"Identification of the torso is ongoing": Husband arrested, wife and her parents missing
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic details that some may find disturbing.
A California man has been arrested after a person going through a dumpster discovered a bag containing a woman’s torso.
“On November 8, 2023, around 6:00 am, an individual looking through dumpster bins found a bag containing a woman’s torso, prompting the police to be called,” states a release by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). “The identification of the torso is ongoing.”
Detectives processed the crime scene at Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue, and their investigation led them to a home at 4100 Coldstream Terrace in the West Valley, where they searched for forensic evidence.
“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,” Detective Efren Gutierrez told ABC 7.
Samuel Haskell, 35, who Daily Mail reports also goes by the alias Samuel Basshinger, has been arrested for alleged murder and is being held on US$2 million bail.
According to police, Haskell lives in the home with his wife, Mei Li Haskell, 37, her mother, Yanxiang Wang, 64, and father, Gaoshan Li, 71. All three individuals “have not been located,” and police are asking for the public’s assistance to find them.
LAPD
Haskell and his wife have three children.
“The children have been located and are [being] cared for by family members,” stated police.
Newsweek reports that Haskell is the son of Samuel Haskell Sr, a former Hollywood agent who previously represented celebrities such as Dolly Parton, George Clooney, Ray Romano, and Whoopi Goldberg.
A group of day labourers told NBC Los Angeles that Haskell paid them US$500 to remove three large garbage bags from his garage. They were told they were filled with rocks.
“When we picked up the bags, we could tell they weren’t rocks,” one of the workers said, adding that the bags were soggy and weighed about 50 pounds.
Uneasy, the group stopped their truck to open the bags and discovered body parts and a belly button. They then returned to Haskell’s home, where they left the bags and returned the money.
When they tried to report the incident to the police, they were turned away from two police stations.
It’s not the first time Haskell has been arrested, according to The New York Post.
In December 2008, he was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon; he pleaded no contest to battery. As a result, in 2010, he was placed on three years of probation.
Follow Channels and Categories