LOS ANGELES, CA- The Daily Mail reports that a man who dismembered his wife and her parents has committed suicide in his jail cell only days before he was scheduled to appear in court.
Samuel Bond Haskell IV, 37, son of a Hollywood executive, was awaiting trial on three counts of murder following the gruesome discovery of his wife Mei’s torso in a dumpster adjacent to his office in November 2023.
Haskell’s death was confirmed by Lt. Michael Modica of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to KABC on Monday.
Haskell’s father, Sam Haskell, is an Emmy Award-winning producer and Hollywood agent who has represented several high-profile Hollywood personalities, including Dolly Parton, Whoopi Goldberg, and George Clooney.
LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman was apoplectic when he learned of Haskell’s suicide on Monday, calling it “one last cruel act by someone who did the most horrific things for reasons we will never entirely know.
“Instead of standing before a judge and answering for the crimes he’s been charged with, the defendant managed to escape justice,” Hochman said.
“A family that has been dealing with unimaginable loss 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 January 2024, Haskell pleaded not guilty to the horrific murders of Mei, 37, her mother Yanking Wang, 64, and father Gaoshan Li, 72.
While Li and Wang’s remains were never found, the headless torso of Mei Haskell, the mother of three, was discovered in a dumpster near Haskell’s office in Encino.
Video surveillance captured him dumping the contents of a bag into the dumpster on November 7, 2023. The three victims were last seen alive on November 6, 2023.
According to prosecutors, Haskell hired four day laborers to remove black trash bags from his home on the day following the murders. One worker told authorities he was paid $500 to remove three large trash bags, which Haskell said were filled with rocks, while later saying the body parts were “Halloween props.”
“When we picked up the bags, we could tell they weren’t rocks,” he said, adding that the bags were “soft and soggy.” He said he and his co-workers looked inside the bags and saw “body parts, a belly button.”
The men brought the bags back to the home and returned the money, telling him they didn’t “want to be involved.” They then reported the incident to the police. When officers arrived, the trash bags were gone.
According to Mei’s friends, they told the Daily Mail that she had been talking for at least four years about divorcing her husband; however, she felt that due to his father’s high-profile connections, he would get custody of their three sons: Samuel, 11; James, 8; and William, 6.
“Mei first brought up divorce when I was getting one in 2019,” a friend identified as Jenny told the outlet. “I told her she could do it, but she just felt like she couldn’t risk losing her boys.”
“Mei felt trapped.”
Jenny also said Mei related to her that Haskell didn’t get along with her parents, who moved into their home in Tarzana, 25 miles north of Los Angeles, five years before helping care for the couple’s boys.
“She said he was rude to them and ignored them. They made him angry,” another friend told the Daily Mail.
Haskell was employed as a videographer, director, and producer in Los Angeles, as indicated on his IMDb page and social media accounts. Among his clients were rappers Tyga and Machine Gun Kelly, according to his Twitter account.
Haskell’s suicide didn’t come as a surprise, since he had been put on suicide watch inside LA’s Twin Towers jail since his arrest. He appeared in court in a blue gown, which indicated he was on “suicide and mental restriction.”
Haskell faced the death penalty if convicted. He apparently took that sentence into his own hands.
