairs for a visit. The source also suggested that the killer fled via a staircase as Saleh's sister came to the seven-floor residence using an elevator. “He was dressed like a ninja, full out, so you can’t even see his face. He clearly knew what he was doing. We think his intent was to get rid of the body parts and go back and clean it up and make it look like nothing happened. He left before he finished the job,” a source told The New York Daily News.
Saleh's sister, who has not been identified, reportedly came to his condo at around 3:30 pm on Tuesday to see him because she had not heard from him for nearly a day. Saleh's LinkedIn page describes him as the CEO and founder of Gokada, "a motorcycle ridesharing company that has completed over one million rides since launching in 2018” in Lagos, Nigeria. Saleh was also known for investing in developing countries and businesses.