Los Angeles police have arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of murder in connection with a headless torso found in a dumpster in a commercial area of Encino, California.
The LAPD’s Valley Bureau Homicide Unit identified the murder suspect as Samuel Haskell, a Los Angeles resident who has been charged with murder and is being held on $2 million bail.
Samuel Haskell has been identified in media reports as the son of Samuel Haskell Sr., the former executive vice president and global head of television at WMA, where he represented such celebrities as Ray Romano, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Feinstein, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Martin Short and Sean Hayes.
Haskell Sr. is also a former chairman of the board of directors for the Miss America Organization and is currently the founder and president of Magnolia Hill Productions, where he has produced TV movies for NBC in collaboration with Dolly Parton, among numerous other content.
LAPD police said the unidentified female torso was found around 6 a.m. on Nov. 8 in the area of Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue. “A person looking through dumpsters found a bag containing a woman’s torso, prompting police to be called. Detectives responded and processed the scene. Identification of the torso is ongoing,” the LAPD added in a news release.
LAPD detectives were then led to Samuel Haskell’s home in the West Valley area. They are also looking for Samuel Haskell’s wife, Mei Li Haskell, 37, and her parents, mother Yanxiang Wang, 64, and father Gaoshan Le, 71. The parents also lived in the family home in Tarzana.
Police are also looking for two missing vehicles, a white VW Tiguan and a white 2014 Nissan Pathfinder.
