ENCINO, CA – A chilling discovery in the parking lot of a family restaurant and nail salon led to the arrest of a man in Los Angeles yesterday. Samuel Haskell, a Tarzana resident, is currently detained on a $2 million bail after authorities found a woman’s torso inside a plastic bag left in a dumpster. Haskell is facing one count of murder.
A significant detail is that Haskell’s wife, Mei Haskell, and her parents, Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshen Li, have been reported missing. They were all residing with the suspect in their Tarzana home, a mere five miles from where the remains were located.
During a search inside the Haskell residence, police uncovered multiple indications of a crime, including traces of blood. The investigators suspect the grimly found torso to belong to Mei Haskell. Still, they stressed that partial remains can often present challenges in positive identification.
Authorities discovered the torso, theorized to be Mei Haskell’s, enclosed within a black plastic bag, which was then found inside a duffel bag. The gruesome package was dumped into a dumpster behind a location on Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue in Encino, California. The police conjecture that it wasn’t there for more than a few days.
LAPD homicide detective Efren Guttierez explained, “If a murder suspect is dismembering a body, it’s to delay identification.” The torso was brought to light when a homeless person, scouring the dumpsters for recyclables early morning, made the unsettling discovery, as per the LA Police Department.
The police identified Haskell’s residence from the examination of security footage from the area. The property was located on 4100 block of Coldstream Terrace in Tarzana, only five miles from where the discarded torso was found. It is known that the house was being shared by Haoell, his wife, her parents, and the couple’s three children.
The children were found in their school and have since been safeguarded by the Department of Children and Family Services. The police also looked into a call at the Haskell household, where witnesses claimed to have spotted body parts in a bag outdoors. However, upon their arrival, the bag had disappeared.
Local residents have expressed their shock and distress, with some noting a rise in crime within Encino over the past few months. The Los Angeles Police Department is urging anyone with information to come forward.