Tech CEO Assistant Pleads Not Guilty to His Murder and Dismemberment

The young assistant to a wealthy tech industry CEO has pleaded not guilty to murdering him, according to a report by PEOPLE. The case of 21-year-old Tyrese Devon Haspil has moved quickly since his arrest in New York City on Friday. The police believe he decapitated his boss, Fahim Saleh on July 13. At his first hearing, Haspil denied the charge.

Saleh was the founder and CEO of Gokada, an up-and-coming transportation company based in Nigeria. He and Haspil worked together in NYC, and Sources told CNN that Haspil handled most of Saleh’s day-to-day financial and personal matters, until he was fired. Police told PEOPLE that Saleh caught Haspil allegedly embezzling about $90,000 from him, and fired him without reporting it to the police. Police also have surveillance footage of Saleh being attacked before his death, and they believe the man in the video is Haspil.

So far, police have not revealed when Saleh discovered Haspil’s alleged embezzlement and fired him, but they discovered that Saleh decided not to press charges over the matter. Instead, he held Haspil to a repayment plan, up until the time of his death.

On Monday, security cameras in Saleh’s lavish Lower East Side apartment building caught a man following Saleh into the elevator, then shooting him with a taser when they were alone. The following morning, the cameras caught the man leaving Saleh’s apartment, going to a hardware store and returning with cleaning supplies and an electric saw. Again, police believe this man was Haspil.

Later on Tuesday morning, a cousin of Saleh arrived at the building to find the 33-year-old CEO dismembered in his own living room. His head, arms and legs were all lying apart, beside the electric saw and cleaning supplies. In the confusion, the presumed killer fled the scene.

A medical examiner determined that Saleh was likely killed by five stab wounds to his neck and torso. He also had incise wounds on his arms, and a large contusion on his forehead. Investigators believe that the killer was dismembering Saleh as a part of some kind of plot to dispose of his remains.

“That body wasn’t meant to be found,” a police source said. “[Saleh] was going to be ‘disappeared.’”

It is not clear if Haspil has an alibi, or how he and his attorneys responded to these allegations. Haspil is due back in court in August. He is being held without bond.