A series of surveillance videos now claim that Tyrese Devon Haspil, the prime accused in the gruesome murder of Bangladeshi-American tech entrepreneur Fahim Saleh, was strolling around Manhattan’s NoHo area with an unidentified female and birthday balloons after the killing.
According to a New York Post report published Saturday, Haspil was spotted wearing a grey t-shirt and jeans on surveillance cameras while receiving a bouquet of birthday balloons at the NoHo area just two days into the murder.
“This guy is the new American Psycho, only dumber,” one law enforcement source told the newspaper.
Haspil, the 21-year-old former executive assistant to Fahim, was charged with second-degree murder after his arrest on Friday in connection with Fahim's murder at the latter's luxury condo at Lower East Side in New York’s Manhattan.
Haspil’s whereabouts before his arrest
“Haspil’s turn as a blithe, big city tourist followed his alleged two-day stint as a cold-blooded killer,” law enforcement sources said in the report.
Following the murder, the accused reportedly rented a loft-like Airbnb at Crosby and Bleecker streets just across lower Manhattan.
Surveillance video showed a man, identified as Haspil in the report, hopping into cabs for some retail therapy, taking strolls with an unidentified woman and picking up the metallic gold helium balloons that he allegedly bought with Saleh’s credit card.
Haspil, who has no prior criminal record, reportedly owed the victim a hefty amount of money.
The suspect and the woman came and went from the rented Airbnb pad, at a time when police were processing evidence throughout Wednesday and Thursday — particularly a left-behind Taser and cleaning supplies, which he had allegedly bought with Saleh’s card at a 23rd Street Home Depot.
Multiple videos collected also showed the woman walking with Haspil while carrying a leather tote bag from the pricey APC store on Mercer Street. In one video, the woman was seen getting out of an Uber with Haspil, while carrying a shopping bag from Christian Louboutin, the report said.
On Wednesday, Haspil was captured on video accepting a curbside delivery of three gold-colour birthday balloons, two shaped like a “2” and the third shaped like a heart.
The report also quoted prosecutors saying the surveillance video provided“overwhelming” evidence that Haspil murdered his boss.
The accused was caught on camera at the Home Depot buying the saw and cleaning supplies found at the crime scene, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Linda Ford told the New York Post.
Haspil has been ordered held without bail on charges of second-degree murder. His lawyers have cautioned against rushing to judgment.
The gruesome murder
Fahim, a co-founder of Bangladeshi ride-sharing company Pathao and the CEO of Nigeria-based ride-hailing firm Gokada, was discovered brutally murdered on July 14, when his sister went to check on him at his apartment on East Houston Street on the Lower East Side.
Police said after entering the apartment, she discovered Fahim's head and limbs had been removed, and parts of his body had been placed in plastic bags designed for construction debris. An electric saw was plugged in nearby.
Investigators said Fahim was killed the day before, according to a fourth official with knowledge of the inquiry.
A video showed that an individual, police believe to be Haspil, followed Fahim into his building and then into an elevator, where they appeared to engage in small talk, the officials said.
The suspect, who was carrying a duffel bag, was dressed in a black three-piece suit and wore a black mask and latex gloves, according to officials.
As the duo left the elevator, which opened directly into Fahim's seventh-floor unit, the assailant fired a Taser into the victim's back and immobilized him, law enforcement officials said.
The suspect then stabbed Fahim to death, wounding him multiple times in his neck and torso.
Dressed in a gray hooded sweatshirt, the assailant returned to Fahim's apartment the next day to dismember the body and clean up the crime scene.
Security video from inside Fahim's elevator showed that the man used a portable vacuum cleaner, perhaps in an effort to remove residue that was left behind when the Taser was fired, the officials said.
They said when the assailant was cutting up the body, Fahim's sister buzzed the apartment from the building's lobby.
The killer fled through a back door and down a stairwell before she got upstairs.
According to officials, Fahim had discovered that Haspil had stolen roughly $90,000 from him. Though Fahim fired Haspil, he did not report the theft, the officials said, according to The New York Times.
Fahim even offered to arrange a way for his former employee to work off his debt in what amounted to a payment plan, the report said.