The home of a powerful ex-Hollywood agent’s son has been raided by cops following the grim discovery of a dismembered woman’s torso as they investigate the murder of his wife.
Samuel Haskell IV, 35, was booked on suspicion of murder in LA on Wednesday after a homeless man scavenging for recyclables found a woman’s torso inside a dumpster about five miles from the suspect’s Tarzana home.
The night before the torso was found, construction workers told police they saw what looked like a body in black bags near Haskell’s home, but when officers arrived, the bags were gone.
“There was no evidence that allowed the officers to make entry into the home,” LAPD Detective Efren Gutierrez told NBC4 about the initial call.
However, the bag containing the torso was consistent with the description of the bags reported by the workers, prompting police to establish a second crime scene at Haskell’s home, where investigators found “blood evidence.”
“Here in the house, once officers made entry, what was discovered was evidence of a crime, including some blood evidence and other items that I’m not going to provide at this point,” Gutierrez told ABC 7.
Investigators were seen combing the home for hours on Wednesday evening, going through belongings in the suspect’s garage and placing evidence markers down.
Haskell’s wife, Mei Haskell, 37, and her parents — mom Yanxiang Wang, 64, and dad Gaoshen Li, 72 – had already been reported missing before the gruesome find and remain missing as of Friday.
Police located the couple’s three kids at school on Wednesday and turned them over to the Department of Children and Family Services.
Authorities are still working to identify the torso but believe it is that of Haskell’s wife.
“If a murder suspect is dismembering a body, it’s to delay identification,” Guttierez said.
Investigators will now be relying on DNA evidence to identify the victim.
Haskell is the son of former William Morris Agency executive vice president Samuel Haskell III, according to The LA Times.
Joining the agency in 1978, the elder Haskell represented an illustrious clientele list during his time with the agency that included stars like George Clooney, Dolly Parton, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Feinstein — and even King Charles’s brother, Prince Edward.
He became an executive vice president at William Morris in 1997, but he also was listed as the agency’s Worldwide Head of Television, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The Emmy-winning producer retired from the agency in 2005 and is currently the president of Magnolia Hill Productions.
In his company biography, Haskell III, who also served as CEO of the Miss America organization from 2015 to 2017, is said to be “widely known as ‘the nice guy in Hollywood.’”
He resigned from the position after emails showed him harshly criticizing and making vulgar comments about past winners.
The son’s arrest is not his first run-in with the law, according to records obtained by the LA Times.
In December 2008, he was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Haskell pleaded no contest to battery and was placed on three years probation in 2010, the outlet reported.
A neighbor, who did not wish to be identified, told ABC 7 she had a friendship with Mei, but always thought “something seemed so off” about Haskell before his wife’s disappearance.
“Something seemed so off. Something seemed so weird. I kept saying to my family, ‘Something is wrong with her husband,’” the neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, told the outlet.
Haskell is currently being held on $2 million bail at the Valley Jail in Van Nuys in connection to the torso discovery.
