LOS ANGELES — A Southern California man accused of killing his wife and her parents, who remain missing, has died in custody, authorities confirmed.
Samuel Bond Haskell, aged 37, was discovered deceased at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday, as reported by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
While the department did not disclose specifics regarding the circumstances of his death, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman stated that Haskell took his own life just days before he was due for a preliminary court hearing.
“Instead of presenting himself before a judge to respond to the charges against him, the defendant chose to avoid justice,” remarked District Attorney Hochman. “This represents one final cruel act by an individual who committed some of the most atrocious deeds for reasons we may never fully comprehend. A family, already enduring unbearable loss, has now been denied the opportunity to confront him, demand accountability for his inhumane actions, and express their sorrow as well as honor the memories of their beloved family members.”
In 2023, Haskell, of Tarzana, was accused of murdering Mei Li Haskell, 37, and her parents, Gaoshan Li, 72, and Yanxiang Wang, 64, and then tossing dismembered body parts into an Encino trash bin, where the human remains were later discovered.
A Tarzana man accused of killing his wife and her parents, who remain missing, appeared in court and was seen publicly for the first time since his arrest.
Haskell lived in Tarzana with his wife, their three young children and her parents. The children were unharmed. Hochman said they are now living together with a relative.
Haskell is the son of Emmy-winning producer and Hollywood agent Sam Haskell, who served as an agent for Kathie Lee Gifford, Whoopi Goldberg, Dolly Parton, George Clooney and others.
The three missing family members were last seen on Nov. 6, 2023.
“On Nov. 7, Haskell allegedly hired four day-laborers to take away several heavy black plastic trash bags from his home in Tarzana,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. “One of the laborers opened one of the bags and allegedly observed human body parts. They called 911 and reported the incident.”
They returned the bags and money, but the bags weren’t there when police arrived, authorities have said.
The same day, Haskell was caught on video dumping something in a dumpster in nearby Encino, authorities said. He was arrested the next day after someone rummaging through trash in the dumpster found a woman’s torso and called 911, prosecutors said.
Hochman said there’s DNA evidence linked to all three victims on a bloody knife found in Haskell’s possession. Hochman also said investigators found a cutting saw, machetes, knives, a .357-caliber firearm and a “bloody plyboard in which the killings had occurred.”
Hochman said Haskell had been having an affair with a 27-year-old woman, but a motive for the killings is unknown.
“The full motive for an individual to so violently and barbarically kill three people and chop up their bodies – Mr. Haskell has taken that motive to the grave with him,” Hochman said.
The Associated Press and the CNN Wire contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2025 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
