Suspect arrested in grisly killing of tech CEO

NEW YORK — The personal assistant of a young tech entrepreneur who was found decapitated and dismembered in his Manhattan apartment this week was arrested Friday and charged with murder in the killing, police said.

The entrepreneur, Fahim Saleh, 33, was discovered dead Tuesday by his cousin inside his $2.25 million condominium, police said.

The scene was gruesome: Saleh’s head and limbs had been removed, and parts of his body had been placed in plastic bags. An electric saw was still plugged in nearby.

The personal assistant, Tyrese Devon Haspil, 21, was charged in a criminal complaint.

Detectives believe that the motive for the killing stemmed from Saleh having discovered that the assistant had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from him, despite the fact that Saleh had not reported the man and had set up what amounted to a repayment plan for him to return the money.

One official said Saleh had paid Haspil so well that he had been able to pay off the debts of several family members.

Investigators have also concluded that Saleh was killed Monday, the day before his body was found, and that the killer used a credit card to pay for a car to a Home Depot to buy cleaning supplies to sanitize the crime scene, an official said. The killer returned to Saleh’s apartment the next day to dismember the body and clean up the crime scene.

At the time of his death, Saleh was the chief executive of Gokada, a ridesharing startup in Nigeria. He was also the founding partner in a Manhattan venture capital fund, Adventure Capital.