At least two dismembered bodies in plastic bags have been found in New York City this week as the city grapples with surges in violent crime amid calls to “defund the police” from leftist activists and Democrat politicians.
The New York Times reported that a man dressed in black followed tech entrepreneur Fahim Saleh into his $2.25 million apartment in Manhattan on Tuesday and then used a stun gun to immobilize Saleh.
“Some time after, the assailant killed Mr. Saleh, decapitated him and dismembered his body with an electric saw,” the Times reported. “His body parts were found Tuesday in plastic garbage bags in his apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.”
The Times said that investigators believe that the killer’s work in chopping up Saleh’s body was interrupted when Saleh’s sister came to the apartment to check on her brother after not hearing from him. Investigators say that the killed ran out the apartment’s back door and exited the building through the stairwell.
“On Tuesday, a law enforcement official said that the electric saw was still plugged into an electrical outlet when the police arrived, and the killer had left some cleaning supplies behind,” The Times added. “It appeared that some effort had been made to clean up the evidence.”
A source told The Times that the killing looked like “a professional job” and was a “hit.”
Saleh was a global businessman and had started companies in Africa and Asia, which investigators say might be related to his death because his company was “hurting.”
In a separate case, a body — or part of one — was found wrapped in a plastic bag on the rooftop of a McDonald’s restaurant in the Bronx.
“The body of the man, who has not yet been identified, was found on top of the restaurant on East 149th Street near the Grand Concourse just before 6 a.m.,” The New York Post reported. “A 911 caller told police that only half a body was on the roof, according to police sources — though authorities could not immediately confirm that gruesome detail.”
“There was a cleaner doing regular check-up when he found the body on the roof,” a woman who works in the area told The Post. “I heard it was thrown from another window onto the roof.”
“The smell was pouring in through the window and the feet were poking out,” another resident told The Post. “He looked like he had been there a few days because he was lying all wet in the water from the rain.”
“The police come every once in a while to check up on the building and the McDonalds but nothing like this has ever happened before,” a third person told The Post. “I didn’t know things like this happened for real.”
In a statement provided to NBC New York, McDonald’s said, “We are saddened by this unfortunate situation. We have provided surveillance footage to law enforcement and are fully cooperating with their ongoing investigation.”