Son of top Hollywood agent in custody after woman’s torso found in dumpster
The 35-year-old son of a Hollywood talent agent whose clients included Dolly Parton, George Clooney and a British prince, has been taken into custody in Los Angeles after a bloody torso authorities say probably belongs to his wife was discovered in a stripmall dumpster.
Sam Haskell, who was booked on suspicion of murder on Wednesday, is also suspected of killing his wife’s parents who are missing, detectives have said.
Capt Scot Williams of the LAPD’s robbery-homicide division said the torso discovered in an Encino mall, five miles from Haskell’s home, was assumed to be Haskell’s wife, Mei Haskell.
The grim discovery was made after workers at Haskell’s home reported seeing what appeared to be human remains in his driveway on Tuesday that later vanished. The following day, an unhoused man searching for recyclable material in a dumpster between a restaurant and a hair salon found the female torso stuffed in a duffel bag.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the suspect, Haskell, his wife, Mei, and her parents, Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshen Li, lived in a single-story home in Tarzana, California, where detectives said they had found blood and evidence consistent with killing and dismemberment.
The LAPD told reporters that efforts to reach Mei Haskell or her parents on Wednesday had been unsuccessful.
“They would normally be home in these hours, and attempts have been made to contact them by phone, by cellphone, and no answer. And the same with Mei. She is unaccounted for,” said detective Efren Gutierrez.
The suspect and his wife have three children, authorities said, who had been at school on Wednesday and are now with family members.
The Times reported that in December 2008, Haskell was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He pleaded no contest to battery and was placed on three years’ probation.
A neighbor told ABC 7 News that something seemed strange about Haskell. “Something seemed so weird. I thought maybe he was sick, or something was wrong,” the woman said. “All I said was, I kept saying to my family, something is wrong with him.”
The suspect is the son of Sam Haskell, a former talent agent and the worldwide head of television at William Morris, now known as the William Morris Endeavor Agency, who represented A-list stars including Dolly Parton, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg and Prince Edward, a brother of King Charles.