Fahim Saleh: Video shows suspect Tyrese Haspel 'buying electric saw, cleaning tools' hours before beheading CEO
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: Tech entrepreneur Fahim Saleh's personal assistant, who was charged with murdering his boss, was reportedly caught on surveillance video buying an electric saw and cleaning supplies just hours before his death, according to prosecutors.
The assistant, identified as 21-year-old Tyrese Devon Haspil, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder early on Friday, July 17, days after Saleh, 33, was found decapitated and dismembered in his $2.2 million Manhattan apartment. Authorities discovered an electric saw and cleaning supplies inside the apartment. Prosecutors have not yet released the name of the store Haspil was seen buying the supplies at. They, however, revealed that the footage procured by authorities showing him making a transaction at the store late on Monday morning, July 13. According to investigators, Saleh was killed around 1.45 pm that afternoon.
In another footage, Saleh, who was seen dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, appeared suspicious when a masked-man fumbled with the elevator at his apartment, which requires the use of a key fob. The clip shows Saleh collapsing to the ground as the elevator doors opened directly into his full-floor apartment. The doors then closed, obscuring camera's view of what happened next.
Investigators began probing Haspil after finding text messages in Saleh's phone where he accused Haspil of stealing the money, police sources said. They 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. Investigators have suggested 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. Law enforcement officials say that the alleged killer may have waited for Saleh's blood to coagulate before dismembering him.
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 killer 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.