Los Angeles man dies in jail while awaiting trial for killing and dismemberment of wife, her parents

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles man accused of killing and dismembering his wife, her mother and her stepfather has died in jail while awaiting trial, authorities said Monday.

Samuel Bond Haskell, 37, was found dead Saturday in his cell in a downtown Los Angeles jail and died by suicide, a statement from the LA County district attorney said.

He was accused of killing his wife and the mother of his three children Mei Haskell, 37, along with her mother, 64-year-old Yanxiang Wang, and stepfather, 72-year-old Gaoshan Li. Haskell had pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder. His next pretrial hearing had been scheduled for Monday.

Haskell is the son of Emmy-winning television producer Sam Haskell, a former executive at the powerful William Morris talent agency.

An email seeking comment from his attorney and family wasn’t immediately answered.

The attorney, Joe Weimortz, told NBC4 that Haskell had been willing to waive a preliminary hearing where evidence would be presented publicly and to waive a jury trial because of the effect it would have on his children. Weimortz said Haskell was “not afraid of prison, but was afraid of an even larger media spectacle.” He added that “The Haskell family grieves every single life lost in this case.”

District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement that by killing himself, Haskell had escaped justice and denied the victims’ relatives a chance to face him. Haskell had faced the possibility of life in prison without the chance of parole if convicted.

In their statement, prosecutors laid out the evidence they intended to present against Haskell.

They allege that he killed the three victims on Nov. 6, 2023, in the house they all shared in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The following day, prosecutors say, he paid day laborers $500 to remove heavy plastic trash bags from the property. After driving away, they discovered body parts in the bags. They returned the bags and the money to Haskell’s house and called police, but no one was home and the bags were gone when officers arrived.

Prosecutors said they obtained a video of Haskell putting a black plastic bag into a dumpster, and another of him transferring trash bags between his wife’s Tesla and an SUV he had rented.

Later the same day, a man going through a dumpster discovered a beheaded torso later determined to belong to Mei Haskell.

Samuel Haskell, who had been staying at an Airbnb with his children since the killings, was arrested on Nov. 8, 2023.

From the family home, police recovered eight plastic bags whose contents included bloody bedding, towels, a large machine saw, a machete, a plywood board covered in blood and canes belonging to the older victims.

The bodies of Wang and Li have not been found, but bloodstains on a gun and knife found in the rented SUV matched the DNA of all three victims, authorities said.