Girlfriend, 22, is charged with murdering her 53-year-old ‘Sugar Daddy’ before cutting his thumb off and using it to access his phone’s banking apps

The 22-year-old girlfriend of a suspected ‘sugar daddy’, 53, is behind bars, accused of killing him and then severing his thumb in order to use his banking and Uber app.

The horror unfolded this past April in Washington DC. Police believe that Tiffany Gray killed Fasil Teklemariam inside his apartment. He was stabbed, suffered head trauma and had his thumb cut off – which has yet to be recovered.

A witness told investigators that Gray and her accomplices then used the thumb to go on a spending spree, buying marijuana and booze.

Surveillance footage around Teklemariam’s apartment building in the Manor Park section of DC showed Gray and another woman, Audrey Miller, 19, alongside two other men, entering and leaving the building around the time of the killing. 

Teklemariam was found dead in his bedroom on April 5 surrounded broken glass. It’s not clear if his thumb was removed before or after his death. 

Tiffany Taylor Gray, 22, the woman who referred to the victim Fasil Teklemariam as her ‘sugar daddy’
Audrey Miller, 19, was arrested first in relation to the gruesome murder. She was ordered to be held without bail on first degree murder charges in June

His SUV was missing from its usual parking space in front of his building. 

The victim was last seen on April 1, walking with Gray into his apartment building. 

Gray entered and left the building multiple times between April 1 and April 5. 

During this time, the group could be seen Teklemariam’s belongings out with them. In charging documents, detectives said that they have still not recovered several electronic and household items that belonged to the victim.

In one clip, a member of the group brings cleaning supplies into the building. 

‘The suspects stole several items from resident. A search of [Teklemariam’s] residence showed that several electronic devices and household items were stolen,’ the criminal complaint alleges. 

The documents confirm that cleaning supplies were used in the apartment but that a bloody shoeprint was recovered.  

Police were led to Gray as a potential suspect when detectives discovered that in October 2023, he made a complaint to the DC police, accusing her of stealing his phone and running up charges of $1,800 on his banking app. 

The search clues then found that Teklemariam’s cellphone was pinged close to a cellphone tower in College Park, Maryland, close to where Gray was living at the time, Teklemariam was the guarantor on the apartment.. 

Miller can be seen walking into Teklemariam’s apartment building on April 1
Miller and the victim seen entering his apartment on April 1, it’s not clear what their relationship was

The allegation that the victim was acting as the suspect’s sugar daddy is mentioned in the criminal complaint and is attributed to ‘witnesses.’

Investigators believe that Gray has ‘repeatedly’ committed the crime of meeting men online and stealing from them. 

In one instance this past May, Gray is accused of meeting up with a man and then showing up at his home with two others, who were armed. 

The group are accused of robbing the man while tying his hands and feet with zip ties. 

Under threat of violence, the man revealed his banking pin codes. His home was also burglarized. 

Miller was first arrested on June 21 and charged with first degree murder. She was ordered to be held without bond. Gray was arrested on July 1 and charged with first degree murder and armed felony murder.

One of the men who accompanied them into the apartment has been identified and is not charged with a crime.  

Authorities allege that Gray was using the pseudonym Taylor Greene in the aftermath of the murder. 

According to his Facebook page, Teklemariam was a native of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. It’s unclear when he moved to the United States. His profile shows pictures of him with a family, consisting of a wife and two children. 

The most recent video on his page, shows his children paying tribute to him on Father’s Day in 2022. ‘I hope you live longer than any person in the world,’ his son says. 

On his LinkedIn page, Teklemariam said that he worked as a technician for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.  

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