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Sam Haskell seemed to have it all and was no stranger to the Hollywood limelight.
The aspiring filmmaker resided in a $2.6 million residence located in the tranquil suburb of Tarzana, Los Angeles, with his wife, Mei Li Haskell, and their three young sons.
The 37-year-old was the son of Samuel Haskell III, the respected former executive vice president and global head of the William Morris Agency.
He grew up watching his powerful father mingle with A-list clients, including Dolly Parton, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg and Lily Tomlin.
Yet outside the glamorous lifestyle and elaborate family parties, Sam had a twisted side.
He reportedly harbored an unhealthy obsession with weapons, violent movies, and sexual content. This disturbing double life led to an extramarital affair with a younger woman, accusations of beheading his wife and murdering his in-laws, and ultimately his suicide in jail, as stated by the LA District Attorney’s Office.
Sam was arrested in November 2023 after a woman’s dismembered torso was found in a dumpster near his California home.
Mei Li, 37, and her parents – Yanxiang Wang, 64, and Gaoshen Li, 71 – were already reported missing before the gruesome find, officials said.
Sam Haskell IV (pictured), 37, was facing life in prison if convicted of the murders of his wife Mei Li and her parents
Sam Haskell IV pleaded not guilty to the murders of his wife and in-laws on January 12, 2024. Prosecutors mentioned he intended to alter his plea during a court appearance scheduled for July 14. However, Haskell was discovered dead two days earlier, seemingly a victim of suicide.
DNA results showed the torso belonged to Mei Li, but the remains of her parents still have not been recovered, investigators said.
Sam was charged with three counts of murder as well as the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders.
He pleaded not guilty and was set to face trial.
But on Monday, the LA County District Attorney’s Office announced the failed film producer was found dead in his jail cell at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility two days earlier.
The LA County Sheriff’s office is investigating, and the county’s medical examiner’s office will determine official cause and manner of death via autopsy.
Prosecutors exposed a possible motive for the grisly murders, saying Sam was having an affair with a 27-year-old woman and planned to flee to Japan to hide with her.
Sam was facing life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted and was scheduled to appear in court on Monday for a preliminary hearing.
He told prosecutors he planned to change his plea from not guilty to guilty on all charges.
TMZ reported Sam left a suicide note that said he would miss his three best friends: his sons.
In a statement obtained by the Daily Mail, Sam’s attorney, Joseph A. Weimortz Jr, said his client was `not afraid of prison, but he was afraid of an even larger media spectacle,’ adding, ‘He was not afraid for himself, he was afraid for his boys.
‘He was afraid that every photo taken, every word written, would be a permanent scar his children would have to live with.’
Mei Li (left) and her parents Yanxiang Wang (center), 64, and Gaoshen Li (right), 71. The parents moved in with the couple and their grandchildren in 2020, neighbors told Daily Mail
Investigators said Sam Haskell IV dumped his wife’s headless torso in a dumpster not too far away from their Tarzana, California home
Neighbor Elle Benami told the Daily Mail Sam had a ‘disturbing’ fascination with weapons such as bows and arrows.
Mei Li would constantly tell her husband to keep weapons out of the home because they had three boys under the age of 13, Benami said.
Sam and Mei Li met as students at California State University, Northridge. They married in 2010.
She started her own business coaching foreign students with college applications to top-tier American universities.
A business profile showed the Haskell Consulting Group had three employees and generated annual income of about $63,000, according to records viewed by the Daily Mail.
The Haskells often threw elaborate parties at their Tarzana home
Mei Li, who was a foreign student, met nepo baby Haskell when they were college students
Prosecutors said video surveillance footage captured Sam Haskell IV dropping a ‘large object’ into a dumpster not too far from his Tarzana, California, home. Cops later found Mei Li Haskell’s torso in that same dumpster
Friends who knew the couple said Sam’s wealthy parents were likely financially supporting them.
‘Mei first brought up a divorce when I was getting one in 2019,’ Jenny, a friend, told the Daily Mail. ‘I told her she could do it, but she just felt like she couldn’t risk losing her boys.’
Benami told the Daily Mail Mei Li’s parents, who were citizens of China, moved into the family home on the 4100 block of Coldstream Terrace in 2020.
Despite living a life of luxury, Sam was often standoffish and strange, and stood behind the shadow of his larger-than-life father, said neighbors and friends.
Benami said the elder Haskell was always at his grandsons’ birthday parties.
The famous Hollywood agent even boasted that one of his famous clients, Dolly Parton, was godmother to the three boys.
In his 2009 book, Promises I Made My Mother, the super-agent described his relationship with his headstrong son.
Samuel admitted he initially had a ‘strong desire’ for Sam to follow in his footsteps, becoming an Eagle Scout or pledging Sigma Chi fraternity in college, but the two often clashed.
‘Boys are, by nature, competitive with their fathers, and they want to be smarter and more successful than Dad,’ Samuel wrote. ‘That’s already happening to Sam IV, and I’m so proud of him.
‘He’s interested in film, photography and physical training – all great activities. And yet, like my dad, I’ve sometimes been to critical and fixated on my expectations, and I end up having to apologize to Sam.’
He wrote that ‘Unlike me, Sam doesn’t care what anybody thinks of him,’ adding he believed his son would ‘go through life with a lot less stress than I do.’
Former super-agent Samuel Haskell III (left) and his wife Mary Donnelly-Haskell (right) are pictured here with one of his star clients and friend, Dolly Parton (center)
In his book released in 2009, Samuel Haskell III wrote that his only son ‘doesn’t care what anybody thinks of him. He will probably go through life with a lot less stress than I do’
Although he had his father’s access, Sam struggled and mostly worked on low-budget slasher films.
Most of his film projects featured scantily clad Asian women ogled by violent men.
The wannabe filmmaker and producer reportedly asked women on dates at his film set.
According to an Investigation Discovery documentary In the Shadow, Sam asked a woman on a date in 2012. The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said Sam hid the fact that he was married and a father for two years.
‘Sam was in the camera department, and I was in the makeup department,’ she said. ‘I’m Asian and any Asian descent woman that would come to the studios, he would have interest for sure.’
Those who worked with Sam Haskell on set said he hid the fact that he was married to Mei Li (pictured here) and had three children
Bella Snow, who also worked on a film with Sam, said they had a ‘flirty’ relationship on set. She said they spoke about going on a date, but Sam would repeatedly flake on their plans.
She was also unaware he had a wife and kids.
‘Everybody was all so shocked, like, wait, you [had] a family all these years?’ Snow said in the documentary.
On November 7, 2023, Sam allegedly paid $500 to day-laborers to remove several heavy black trash bags from his Tarzana home, according to LA County DA officials.
When the day-laborers opened the bags and found human body parts, they promptly went back, returning both the bags and their pay, prosecutors said.
After photographing Sam and the bags in front of the home, they called police.
Friends and neighbors said Sam’s lavish lifestyle was funded by his successful father
Samuel Haskell III (center) is an Emmy-winning producer. He is pictured here with (left to right) Hudson Hickman, Debbie Allen, Maria S. Schlatter and Joe Lazarov, when they won an Emmy for outstanding television movie for Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square on September 12, 2021, in Los Angeles
On the same day, Sam was captured on surveillance video allegedly throwing a large garbage bag into a trash bin located at the 16000 block of Ventura Boulevard in Encino before driving away.
Authorities found more video of Sam allegedly transferring more black plastic bags from a Tesla into to a rented SUV.
Benami told the Daily Mail that Sam drove a Tesla. Authorities confirmed on Monday that the Tesla was registered to Mei Li.
Investigators said Sam rented an SUV prior to the murders. In the rental, authorities found a loaded .357 revolver in a holster, 32 rounds of live ammunition and a military knife encrusted with blood.
A DNA analysis on the knife matched the genetic profiles of Mei Li and her parents, according to the DA’s office.
On November 8, 2023, investigators scoured the house and recovered eight black plastic trash bags filled with items including bloody bedding, towels, a large machine saw, a machete, a plywood board covered in blood, multiple pairs of disposable gloves and canes belonging to his in-laws.
Investigators who analyzed Sam’s cell phone records determined he was having an affair with a 27-year-old woman, and that he allegedly told her his children would soon be living with his parents, according to the DA’s office.
LAPD homicide detectives found a one-way ticket to Japan that Sam bought on October 21, 2023. The next day, he allegedly purchased a round-trip ticket for his girlfriend to accompany him from November 28 to December 13, 2023, authorities said.
When they searched Sam’s office, investigators found $67,000 in cash.
Prosecutors said Sam rented an Airbnb in Tarzana where he had been staying with his children after the murders.
While Mei Li Haskell’s remains were found in a dumpster, her parents’ remains have still yet to be found, authorities said
Neighbors and friends of the couple were left stunned to hear about Sam’s death.
‘I was shocked to find out Sam was able to kill himself in jail and can take solace in the news that he had changed his plea to guilty to all three murders,’ Benami told the Daily Mail. ‘So there was some sort of justice for his horrible crimes against Mei and her parents. The neighbors here are all praying for the three young boys.’
In a statement released on Monday, LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Mei Li’s family and friends will never receive the justice they deserve.
‘Instead of standing before a judge and answering for the crimes he’s been charged with, the defendant managed to escape justice,’ Hochman said. ‘This is one last cruel act by someone who did the most horrific things for reasons we will never entirely know.
‘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.’
In his statement, Sam’s attorney said the case has ‘always been about a father who, like many other American fathers, would do anything to protect his children.’
‘My client’s acts were not acts of cowardice or lunacy,’ Joseph A. Weimortz Jr said. ‘Ultimately, my client was even willing to take his own life, believing that it would end this terrible chaos.
‘The Haskell family grieves every single life lost in this case. They now respectfully request to be able to mourn in private and welcome your prayers.’
