July 17, 2020
The personal assistant of Gokada founder Fahim Saleh, who was found decapitated and dismembered with an electric saw in his N852.5million Manhattan apartment in New York, has been arrested.
Tyrese Haspil was taken into police custody Friday over the killing of a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur, law enforcement officials said.
Haspil, 21, who worked as Saleh’s personal assistant, is expected to be charged with second degree murder and other counts, the New York Times reports, citing two officials briefed on the matter.
Detectives believe Saleh was killed after he found out his assistant had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from him, sources told the outlet.
The slaying occurred even after Saleh set up a payment plan for Haspil to repay the money he allegedly stole instead of reporting him to authorities.
Authorities started investigating Haspil after finding text messages in which Saleh accused Haspil of stealing the money. It is not clear when the alleged theft occurred.
Police, who have not yet publicly announced Haspil’s arrest, believe Saleh was killed on Monday, a day before his body was found by his sister when she went to his apartment.
Saleh’s sister called police after going to check on him and making the gruesome discovery.
Responding officers discovered a clothed torso, bags containing a head and arms and an electric saw in the living room, police said.
Investigators recovered security video showing Saleh exiting an elevator that leads directly into the full-floor, two-bedroom apartment earlier Tuesday afternoon, closely followed by a masked person dressed entirely in black according to another law enforcement official who was briefed on the case.
The video also shows a struggle between the two that ensued at the entrance to the apartment, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Police believe that the relative may have interrupted the intruder before that person fled out a back exit.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide after an autopsy found the cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the body.
Saleh was the chief executive officer of ride-hailing motorcycle startup Gokada that began operating in Nigeria in 2018.