The house of a strong ex-Hollywood agent’s son has been raided by cops following the grim discovery of a dismembered lady’s torso as they examine the homicide of his spouse.
Samuel Haskell IV, 35, was booked on suspicion of homicide in LA on Wednesday after a homeless man scavenging for recyclables discovered a girl’s torso inside a dumpster about 5 miles from the suspect’s Tarzana dwelling.
The night time earlier than the torso was discovered, development employees instructed police they noticed what appeared like a physique in black luggage close to Haskell’s dwelling, however when officers arrived, the luggage have been gone.
“There was no proof that allowed the officers to make entry into the house,” LAPD Detective Efren Gutierrez instructed NBC4 in regards to the preliminary name.
Nevertheless, the bag containing the torso was according to the outline of the luggage reported by the employees, prompting police to determine a second crime scene at Haskell’s dwelling, the place investigators discovered “blood proof.”
“Right here in the home, as soon as officers made entry, what was found was proof of a criminal offense, together with some blood proof and different objects that I’m not going to offer at this level,” Gutierrez instructed ABC 7.
Investigators have been seen combing the house for hours on Wednesday night, going by means of belongings within the suspect’s storage and inserting proof markers down.
Haskell’s spouse, Mei Haskell, 37, and her mother and father — mother Yanxiang Wang, 64, and pop Gaoshen Li, 72 – had already been reported lacking earlier than the grotesque discover and stay lacking as of Friday.
Police situated the couple’s three children at college on Wednesday and turned them over to the Division of Youngsters and Household Companies.
Authorities are nonetheless working to determine the torso however imagine it’s that of Haskell’s spouse.
“If a homicide suspect is dismembering a physique, it’s to delay identification,” Guttierez mentioned.
Investigators will now be counting on DNA proof to determine the sufferer.
Haskell is the son of former William Morris Company government vice chairman Samuel Haskell III, in accordance with The LA Instances.
Becoming a member of the company in 1978, the elder Haskell represented an illustrious clientele checklist throughout his time with the company that included stars like George Clooney, Dolly Parton, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Feinstein — and even King Charles’s brother, Prince Edward.
He grew to become an government vice chairman at William Morris in 1997, however he additionally was listed because the company’s Worldwide Head of Tv, in accordance with his LinkedIn profile.
The Emmy-winning producer retired from the company in 2005 and is at the moment the president of Magnolia Hill Productions.
In his firm biography, Haskell III, who additionally served as CEO of the Miss America group from 2015 to 2017, is claimed to be “broadly often called ‘the great man in Hollywood.’”
He resigned from the place after emails confirmed him harshly criticizing and making vulgar feedback about previous winners.
The son’s arrest will not be his first run-in with the legislation, in accordance with data obtained by the LA Instances.
In December 2008, he was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a lethal weapon.
Haskell pleaded no contest to battery and was positioned on three years probation in 2010, the outlet reported.
A neighbor, who didn’t want to be recognized, instructed ABC 7 she had a friendship with Mei, however at all times thought “one thing appeared so off” about Haskell earlier than his spouse’s disappearance.
“One thing appeared so off. One thing appeared so bizarre. I stored saying to my household, ‘One thing is flawed along with her husband,’” the neighbor, who wished to stay nameless, instructed the outlet.
Haskell is at the moment being held on $2 million bail on the Valley Jail in Van Nuys in connection to the torso discovery.