21-year-old Tyrese Devon Haspil, the former personal assistant of murdered GoKada boss, Fahim Saleh, has been arrested.
He was arrested on Friday and is expected to be charged with second-degree murder, among other crimes.
Several days after Saleh’s sister found his body, police are beginning to piece together the events that led to his killing.
They already knew that a man dressed in a black suit followed Saleh from his building’s elevator to his apartment, used a stun gun to immobilize him, and then stabbed him to death.
Investigators believe that happened on Monday. The killer returned the next day to clean up the crime scene but was interrupted when Saleh’s sister, stopping by to check on him, buzzed his apartment.
Investigators believe the killer fled the apartment when Saleh’s sister arrived. When she entered, she found her brother’s body, decapitated and dismembered in trash bags. An electric saw was still plugged in nearby.
Detectives believe that the motive for the killing stemmed from Mr. Saleh having discovered that the assistant had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from him, despite the fact that Mr. Saleh had not reported the man and had set up what amounted to a repayment plan for him to return the money.
The entrepreneur, 33, learned that Haspil allegedly swiped $100,000 from him — but instead of ratting him out to authorities, he brokered a repayment plan with the younger man. But at some point, Haspil allegedly reneged on the deal.
The killer used his employer’s credit card to pay for a car to a Home Depot, on West 23rd Street in Manhattan, to buy cleaning supplies to sanitize the crime scene. The killer returned to Mr. Saleh’s apartment the next day to dismember the body and clean up the crime scene.
