TOPANGA CANYON/WOODLAND HILLS—On Monday, July 14, it was reported that Samuel Haskell IV, the son of famed producer Hollywood producer and agent, Samuel Haskell III, killed himself while in prison over the weekend. Haskell IV was 37 years old. According to TMZ, Haskell IV used a razor to take his life.
Samuel was found dead in his cell on Saturday, July 12, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office disclosed. He was charged with three counts of murder as well as the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders. Haskell was facing life in prison without the possibility of parole for his crimes and he was scheduled to appear in court on Monday, July 14 for a preliminary hearing.
Had the case proceeded to a preliminary hearing, the District Attorney’s Office would have presented the following evidence that Haskell IV, was in prison for killing and dismembering his wife and dumping the body, in addition to murdering her parents.
On or about November 6, 2023, he murdered and dismembered his 37-year-old wife, Mei Li Haskell, killed her mother, Yanxiang Wang, 64, and her stepfather Gaoshan Li, 71, in the Tarzana home they all shared.
The following day, Haskell hired and paid $500 to several day laborers to take away heavy black plastic trash bags from his home in Tarzana. 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. When authorities responded to the home to conduct a welfare check, no one was there, and the bags were gone.
Later the same afternoon, he was recorded on video a short distance from his home driving into a parking lot, removing a large trash bag similar to the one returned by the day laborers from the trunk of his Tesla, and disposing of this bag into a trash dumpster in Encino before driving away.
On November 9, 2023, the Los Angeles Police Department revealed they identified and arrested Haskell IV for murder, in connection to the unidentified female torso found in the area of Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue.
On November 8, 2023, around 6 a.m., an individual looking through dumpster bins found a bag containing a woman’s torso, prompting the police to be called. The investigation provided detectives with information that led them to a residence in the 4100 block of Coldstream Terrace in the West Valley area.
The home was forensically processed for evidence and detectives discovered that the location was the family residence where the suspect lived with his wife, Mei Lei Haskell, his in-laws and three children. The children were located and are being cared for by family members.
Investigators determined he rented the Airbnb in October for the time period between November 6 to November 18, 2023. A Home Depot receipt dated October 20, 2023, for the purchase of plywood, canopy, moisture barrier, coveralls and diamond-saw blades was found in his wallet.
Inside the rented vehicle, 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. DNA analysis of blood on the military knife matched to all three victims, while blood stains on the firearm matched the genetic profiles of Mei Li and Gaoshan Li. A search warrant was served on the defendant’s office where detectives found $67,000 in cash.
Additionally, law enforcement learned in reviewing the defendant’s cell phone extraction that Haskell Jr. had been having an affair with a 27-year-old woman who they interviewed. He told her in October 2023 that his children would soon be living with his parents.
On November 2, the defendant asked her to accompany him on a trip to Japan. Homicide detectives recovered a one-way ticket to Japan purchased by Haskell Jr. on October 21, 2023. The following day, Haskell Jr. purchased a roundtrip ticket for his girlfriend to accompany him from November 28 to December 12, 2023. The remains of Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshan Li have never been found.
Samuel’s father has worked for high profile celebrities like Dolly Parton and Whoopi Goldberg. Haskell IV was booked for 187 (a) PC-Murder and is currently being held on $2 million dollar bail.
According to the New York Post, Haskell IV was known to have a large cache of weapons in his home. He shot many films that have been posted on his Facebook and TikTok pages that include violence and the fetishization of Asian women. Brandi Glanville, the former star of the reality series, “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” appears on a scene in one of those films.
By Danny Jones