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SAMUEL Haskell Jr was arrested on suspicion of the murder of his missing wife Mei on November 8 after the torso of a woman was found in an Encino strip mall dumpster.
Here we take a look at Haskell Jr’s life, his father, and why he was arrested.
Who is Samuel Haskell Jr?
Samuel Bond Haskell IV, 35, is a director and producer who’s worked with Tyga and Machine Gun Kelly as an editor, according to his page on X, formerly Twitter.
He’s also directed photoshoots with actresses including Olivia Holt and Brenda Song.
“I want to create visuals that move boundaries, by bringing Millennial artists together,” he wrote on his website.
Haskell Jr’s had several social media accounts under the names Sam Haskell Jr, Samuel Basshinger, and tragizstreetz.
His TikTok and Instagram include posts of him complaining about Hollywood and poking fun at celebrity gossip.
In one clip he says: “Shout out to LinkedIn for making it so much more streamlined for me to be told ‘no’ repeatedly.”
Before his arrest, Haskell Jr was reportedly working on his writing and directorial debut, Harvard Law, starring Mickey Koga, Alex Kawaguchi and Kaile Goh.
Who is Samuel Haskell’s father?
Sam Haskell III is a top Hollywood executive and former agent who represented a number of A-listers, including George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg and Kathie Lee Gifford.
The Emmy Award winner is the former executive vice president and head of television at the William Morris Board of Directors.
He is currently the president of Magnolia Hill Productions — the company behind a number of Dolly Parton TV specials.
Why was Samuel Haskell arrested?
Haskell Jr was arrested on suspicion of murder on November 8 after a woman’s torso inside a duffel bag that had been tossed into a dumpster was discovered by a homeless man at a strip mall in Encino, California.
Reports from construction workers first raised suspicions, prompting the Los Angeles Police Department to investigate.
Detective Efren Gutierrez told local NBC affiliate KNBC that the workers noted “what looked like human remains at the property” in bags in the couple’s driveway in Tarzana on November 7.
He said: “When the officers responded, nothing was located. There was no evidence that allowed the officers to make entry into the home.
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“The bags that were described were no longer outside.”
The dismembered torso was found the next day at a strip mall located about five miles from the home in Tarzana, where Haskell Jr and his wife Mei lived with her parents.
The discovery of the torso and video evidence collected near the scene prompted Haskell’s arrest.
He currently is behind bars at the Van Nuys jail on a $2 million bond and is expected to appear in court on November 13.
Mei, 37, remains missing but authorities believe it was her torso that was discovered.
Haskell and Mei have three children together — Sam, James and William — all of whom are in the care of other family members at the moment.
A neighbor told Los Angeles ABC affiliate KABC that although they knew Mei well, her partner Haskell Jr “seemed strange.”
“The husband — something seemed so off. Something seemed so weird.
“I thought maybe he was sick, or something was wrong.
“All I said was, I kept saying to my family, ‘something is wrong with him.'”
The LAPD searched the couple’s $2.5 million six-bedroom home and made some grim discoveries, according to Detective Gutierrez.
“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,” Gutierrez said.
Mei’s parents Gaoshan Li, 72, and YanXiang Wang, 64, who are also missing, lived with the couple and their three children in Tarzana.
Police are now searching for them and their missing white Volkswagen Tiguan SUV.
According to reports Haskell Jr also has a criminal record and a stage name that he went by for years before his arrest.
He was known as Samuel Basshinger since 2013 and years earlier, in 2008, Haskell Jr was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, according to court records obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
These records show Haskell Jr pleaded no contest to battery and was placed on three years’ probation.
