Man accused of murdering and dismembering wife, in-laws found dead in cell
A California man accused of "barbarically" killing and dismembering his wife and her parents died by suicide while in custody on murder charges, prosecutors said Monday.
Samuel Haskell Jr., 37, was found dead in his cell on Saturday -- two days before he was scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing after being charged with three counts of murder -- according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
His death was reported at approximately 4:20 a.m. at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, authorities said. The incident remains under investigation, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Haskell, the son of a once-prominent Hollywood agent, is accused of murdering and dismembering his wife and his in-laws in the Tarzana home they shared in November 2023, prosecutors said.
The beheaded torso of his wife -- Mei Li Haskell, 37 -- was found in a trash bag by a person looking through a dumpster in Encino on Nov. 8, 2023, prosecutors said. The couple had three children, who are now living with a relative, prosecutors said.
The remains of his wife's mother -- Yanxiang Wang, 64 -- and stepfather -- Gaoshan Li, 71 -- have not been found, prosecutors said.
The district attorney's office said prosecutors planned to present evidence at Monday's preliminary hearing showing that Haskell "brutally" killed the three victims and, before his arrest, planned to travel to Japan accompanied by a woman with whom he had been having an affair.
The motive is not fully known, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney Hochman.
"The full motive for an individual to so violently and barbarically kill three people and chop up their bodies -- Mr. Haskell has taken that motive to the grave with him," Hochman told ABC Los Angeles station KABC.
According to prosecutors, Haskell hired several day laborers to remove heavy black plastic trash bags from his home on Nov. 7, 2023, the day before the gruesome discovery of his wife's remains.
"After driving away from the home, the workers opened one of the bags and saw human body parts. The workers returned the bags and money to Haskell, took pictures of the defendant, the bags and the front of the residence, then alerted police," the district attorney's office said in a press release. "When police responded to the home to conduct a welfare check, no one was there and the bags were gone."
Video showed Haskell disposing of a large trash bag from the trunk of his Tesla into the Encino dumpster later that day, according to prosecutors.
When Haskell was arrested on Nov. 8, 2023, a Home Depot receipt for "plywood, canopy, moisture barrier, coveralls and diamond-saw blades" purchased the previous month was found in his wallet, prosecutors said.
Inside an SUV he had rented earlier that month, police found "a .357 loaded revolver inside a holster, 32 rounds of live ammunition, a blood-encrusted military-style knife, a headlamp and firearm sight and passports for himself, his wife Mei and their three children," the district attorney's office said. Blood on the knife was matched to all three victims, prosecutors said.
Bloody bedding, a large machine saw, diamond-saw blades, a machete and canes belonging to Wang and Li were also among the items recovered from the garage and backyard of the family home. The residence had been cleaned of "large amounts of blood evidence," and the victims' blood was found on some of the items, prosecutors said.
Additional cellphone evidence showed that Haskell had been having an affair with a 27-year-old woman, who was interviewed by law enforcement, prosecutors said. A month before the murders, he told the woman that his children "would soon be living with his parents," the district attorney's office said. He had purchased a one-way ticket to Japan and a round-trip ticket for the woman in October 2023, prosecutors said.
Haskell had pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder as well as the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders. He faced life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
"Instead of standing before a judge and answering for the crimes he's been charged with, the defendant managed to escape justice," Hochman said in a statement. "A family that has been dealing with unimaginable loss now has been robbed of their chance to face him, hold him accountable for his barbaric actions, and openly share their grief and their cherished memories of their loved ones."
