What a truly gruesome Hollywood crime story…
It all started Wednesday when a woman’s body parts were found in a plastic bag by a dumpster in Encino, California. A homeless man was looking for recyclables in the trash area of a strip mall near Ventura Blvd when he came across human remains. It turned out to be a woman’s torso, dismembered.
Police reviewed surveillance footage of the area and quickly tracked down both a victim and a suspect.
The suspect was a man named Sam Haskell. Sam is connected to some real Hollywood power — or at least he was. His father, Sam Haskell, Sr., was a HUGELY powerful agent in his day, representing A-listers like George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg, Ray Romano, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Dolly Parton. He also founded Magnolia Hill Productions. He was a pretty big deal, but he’s retired now — he was pushed out in 2017 after some offensive emails came to light in which, among other things, like mocking the weight of 2013’s Miss America winner. So we don’t expect any weight to be thrown around to shield his son.
Related: Australian Woman Who Served In-Laws Poison Mushrooms Charged With Murder!
Sam Jr. was arrested at the Westfield Topanga mall Wednesday morning around 11:30 am — on suspicion of the murder of his wife, Mei Haskell. As of this writing, he’s being held in the Van Nuys Jail on $2 million bail. LAPD investigators then entered his home and found more:
“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.”
But it gets worse. We know, worse than murdering and chopping up his wife? Well… yeah. See, it’s more than Mei missing. Police also can’t find her mother and father, Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshen Li, who also live with the couple. LAPD Detective Efren Gutierrez explained in a press conference Wednesday evening:
“The reason we’re concerned with their whereabouts is they would normally be home during these hours… Attempts have been made to contact them by cell phone … no answers. Same with Mei, she is unaccounted for … attempts have been made to call her phone [and] still no answer.”
Police are on the lookout for two missing vehicles as well, a white Volkswagen Tiguan with license plate 9ANC890 and a white 2014 Nissan Pathfinder with license plate 7FRM190.
In addition to living with her parents, the Haskells also share three young children — who have now been placed in Department of Children and Family Services custody as none of their close relatives can be found.
Could Sam Haskell possibly have killed and scattered all of them?? His wife and in-laws? Just horrifying if true.
[Image via ABC7/YouTube.]
