What We Know About the Killing of Tech C.E.O. Fahim Saleh |
Weather: Occasional thunderstorms, with a high in the mid-80s. Expect a hot and sunny weekend, with highs in the mid-90s. |
 | | Temilade Adelaja/Reuters |
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The homicide seemed straight out of a police procedural: A young technology entrepreneur was followed into an elevator, then killed and dismembered in his luxury condo on the Lower East Side. |
The slain entrepreneur, Fahim Saleh, was found by his sister on Tuesday. The crime, which recalled past gruesome decades in New York City, stunned those who knew Mr. Saleh and generated international headlines. |
Here’s what we know about the case: |
Mr. Saleh, 33, was born to Bangladeshi parents in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. |
He began learning to code as a teenager, and after graduating from Bentley University in Massachusetts in 2009 he founded PrankDial, an app that allowed users to send prerecorded prank calls to their friends. The app generated millions of dollars but drew more than 100 subpoenas, he said. |
Mr. Saleh went on to create two motorcycle ride-sharing companies, one in Bangladesh called Pathao, and one in Nigeria called Gokada. In 2019, Gokada reportedly raised $5.3 million in venture capital before its ride-sharing business was halted when Nigerian officials banned motorcycle taxis from many parts of the city of Lagos. |
This year, Mr. Saleh shifted Gokada’s focus to food and package delivery. |
How was Mr. Saleh killed? |
Early this week, the killer, dressed in black and wearing a black mask, followed Mr. Saleh off an elevator and into his $2.25 million apartment, a police official said. Detectives believe that the person used a Taser to immobilize Mr. Saleh before killing him. |
Sometime after, the killer dismembered Mr. Saleh’s body with an electric saw. |
Mr. Saleh was found dead by his sister, who had gone to check on him. Parts of his body had been placed in plastic bags. A law enforcement official said that the saw was still plugged into an outlet when the police arrived. |
New York City’s medical examiner determined that Mr. Saleh had died from multiple stab wounds to his neck and torso. |
What else do we know about the investigation? |
The investigation included a review of surveillance video from Mr. Saleh’s apartment building and an interview with his sister. Detectives also asked for security footage from nearby buildings to see if it had captured the killer right before or after he committed the crime. |
The police said late Thursday that they had identified a “person of interest” in the case, but they did not disclose a name, ABC 7 reported. The person had worked for Mr. Saleh, and a business deal between the two appeared to have fallen through. |
As of Thursday night, no arrests had been made in the case. |
What else do we know about Mr. Saleh? |
Those who knew Mr. Saleh described him as an innovative man — some compared him to entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates — who cared deeply for his colleagues and family. |
“The headlines talk about a crime we still cannot fathom,” Mr. Saleh’s family said in a statement. “Fahim is more than what you are reading. He is so much more. His brilliant and innovative mind took everyone who was a part of his world on a journey and he made sure never to leave anyone behind.” |
Sumeet Rametra, who met Mr. Saleh in college, recalled his friend’s kind gestures, like buying his parents a home and a Tesla. He said that Mr. Saleh was known for his business acumen, adding, “He was a machine, dude. He never stopped.” |
Mr. Saleh depicted himself as an entrepreneur driven by passion. “Entrepreneurs are the ones that really change countries, that really change cities,” Mr. Saleh said in a YouTube video in February. “They’re the ones that bring the vision.” |
Mayor Bill de Blasio said that more than a thousand New Yorkers were still facing potential fines and jail time for violating curfew during the Black Lives Matter protests. [Gothamist] |
Water gushed into the Lincoln Tunnel this week. A user who posted video of the incident on social media said, “Pretty sure there’s a movie about this.” [PIX11] |
What we’re watching: President Trump wants schools to fully reopen in the fall, but Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning for a partial reopening. Erica Green, a Times education reporter, will discuss these competing plans on “The New York Times Close Up With Sam Roberts.” The show airs on Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. [CUNY TV] |
And finally: A virtual social weekend |
The Times’s Melissa Guerrero writes: |
Although most performance spaces, museums and community centers are closed, people are finding creative ways to connect through virtual events and programs. Here are suggestions for maintaining a New York social life this weekend while keeping a safe distance from other people. |
Open Mic: Imagining Our Irresistible Futures |
On Friday at 7 p.m., gather with communities of color for an open mic focused on “futures grounded in care, healing, and resilience.” The poets Franny Choi and Kay Ulanday Barrett, and the healers Seyi Adebanjo and Charlie L’Strange are among the speakers. Donations will go to the W.O.W. Project’s fourth-anniversary fund-raiser. |
Met Stars Live in Concert |
Have an operatic evening with the Metropolitan Opera’s virtual series of pay-per-view recitals from locations across the world. At 1 p.m. on Saturday, watch the tenor Jonas Kaufmann perform 12 well-known arias live from Bavaria. |
‘Mosquito Supper Club’ with Melissa Martin and Lisa Donovan |
On Sunday at 8 p.m., the chef Melissa Martin discusses her new cookbook, “Mosquito Supper Club: Cajun Recipes from a Disappearing Bayou,” with the pastry chef Lisa Donovan. They will explore Ms. Martin’s life on the bayou and both chefs’ experiences as women and mothers in the restaurant industry. |
It’s Friday — what’s cooking? |
Metropolitan Diary: Last leg |
I am sitting on a bench in a tiny corner of greenery near Lincoln Center. I have arrived here after lugging my old-fashioned, faux-leather suitcase from a Metro-North station in Connecticut into the city and through the maze of the subway. |
It is a very warm day, and I am catching my breath. I am about to walk the last leg of my journey to an apartment on the Upper West Side where I will sit for two cats. |
It seemed like a great idea when I set it up. Newly retired, I was ready for a break from my little town and my husband, who didn’t have much time to play. |
Now, though, I am feeling scattered and disheveled and anxious about this decision. Have I overestimated myself? |
Still, I gather my energy. I can hardly back out now. I heft the suitcase to the nearby intersection to cross. I am a tiny woman, and it barely clears the ground as I scramble across. |
In the middle of the crosswalk, a middle-age man carrying an instrument case passes me as he crosses in the opposite direction. |
“Running away from home?” he asks with a smile. |
“Yes!” I manage to blurt out in the few seconds we are within range of each other. |
Now I too am smiling, and my suitcase feels much lighter. He has reminded me exactly why I came to New York. |
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