[
Photos by Stacie Joy]
Story is updated at the bottom of this post. On July 17, police arrested the victims former personal assistant in the crime.
Media and police sources are reporting that the body of a decapitated, dismembered man in his 30s was found inside an apartment at 265 E. Houston St. on the corner of Suffolk.
Per the
Post:
An electric saw was found near the body, which was described as a man in his 30s. The victim’s legs and arms were completely removed, and body parts were found in plastic bags found in the apartment, the sources said.
And from NBC 4...
The 10-floor building,
completed in 2017, features units ranging from $2.45 million to $2.55 million, per previous real-estate listings.
Updated 6:45 p.m.
[
Leslie Feinberg]
EVG correspondent Stacie Joy spoke to Leslie Feinberg, who owns Subject bar across Suffolk Street. Feinberg says that she saw the following transpire at around 3:30 p.m.: "a young woman, maybe late teens or early 20s sitting in the lobby crying, talking to about five or six officers. She was in there for about 30 to 45 minutes before a team of 20-plus law enforcement officers arrived and loaded her into a vehicle and took off."
The woman was identified by police and media sources as the victim's sister, who went to check on her brother after not hearing from him.
A police sergeant at the scene told Stacie that the "preliminary investigation is ongoing, looking to review video cameras, and the crime scene is still being processed." He confirmed that "a male torso was found in the apartment unit with his head, arms and legs removed."
Updated 9:45 p.m.
Details from the account in the
Times. The 33-year-old victim was also believed to be the owner of the condo unit.
As for the grisly crime scene:
When detectives began investigating, they found the man’s torso and an electric saw nearby, two of the officials said. The man’s head and limbs were later found in the apartment, a Police Department spokesman said.
There were several plastic bags nearby, and it appeared that some effort had been made to clean up the evidence of what had happened, one of the officials said.
The man, Fahim Saleh (
see updates below), was last seen alive in video surveillance on Monday afternoon. And the police have it least one lead:
One of the law enforcement officials said a surveillance camera had captured video of the victim on the elevator with another person who was wearing a black suit and a black mask.
On the video, the elevator door opens and victim goes into the apartment, the official said. The masked person follows the victim, going in right behind him, and the two immediately start to struggle, the official said.
Updated 7/15
The Daily Mail reported that the victim was Fahim Saleh, a millionaire tech entrepreneur who moved into his the seventh-floor residence late last year.
Background on Saleh via the
Mail:
His LinkedIn profile reveals the former website developer was the CEO of a motorbike hailing company in Lagos, Nigeria.
The firm, Gokada, recently faced severe setbacks after being banned earlier this year by the Nigerian government.
It was forced to lay off staff and pivot from being a ride-sharing service to a delivery courier.
The ban came at a difficult moment for Gokada which had just raised $5.3 million in funding from Rise Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, in May 2019.
Media outlets have described the suspect as a professional killer. He was reportedly also carrying a suitcase on the elevator. Police believe that the victim's sister may have interrupted the dismembering of Saleh's body. "Detectives are also looking to see if the killer was able to escape through another exit," per the
Mail.
Updated July 19
Police have arrested Saleh's personal assistant, who is expected to be charged in the murder.
According to the Times, the assistant is Tyrese Devon Haspil, 21.
Detectives believe that the motive for the killing stemmed from Mr. Saleh having discovered that the assistant had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from him, despite the fact that Mr. Saleh had not reported the man and had set up what amounted to a repayment plan for him to return the money, one of the officials said.
