A Hollywood executive’s son, charged with the murder of his wife and her parents, died in what appeared to be a suicide over the weekend, just days before a court hearing to decide whether he should stand trial.
Samuel Bond Haskell IV, 37, was found Saturday inside his cell at the Twin Towers jail downtown with what investigators believe are self-inflicted injuries, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.
Haskell was arrested and charged in November 2023 on suspicion of killing his wife, Mei Haskell, 37; and her mother, Yanxiang Wang, 64; and stepfather, Gaoshan Li, 72.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau announced it is investigating Haskell’s death and the cause will be determined by the L.A. County medical examiner’s office.
Haskell’s body was discovered at 4:20 a.m. Saturday, according to sheriff’s officials.
His death was the 26th in the Los Angeles County jail system this year.
It comes after the county jails had what County Supervisor Janice Hahn called “one of the deadliest starts to a year in its jail system’s recent history.” In the first 20 weeks of 2025 alone, 20 incarcerated individuals died — more than double the number of deaths during the same period last year, including three in a single day.
“Our jails are in crisis,” Hahn said. “We have seen an alarming increase in deaths of people who are in our custody and in our care. We need to take urgent, decisive action to save lives.”
A 2024 Times investigation found a common thread stretching across all causes of death for those in custody: neglect, by both guards and medical staff.
Haskell had been due to have a preliminary hearing starting Monday on the three charges of murder with special circumstances. He previously pleaded not guilty. He faced life without the possibility of parole if convicted on any of the three counts.
Haskell, his wife and her parents all lived in a single-story home in the 4100 block of Coldstream Terrace in Tarzana.
Police say that on Nov. 7, 2023, Haskell tried to get day laborers to remove bags from his home that contained what they said were body parts. The workers, who said they were paid $500 and initially told that they were hauling away rocks, said the bags felt soggy and soft, like meat. The laborers tried to return the money and contacted police, but by the time officers arrived, the bags were gone.
The next morning, a man found a human torso stuffed into a duffel bag in a dumpster in an Encino parking lot near Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue, about five miles from Haskell’s home, police said.
Haskell was arrested after the gruesome discovery. Inside Haskell’s house, detectives discovered blood and other evidence consistent with killing and dismemberment, according to investigators.
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman told TMZ that Haskell never revealed to authorities the location of his in-laws’ remains.
“The only remains they found was literally the torso of his wife that had been dismembered,” Hochman said.
L.A. County’s top prosecutor said investigators recovered wood with blood of the three victims, a cutting saw, a machete, bullets and a .357-caliber handgun inside a rental car.
“They found blood on mattresses, on bedding throughout the entire house,” Hochman said, adding that it was “a rock solid case.”
The defendant’s father, Sam Haskell, is an Emmy-winning producer and was an executive at the William Morris talent agency before launching his own production company.