The top Hollywood agent’s son arrested over a woman’s torso found in a dumpster allegedly tried to hire a group of day laborers to move the brutal evidence out of his suburban home — telling them the “belly button” they found inside was just a Halloween prop.
“I started seeing body parts, a belly button,” one of the workers, who did not want to be identified, told NBC4 in Spanish.
Samuel Haskell IV, 35, reportedly gave the workers $500 to haul away three large trash bags from inside the garage of his Tarzana house Tuesday — just one day before the dismembered body was found in the trash of a strip mall, they said.
Haskell — the son of a powerful Hollywood exec who previously represented megastars George Clooney, Dolly Parton and Whoopi Goldberg — allegedly told the workers the bags were filled with rocks, but the group immediately realized the contents were more sinister.
They accepted the money and drove several blocks away to inspect the bags, which they described as soft and soggy, each weighing about 50 pounds.
“I was astonished. Of course, I felt bad. We had been tricked,” the laborer said.
The workers said they drove back to Haskell’s home and dropped the bags back at his driveway, telling him they didn’t want his money or to be involved.
Haskell allegedly tried to pass the body parts off as Halloween props, but the men could not be persuaded to partake in his apparent dirty work.
They claim they immediately tried to report the bizarre crime to two separate police stations, but were turned away.
That same night, 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.
A homeless person scavenging for recyclables stumbled across the torso about five miles from Haskell’s home the next morning and he was arrested on one count of murder four hours later.
Investigators said there were no obvious identifying signs on the torso like tattoos.
But they believe it likely belongs to Haskell’s missing wife Mei and estimated that it was not there for more than a couple days.
Mei Haskell and her parents — mom Yanxiang Wang and dad Gaoshen Li – were already reported missing before the gruesome find.
Haskell was arrested after investigators discovered a significant amount of blood and other evidence inside his home which suggested the scene of a murder.
The couple’s three kids were found safe at school and turned over to the Department of Children and Family Services.
Haskell, who lists himself as a director and posted several clips online of low-budget videos, has a history of violence.
He was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in December 2008, for which he pleaded no contest to battery and was placed on three years’ probation in 2010.
