Los Angeles surveillance video shows man dumping large bag where headless body found
Security cameras at an Encino strip mall appear to show the moments a man dropped off a large object in a dumpster where a homeless man later found a headless woman's body.
Sam Haskell IV, the 35-year-old Hollywood "#richkid" whose wife and in-laws are missing, is due in court Monday to face a judge after police found a woman's headless torso in a dumpster near his house last week.
Over the weekend, as Haskell languished in a cell with Los Angeles' courts closed for Veterans Day, posts from his bizarre TikTok account garnered new scrutiny as commenters picked apart his ramblings about designer fashion, celebrities and Asian cuisine.
Police arrested Haskell at a mall in Canoga Park on Thursday, hours after responding to a bank parking lot in Encino, where a homeless man made the grisly find while searching through trash.
Surveillance videos taken the prior afternoon show a thin man pulling up in a white SUV and struggling to toss something into the bin in a crowded parking lot in broad daylight.
Sam Haskell's TikTok account includes snippets of himself talking about random issues in between "shouts out" to random celebrities. Haskell was arrested last week in connection with the disappearance and suspected murder of his wife, Mei Haskell. (Sam Haskell/TikTok)
Under the pseudonyms Tragic Streetz and Samuel Basshinger, he has posted a series of bizarre selfie videos on TikTok and highly produced short clips to Facebook.
In one, while in the driver's seat of a cluttered SUV, he says, "Like, my resume says unhappy, bitter, resentful, and like really good at ordering off the menu."
Another showed him filming his reflection in a window, appearing to pose with music playing.
"What in the Luka Magnotta is this?" wrote one commenter, a reference to the infamous killer whose capture was chronicled on Netflix's docuseries "Don't F--- with Cats."
A tipster told Fox News Digital Friday that people found Haskell's behavior in the parking lot suspicious and that a passerby took pictures of the license plate and sent the number to police.
Mei Haskell in a January 2014 photograph shared by her husband Sam Haskell. Haskell was arrested this week in Los Angeles after police found a headless body, believed to belong to Mei, in a dumpster in Encino. (Sam Haskell/Instagram)
Police said they could not immediately identify the remains – but they believed they belong to Mei Haskell, the suspect's 37-year-old wife who has been missing for days. Her parents, Goashan Li, 72, and Yanxiang Wang, 64, lived with the couple and are also unaccounted for.
Authorities said the Haskells' three young children have been removed from their Tarzana home – now a crime scene – as the investigation continues.
Prosecutors had 48 hours after Haskell's arrest to bring him before a judge. However, Los Angeles courts observed Veterans Day on Friday, which paused the clock for the entire three-day weekend.
A general view of the home in Tarzana, Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, where Sam Haskell Jr. lived with his wife, Mei Haskell, and her parents, Yanxiang Wang and Goashan Li. Haskell Jr. is in custody following the discovery of his wife's torso in a nearby dumpster, while the search for her parents continues. (Fox News Digital)
SUSPECT IN LOS ANGELES TORSO DUMPSTER CASE IS HOLLYWOOD SCION WHOSE WIFE, IN-LAWS ARE MISSING
Police visited Haskell's home twice last week. On the first occasion, a group of day laborers told them they had been asked to remove suspicious bags that felt heavy and soggy. However, responding officers found no evidence at the scene and were forced to leave.
They returned with a search warrant Thursday morning and found blood and other evidence inside, LAPD Detective Efren Gutierrez told reporters.
Sam Haskell, the 35-year-old scion of a Hollywood family known for TV Christmas movies, is in a Los Angeles jail after police found a headless woman's body in a dumpster. His wife and in-laws are missing. (KTTV, Sam Haskell/Instagram, LAPD)
Haskell's famous dad was a longtime A-list talent agent who represented stars like Dolly Parton and George Clooney before becoming an Emmy-winning producer. He received four Emmy nominations and a single win for teaming up with Parton on "Christmas on the Square."
He was also a longtime Miss America Organization CEO, who left in a scandal after leaked emails showed him disparaging former winners.
From left to right, Sam Haskell, Mary Lane Haskell and Mary Donnelly-Haskell attend the Netflix Premiere of Dolly Parton's "Heartstrings" on Oct. 29, 2019 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Netflix)
A&E's "Secrets of Miss America" miniseries chronicled the dad's decline in June, which included allegations of sabotaging the career opportunities and romantic lives of pageant winners.
The younger Haskell, meanwhile, used to maintain an Instagram account where he frequently posted about his Hollywood lifestyle under the hashtag #richkids.
The suspect Haskell's mother is the former beauty queen and actress Mary Donnelly Haskell, 1977's Miss Mississippi.
Haskell was scheduled to be due in court at 8:30 a.m. Monday.
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