Cops search home of Samuel Haskell Jr. – whose father is a top Hollywood agent – after woman’s torso was found inside plastic bag tossed into a parking lot dumpster behind a family restaurant: Wife and in-laws remain missing
Police in California have raided the home of the son of a top Hollywood cop after a woman’s dismembered torso was found in a dumpster near his home.
Samuel Haskell Jr., 35, was arrested Wednesday at a Topanga shopping center and charged with murder.
His wife Mei Haskell, 37, is missing and detectives are trying to find out if the torso is hers.
Her parents – who lived with the couple and their three children in Tarzana – are also missing.
Police are now looking for her father Gaoshan Li, 72, and mother, YanXiang Wang, 64, and their missing SUV: a white VW Tiguan.
Samuel Haskell Jr., 35, and his wife Mei Haskell, 37, are pictured in photos from his Instagram. He has been arrested and charged with murder after a dismembered female torso was found and linked to him. His wife is missing, as are her parents
Mei Haskell (left), her mother YanXiang Wang, 64, and her father Gaoshan Li, 72, are all missing
Police, along with Mei’s parents, search the $2.5 million, six-bedroom home where the Haskells lived
A white 2014 Nissan Pathfinder is also missing.
The three children, ages 6, 8 and 12 – Samuel Bond Haskell V, James Donnelly Haskell and William Kirkpatrick Haskell II – were found safe at school and are now with family.
Haskell Jr.’s arrest has turned their Tarzana neighborhood upside down, where the family lived in a $2.5 million six-bedroom house.
Haskell Jr.’s father, Samuel Haskell Sr., was a high-profile agent at William Morris, whose clients included Dolly Parton, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg and King Charles’ brother, Prince Edward.
He retired from William Morris in 2005 and published a memoir in 2009 titled “Promises I Made My Mother,” which his publishers described as a “deeply personal and spiritually enriching story about living a principled life in unscrupulous times.”
In 2012, the multiple Emmy winner founded Magnolia Hill Productions with Dolly Parton, and produces many of her television specials.
Haskell Sr. was CEO of the Miss America organization from 2015 to 2017, but resigned after it emerged he had criticized some contestants in private emails, ridiculing one for gaining weight and describing the other as promiscuous.
Sam Haskell Sr. is pictured at a Miss America press conference in September 2017
Haskell Sr. is seen with Dolly Parton, whom he represented for many years
Haskell Sr. is pictured with Vanessa Williams, who was Miss America 1984 and became head judge in 2016
Haskell Sr. is seen with Miss America contestants in 2017
Prince Edward, brother of King Charles, is pictured with Haskell Sr. – his agent at the time – and actor Martin Short
Haskell Sr. (center) appears at the September 2021 Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Television Movie for ‘Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square’
Mary Haskell, wife of Sam Sr. and Sam Jr.’s mother, is pictured at an Oscars event. She was a former Miss Mississippi
Haskell Sr. is married to a former Miss Mississippi, Mary Donnelly Haskell, his college sweetheart, and the couple has a daughter, Mary Lane, and their son Sam IV.
In his business biographyHaskell Sr. says. that he is “widely known as ‘the nice guy in Hollywood.'”
He continued, “Haskell is revered for rising to the top of a turbulent and often unscrupulous company with his character, integrity and value system intact.
“His reputation for honesty, integrity, loyalty and honesty made him a steady force in a sea of inconsistency and someone with whom actors, writers, directors and other industry professionals were eager to work.”
From Haskell Jr.’s social media shows that he has a penchant for film and digital media, with frequent posts about camera setups and artistic portraits.
His wife regularly posed for his Instagram photos, often in highly stylized, sharp shots.
Sam Haskell Jr. in Asia, in a photo posted to Instagram in August 2013
Haskell Jr. posted this photo of his wife Mei in January 2014
One neighbor told ABC 7 News that she knew Mei Haskell, but her husband seemed strange.
“The man, something seemed so strange,” the woman said.
‘Something seemed so strange. I thought maybe he was sick, or something was wrong. All I said was, I kept telling my family, there’s something wrong with him.’
Tuesday evening, construction workers called police after reporting seeing a body in a bag in the driveway.
When the police arrived, the body was already gone.
Detective Efren Gutierrez at LAPD told NBC4 Wednesday evening: ‘When the officers responded, nothing was found.
‘There was no evidence that allowed the officers to enter the home.
‘The bags described were no longer outside.’
At 6 a.m. Wednesday, a homeless man digging through dumpsters in Encino, five miles from Haskell Jr.’s home, found the dismembered torso in a bag in a dumpster.
The torso was found early Wednesday morning in Encino, California after a call to police about human remains in a black plastic bag
The bag was found in a duffel bag and thrown into a dumpster (photo) behind Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue, near a family restaurant, hair salon and two banks.
Haskell Jr.’s wife, Mei Haskell (pictured), and her parents Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshen Li are missing, police said. All three lived with the suspect in Tarzana’s house
The bag in the dumpster matched the description given by construction workers, Gutierrez said.
Officers reviewed surveillance footage from a vehicle in the business plaza, which led them to Haskell Jr. led.
Police then went to the Haskell home and found bloodstains and other evidence.
“Here at the house, when the officers entered, it was discovered that a crime had occurred, including some blood evidence and other items that I’m not going to provide at this time,” Gutierrez said.
Haskell Jr. was arrested Wednesday morning and charged later that day.
He remains in the Van Nuys jail on a $2 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 13.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office says it is working with detectives to identify the female torso.