Samuel Haskell: Man pleads not guilty in triple murder, accused of dumping wife and in-laws' body parts
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A man from Los Angeles entered a not-guilty plea to murder on Friday. He is accused of killing his wife and her parents and then placing their severed body parts into trash bags.
The 35-year-old Samuel Bond Haskell IV pled guilty to three counts of murder under special circumstances involving multiple killings. He might spend the rest of his life behind bars without the chance of release if found guilty.
Samuel Haskell arrested on suspicion of killing wife and her family
Joseph Weimortz, his attorney, did not promptly respond to an email requesting comment. Haskell is the son of producer Sam Haskell, who won an Emmy and was formerly an executive at the influential William Morris talent agency.
The younger Haskell, his wife, their three small children, and her parents resided in the San Fernando Valley's Tarzana neighborhood.
In November, he was taken into custody on suspicion of killing Mei Haskell, 37; Yanxiang Wang, her mother, 64; and Gaoshan Li, 72, her stepfather.
According to the prosecution, Haskell hired four-day laborers on November 7 to remove bags from his property.
Even though the bags felt soft and wet, the laborers claimed they were hauling away rocks and were paid $500.
“One of the laborers opened one of the bags and allegedly observed human body parts,” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a November statement.
Mei Haskell's parents are still missing
The workers claimed that after returning to Haskell's house by car, they returned the money and left the bags in the driveway. They called the police, but the bags had disappeared by the time they got there, according to a KNBC-TV Channel 4 report.
The following day, a homeless man in Tarzana discovered in a dumpster a duffel bag containing a human torso. In a short while, Haskell was taken into custody.
The torso was identified as belonging to Mei Haskell by the Los Angeles County coroner. Her parents' remains are still missing. Haskell will face a life sentence without the chance of release if found guilty, AP News reported.
