Los Angeles car chase turns into armed robbery on freeway
Masked thieves on 10 Freeway robbed a man in broad daylight Tuesday after another vehicle intentionally crashed into his car. (@icellphonez / AUTO OVERLOAD /TMX)
The Los Angeles man arrested after a homeless man found a headless body in a dumpster is the scion of a prominent Hollywood family whose wife and in-laws are missing.
The Los Angeles Police Department said Wednesday that they responded to a dumpster near Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue in Encino around 6 a.m. and recovered a woman's headless torso.
Police said they found evidence at the scene that led them to the Tarzana home of Sam Haskell IV, 35, the son of Hollywood producer Sam Haskell III.
Sam Haskell on a trip abroad in August 2013. Los Angeles police have arrested him after finding a headless body, believed to belong to his wife Mei Haskell, dumped in Encino this week. (Sam Haskell/Instagram)
The younger Haskell lived there with his wife, three children and in-laws. The children are OK, according to authorities.
But his 37-year-old wife, Mei Haskell, and her parents, Goashan Li, 72, and Yanxiang Wang, 64, are unaccounted for, authorities say. LAPD Detective Efren Gutierrez told reporters during a news briefing attended by FOX 11 Los Angeles that attempts to contact all three were unsuccessful.
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, California. (Sam Haskell/Instagram)
Police said the recovered remains had not yet been identified, but they may belong to Mei. Investigators found blood and other evidence in the home.
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They arrested her husband at a mall in Canoga Park about five hours after the grisly discovery.
Mei Haskell, 37, is missing and presumed dead after Los Angeles police found a headless torso in Encino, California. Her parents are also missing. Her husband, Sam Haskell, is being held without bail at a county jail. (Sam Haskell/Instagram)
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."
Sam Haskell, the 35-year-old son of a Hollywood producer and a beauty queen, is being held on suspicion of murder in Los Angeles after police found a decapitated body believed to belong to his missing wife, Mei Haskell. (Sam Haskell/Instagram)
He was also a longtime Miss America Organization CEO who was embroiled in a scandal after leaked emails showed him disparaging former winners.
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. From left: Sam Haskell, Mei Haskell, Gaoshan Li and Yanxiang Wang. (KTTV | Sam Haskell/Instagram | LAPD)
His fall was chronicled in A&E's "Secrets of Miss America" miniseries in June, which included allegations of the elder Haskell sabotaging the career opportunities and romantic lives of pageant winners.
His son, meanwhile, used to maintain an Instagram account where he frequently posted about his Hollywood lifestyle under the hashtag #richkids.
From left: Sam Haskell, Mary Lane Haskell and Mary Donnelly-Haskell attend the Netflix premiere of Dolly Parton's "Heartstrings" in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, on Oct. 29, 2019. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Netflix)
The suspect Haskell's mother is the former beauty queen and actress Mary Donnelly Haskell, 1977's Miss Mississippi.
Haskell is being held without bail at the jail in Van Nuys. He is due back in court Monday.
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