The homicide seemed straight out of a police procedural: A young technology entrepreneur was followed into an elevator, then killed and dismembered in his luxury condo on the Lower East Side.
The slain entrepreneur, Fahim Saleh, was found by his sister on Tuesday. The crime, which recalled past gruesome decades in New York City, stunned those who knew Mr. Saleh and generated international headlines.
Here’s what we know about the case:
Who was Fahim Saleh?
Mr. Saleh, 33, was born to Bangladeshi parents in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
He began learning to code as a teenager, and after graduating from Bentley University in Massachusetts in 2009 he founded PrankDial, an app that allowed users to send prerecorded prank calls to their friends. The app generated millions of dollars but drew more than 100 subpoenas, he said.
Mr. Saleh went on to create two motorcycle ride-sharing companies, one in Bangladesh called Pathao, and one in Nigeria called Gokada. In 2019, Gokada reportedly raised $5.3 million in venture capital before its ride-sharing business was halted when Nigerian officials banned motorcycle taxis from many parts of the city of Lagos.
This year, Mr. Saleh shifted Gokada’s focus to food and package delivery.
How was Mr. Saleh killed?
Early this week, the killer, dressed in black and wearing a black mask, followed Mr. Saleh off an elevator and into his $2.25 million apartment, a police official said. Detectives believe that the person used a Taser to immobilize Mr. Saleh before killing him.
Sometime after, the killer dismembered Mr. Saleh’s body with an electric saw.
Mr. Saleh was found dead by his sister, who had gone to check on him. Parts of his body had been placed in plastic bags. A law enforcement official said that the saw was still plugged into an outlet when the police arrived.
New York City’s medical examiner determined that Mr. Saleh had died from multiple stab wounds to his neck and torso.
A police official said the killing looked like “a professional job.”
What else do we know about the investigation?
The investigation included a review of surveillance video from Mr. Saleh’s apartment building and an interview with his sister. Detectives also asked for security footage from nearby buildings to see if it had captured the killer right before or after he committed the crime.
The police said late Thursday that they had identified a “person of interest” in the case, but they did not disclose a name, ABC 7 reported. The person had worked for Mr. Saleh, and a business deal between the two appeared to have fallen through.
As of Thursday night, no arrests had been made in the case.
What else do we know about Mr. Saleh?
Those who knew Mr. Saleh described him as an innovative man — some compared him to entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates — who cared deeply for his colleagues and family.
“The headlines talk about a crime we still cannot fathom,” Mr. Saleh’s family said in a statement. “Fahim is more than what you are reading. He is so much more. His brilliant and innovative mind took everyone who was a part of his world on a journey and he made sure never to leave anyone behind.”
Sumeet Rametra, who met Mr. Saleh in college, recalled his friend’s kind gestures, like buying his parents a home and a Tesla. He said that Mr. Saleh was known for his business acumen, adding, “He was a machine, dude. He never stopped.”
Mr. Saleh depicted himself as an entrepreneur driven by passion. “Entrepreneurs are the ones that really change countries, that really change cities,” Mr. Saleh said in a YouTube video in February. “They’re the ones that bring the vision.”
Source: New Your Times
