Well Sylar had to have been special before he killed Brian Davis - We know he can see how things work. Obviously his body allows him to absorb these other abilities but is that his 'power' or simply a side effect. Chandra had labeled him as 'Patient Zero' But we can't be sure at what point. We don't really know just how much Chandra did know. He was made aware by sylar that he had some form of telekenesis [after sylar killed brian] but that's all we really know for sure.

Everything we've seen indicates that he has to kill a person to get at what makes them special - which according to Suresh [both] resides within the brain. But here's a question - Why did he go to such risks to abduct Molly Walker? Why not just kill her?