Police Identify Fahim Saleh As Man Who Was Killed And Dismembered In His Lower East Side Luxury Apartment
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - There's new information Wednesday on the brutal murder on the Lower East Side.
Police have identified the man who was killed and dismembered. His body was found by his sister in a luxury condominium.
Police have been keeping the building on East Houston street taped off and guarded.
CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis reported that police have surveillance video of a person of interest entering the apartment with his face covered. Now they're searching the neighborhood for video of that person without his face covered to hopefully get to the bottom of this.
Police identified the man found dead as Fahim Saleh, 33. His sister went to check on him Tuesday afternoon and made the gruesome discovery of his dismembered body.
DeAngelis reported that Saleh was last seen on survellance video Monday. Tuesday afternoon, police responded to his apartment after Saleh's sister went to check on him.
According to police sources, they have video of her arriving at the apartment about the same time his alleged killer was leaving. Investigators suspect the dissection and disposal of the body may have been - by chance - interrupted by her arrival, the possible ring of a bell from the lobby.
Police sources also say they found his decapitated torso and other remains in black trash bags, and an electric saw was left behind.
"It's horrific, disturbing," said Rafael Sy.
The body was found on the seventh floor. It's also believed Saleh was killed before his body was dismembered.
"I can't imagine. My heart goes out to his family, friends, anyone who knew the guy," said East Village resident Greg Connolly.
Connolly was heading to do work at a nearby cocktail bar when he saw police going in and out of 265 East Houston Street around 3:30 p.m. Inside, police sources said a decapitated torso and other remains were found in black trash bags.
"It's frightening that something like that could happen in a nice neighborhood. It's scary," Connolly said.
According to police sources, a well dressed man was seen on surveillance video entering the apartment off an elevator which opens directly into the victim's apartment. That man was allegedly holding a bag, which police believe contained an electric saw that was left behind.
Source say it is believed the victim was killed before his body was dismembered, noting there was a lack of blood at the scene.
"Seems like that's a pretty secure unit too, so it's pretty terrifying," one person said.
"I saw a young woman in the lobby - speaking with a number of police officers very clearly really really distressed," said Leslie Feinberg, co-owner of the Subject cocktail bar across the street from the building.
Saleh's social media reveals he was a tech entrepreneur. As Saleh's Instagram points out, he was "dreamin' big," founder of several companies and an investor.
DeAngelis reported police are looking into his business practices, suspecting a business dispute may be behind this, but the motive for his murder still remains unclear.
"We at Gokada are shocked and saddened to hear that Fahim Saleh, our founder and CEO, passed away under tragic circumstances in New York earlier this week," his company said in a statement.
DeAngelis was told the apartment was found orderly and not ransacked, so robbery has been ruled out as a motive.