Cops have arrested the executive assistant to Gokada CEO Fahim Saleh, who was found dismembered inside his New York City apartment.
Tyrese Devon Haspil, 21, who lives in Brooklyn, was charged with murder on Friday.
The New York Times reported that detectives believe the motive for the killing stemmed from Saleh having discovered that Haspil had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from him.
Saleh had not reported Haspil to the cops and had set up a repayment plan for him to return the money, an official told the Times.
Law enforcement officers told the Daily Beast that they turned to Haspil after finding messages where Saleh accused him of stealing the money.
They also told the outlet that, after running a credit-card check, they found out that Haspil’s card was used to buy a saw and cleaning products as well as rides to and from the crime scene.
During a press conference on Friday afternoon, Detective Rodney Harrison said that the investigation “revealed that Mr Haspil was Mr Saleh’s executive assistant and handled his finances and personal matters.
“It is also believed that he owed the victim a significant amount of money.”
Saleh died after he was repeatedly stabbed in the neck and torso, the New York City Medical Examiner’s office revealed on Thursday.
CCTV footage last showed Saleh inside the elevator of his lower Manhattan residence at around 1.40pm on Monday.
He rode up to his seventh-floor, $2.2million apartment beside a man wearing a “ninja-like” hood who had followed him into the lift, sources told the newspaper.
The last image captured by security cameras showed the mysterious killer following Saleh inside when the doors opened directly into his apartment before he zapped the entrepreneur.
Saleh was the CEO of Nigeria-based motorbike hailing service Gokada.
Investigators believe his death was financially motivated, as Gokada was reportedly in dire straits at the time of his killing.
Saleh’s killer sliced him up with a power saw, which cops found plugged into an electrical outlet at the scene downtown.
“He clearly knew what he was doing,” a source told the Daily News on Wednesday.
“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.”
The killer escaped through a staircase after Saleh’s sister buzzed up to his apartment and entered the elevator.
Moments later, she discovered her brother’s headless and severed remains stuffed into plastic bags, sources said.
Saleh’s neighbor Danny Faust told the Post he saw the woman sobbing in the lobby of the apartment building as cops questioned her.
“She was really upset. Crying. Shaking. She was just sitting there but you can tell her legs were shaking,” he said.
As police continue to hunt for the young CEO’s killer, Saleh’s loved ones are begging authorities to catch the “evil hitman” who beheaded their family member.
Source: The Sun
