The aide was identified as Tyrese Haspil, 21, who handled Saleh’s finances and personal affairs, according to police. He allegedly owed Saleh tens of thousands of dollars and was on a repayment plan, a law enforcement official said.
Saleh, 33, was found dead in his Lower East Side apartment on Tuesday, police said.
When Saleh’s cousin rang the bell on his apartment, the aide was allegedly tearing his body apart with an electric saw and fled, according to a law enforcement official.
The cousin discovered that Saleh’s head, arms and legs had been cut in the condo’s living room, New York Police Chief Detective Detective Rodney Harrison told reporters on Friday.
At approximately 1:45 p.m. Monday, Haspil allegedly assaulted Saleh with a Taser before killing him, Harrison said. The young tech entrepreneur had come out of an elevator going directly to his apartment, Harrison said.
“It is also believed that (Haspil) owed the victim a significant amount of money,” said Harrison.
Haspil was arrested Friday morning in Manhattan. It is not clear if he has an attorney.
Saleh was last seen on surveillance video entering an elevator in his apartment building, and a man dressed in black, who police believe is Saleh’s assailant, entered the elevator with him, according to the police officer. law.
Saleh died of stabbing in the neck and torso; The form of death was homicide, according to the coroner.
Saleh, The son of immigrants from Bangladesh, he was the founder and CEO of Gokada, a motorcycle transport app in Nigeria.
He recently founded venture capital firm Adventure Capital, which has invested in startups for ridesharing in countries like Bangladesh and Colombia.
‘Fahim is more than what you are reading’
Saleh’s family recalled his “brilliant and innovative mind” in a statement confirming his death this week.
“The headlines speak of a crime that we cannot yet understand,” the statement said. “Fahim is more than what you are reading. He is much more. His brilliant and innovative mind took everyone on his world on a journey and made sure never to leave anyone behind.”
“There are no words or actions to bring us comfort, except the capture of the person who exhibited nothing less than evil about our loved one.”
While still in high school, Saleh founded PrankDial.com, a website for prerecorded prank phone calls that, he wrote in 2018, had generated more than $ 10 million since its inception. She continued to build and sell sites throughout her teens and time at Bentley University in Massachusetts.
Over the years, Saleh sought to advance the careers of other youth in the technology industry.
On Medium, where he regularly blogged, Saleh called his founding of Gokada “one of the most outstanding things” he had ever done. His limited knowledge of Nigeria’s transportation system at first rejected the Nigerians he tried to recruit for his startup.
In 2019, Gokada raised $ 5.3 million in startup funds and hired more than 800 drivers, but Gokada’s business had an unexpected drawback in February when the Lagos state banned commercial motorcycles in the city.
Saleh filmed a passionate plea on behalf of his employees to lift the ban as the company turned to delivery and worked to launch a boat transportation service, he told CNN in February.
CNN’s Pervaiz Shallwani contributed to this report.
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