The decapitated and dismembered body of a self-made millionaire has been found in his luxury Manhattan apartment by his heartbroken sister, and cops are now hunting for a professional killer who cut up the 33-year-old's corpse with an electric saw after following him into his apartment from the elevator.
The victim has been identified as Fahim Saleh, a millionaire tech entrepreneur who moved into his $2.25 million Lower East Side apartment late last year.
The alarm was raised by one of Saleh's siblings on Tuesday, after she became concerned because she had not heard from him for a day.
She went to the seventh floor unit to check on her brother and found his dismembered body in his home.
He had been cut up with a power saw, which was lying nearby and was still plugged in. Police sources said the body parts had been sorted into different plastic bags.
Fahim Saleh is pictured with his two sisters, Rif Saleh (center) and Ruby Bashir (right). It is not known which of them made the grisly discovery
Friends said Fahim Saleh (left and right) was a self-made millionaire who had a passion for gadgets and video games. He also enjoyed bringing tech companies into underdeveloped nations including Nigeria and Indonesia. Pictured (right), his motorcycle company in Nigeria
NYPD detectives are hunting for a suspect who beheaded and dismembered the tech entrepreneur in his luxury New York City apartment
The man's body was discovered by his sister who wanted to check on him. Pictured, police stand outside the luxury condo in the Lower East Side
A woman could be seen sitting in the lobby of the building shortly after the police arrived at the scene to investigate
Police believe they have surveillance footage of the suspect entering the building on Monday and then using the elevator.
Video reportedly shows the gloved suspect wearing a hat and mask covering his face, and carrying a bag. He waited to enter the elevator with Saleh.
'The perp had a suitcase. He was very professional,' one police source told the Daily News.
Sources told the New York Post that as the pair rode up to the seventh floor apartment together, Saleh appeared puzzled.
No sooner had he stepped out of the elevator - which opened directly into his home - the attack began.
He fell to the floor after either likely being shot or stunned, the footage reportedly shows.
Police found that Saleh's legs below the knees and his arms had been removed, with the missing body parts placed into bags.
Surprisingly, there was very little blood. The New York Times reported that some effort had been made to clear up evidence.
A crowd of people are seen gathered outside the apartment building in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan
The victim had last been seen alive on Monday afternoon and was caught on surveillance cameras getting into the elevator with the suspect
Saleh bought the luxury pad for $2.25 million last year and was clearly proud of his purchase - regularly posting pictures and video on his Instagram
Saleh's apartment is one of just seven in the exclusive Lower East Side Building. Above, one of the marketing images used to promote the sale. It's unclear if this is his apartment
All of the apartments in the building have private elevator access. The killer followed Saleh out of his after riding up with him, cops said. Above, a floor plan of his apartment
Police say they believe the man was attacked as soon as he walked into his apartment
The killing is believed to have taken place in an apartment on the 7th floor of the luxury condo
Saleh would regularly post pictures on social media with him together with his sisters, at least one of whom lived in New York
Cops are now trying to work out whether the arrival of the victim's sister interrupted the dismembering of Saleh's body.
In a video in February, Saleh made a direct appear to Nigerian officials to reverse a ban on commercial motorbikes which crippled his business. He said the law change had 'been a blow'
Detectives are also looking to see if the killer was able to escape through another exit.
'We have a torso, a head that's been removed, arms, and legs. Everything is still on the scene. We don't have a motive,' NYPD spokesman Sgt. Carlos Nieves said.
Saleh, who was born in Saudi Arabia but grew up in New York in a Bengali family, bought his luxury pad for $2.25 million last year and was clearly proud of his purchase - regularly posting pictures and video on his Instagram.
His LinkedIn profile reveals the former website developer was the CEO of a motorbike hailing company in Lagos, Nigeria.
The firm, Gokada, recently faced severe setbacks after being banned earlier this year by the Nigerian government.
It was forced to lay off staff and pivot from being a ride-sharing service to a delivery courier.
The ban came at a difficult moment for Gokada which had just raised $5.3 million in funding from Rise Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, in May 2019.
Last month, Saleh tweeted about his optimism for the year
After the ban was enacted, the firm stopped bringing in money and around 800 bikers working for Gorkada were also immediately laid off. Saleh, never one to give up, was working on new ideas and a new direction for the firm.
On June 2, he tweeted: 'Have a very good feeling about 2020.'
Gorkada had faced issues with its operation in Nigeria having been banned by the local government
![He never said he was scared,' another friend recalled. '[He was] always very happy-go-lucky'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/07/15/11/30777222-8524023-He_never_said_he_was_scared_another_friend_recalled_He_was_alway-a-7_1594810279347.jpg)
Friends of Saleh have paid tribute to him saying 'He was extremely smart, ambitious, very kind. Always smiling'
Later Tuesday, police could be seen in the condo's lobby at 265 East Houston Street and speaking with a woman who was in tears and who was believed to be one of Saleh's sisters who had found the body.
'She was really upset. Crying. Shaking,' neighbor Danny Faust said to The Post. 'She was just sitting there but you can tell her legs were shaking. She's nervous. She was crying like, you know, wiping her eyes.'
'She was screaming when she first came down,' Faust said.
'Dead body? Okay. But when you hear chopped up and dismembered? That's it. That's a sick type of mind for somebody to do that,' he added.
On Tuesday afternoon friends began showing up to his building. A couple said they believe that Saleh must have been targeted.
'He was extremely smart, ambitious, very kind. Always smiling,' one friend told the Daily News.
The friends said he was a self-made millionaire who had a passion for gadgets and video games.
NYPD crime scene detectives are pictures on scene, outside the apartment block
He also enjoyed bringing tech companies into underdeveloped nations including Nigeria and Indonesia.
He never said he was scared,' another friend recalled. '[He was] always very happy-go-lucky.'
On Tuesday night, tributes were also being made online to Saleh.
'Rest in peace Fahim Saleh. Deepest condolences for his family and friends. The world is becoming inhumane day by day,' wrote Ashiq Rahman, a software engineer living in Toronto.
No comments:
Post a Comment