A New York Police cruiser is parked at 265 East Houston Street Wednesday, July 15, 2020, in New York. Police say the dismembered body of 33-year-old tech entrepreneur Fahim Saleh was found inside his luxury Manhattan condo. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II). Inset left: Tyrese Haspil, 21, is escorted out of the 7th precinct by NYPD detectives, Friday, July 17, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez). Inset right: Fahim Saleh (via Facebook).
A 25-year-old man has been convicted in the killing of his former tech CEO boss and mentor, whom he dismembered and decapitated with an electric saw after stealing $400,000 from him.
Tyrese Haspil, 25, was convicted in the 2020 murder of 33-year-old tech CEO Fahim Saleh, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. announced in a news release. He was found guilty of murder in the first degree, grand larceny, burglary and other charges. He faces up to life in prison when he is set to be sentenced on Sept. 10.
“Tyrese Haspil tragically cut Mr. Saleh’s life short — a man who came from a close-knit immigrant family and followed his passions to become a successful entrepreneur,” Bragg said in a statement. “I hope the accountability delivered by today’s verdict can provide a measure of comfort to Mr. Saleh’s loved ones as they continue to mourn his loss. I thank our prosecutors for their diligent and thorough work in this case that led to this conviction.”
During the trial, Haspil admitted from the stand to killing his former mentor, the CEO of the Nigeria-based delivery company Gokada.
“I Tased him in the back. I remember Tasing him in the back,” Haspil told jurors, the New York Post reported. “I took out a knife, and I started aiming for his neck.”
Haspil’s lawyer, Sam Roberts, told the paper that his client was remorseful.
“Tyrese is more than simply and only the sum of this worst thing that he has ever done,” Roberts told The Post.
Prosecutors said the murder plot came about after Haspil had been funneling money from his ex-boss through PayPal and a corporate entity and bank account from the fall of 2018 to May 2019, the time when he resigned, knowing he’d be found out, prosecutors said. When one of the transactions was detected in January 2020, Saleh confronted him and offered to settle the debt with a repayment plan, prosecutors said. Haspil paid Saleh back with stolen money from the PayPal scheme, which continued and ultimately grew to $400,000. Fearing Saleh would learn of that scheme, he started plotting to murder Saleh.
Haspil spent weeks planning the murder — researching technology, weapons, Tasers, and cleaning supplies. Haspil bought clothes to hide his identity and tracked Saleh’s whereabouts on social media, prosecutors said. He researched the anatomy of the neck and installed a Nest camera in a vacant apartment across the street from Saleh’s building to spy on him, prosecutors said.
On July 13, 2020, Haspil followed through with his plans. Armed with a knife and a Taser and wearing a black suit with an opaque face mask, he entered Saleh’s lobby and hid in a stairwell until his victim came home from a run. Haspil followed him into an elevator and Tased him in the back as he exited the elevator into his condo. When Saleh fell, Haspil stabbed him multiple times in the neck and torso, killing him. Haspil left the condo and returned to the following day.
Using a battery-powered saw, he dismembered and decapitated Saleh’s body, putting the body parts in construction bags.
At one point, the saw battery died, and Haspil left to buy a battery charger. While he was away, Saleh’s cousin arrived, made the grim discovery and called the police. When Haspil returned to the condo complex, he saw the police and left, searching online in the days after for “Fahim Saleh,” “Murder of tech C.E.O. in New York,” and “Dismembered body.”
He was arrested on July 17, 2020, at a luxury rental in Soho that he paid for with the stolen money to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday.
Law&Crime reported that Haspil had a rocky childhood. His mother was put in a mental institution. He was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, but she died when he was 12. From there, he lived with his aunt, but that arrangement fell apart when he began staying out late and being disrespectful to her, she said. She put him in a foster family when he was 17.
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