Man accused of killing wife, in-laws and leaving dismembered body parts in dumpster appears in court
A man who allegedly tossed dismembered body parts into an Encino trash bin appeared in a downtown courtroom Friday to answer to three counts of murder in connection with the disappearance of his wife and in- laws, but his arraignment was postponed.
Samuel Bond Haskell, 35, of Tarzana, is charged with the murders of his wife Mei Haskell, 37, and her parents, 64-year-old Yanxiang Wang and 72- year-old Gaoshen Li, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
In court Friday, Haskell inexplicably appeared without a shirt on. Over the objection of prosecutors, his arraignment was postponed until Jan. 12. Haskell was ordered to remain jailed without bail.
"When somebody gets arrested, there's an initial mental health intake and if there's a chance you may be a danger to yourself, they take everything off," said Criminal defense attorney Alexandra Kazarian, offering an explanation for Haskell's bizarre appearance in court. "They take your clothes off, they take your shoelaces off, they take anything that could be used .. to wrap around your neck, they take it off of you."
"If it's to the point where they think that you just cannot have any piece of clothing around you because you are such a danger to yourself, they put you inside what's called a suicide vest."
She says that suicide vests are heavy, leaded pieces of clothing, and that the vest Haskell may have been wearing could have been too large and dense to fit around his upper body.
"It's supposed to fit on you but sometimes it's too big and it falls off," Kazarian said. "It looks like, in this situation, the weighted suicide vest fell off so he's naked from the top up, which is unfortunate. I don't think they ever want to be somebody in there looking like that."
The victims, who lived in a Tarzana home in the 4100 block of Coldstream Terrace with Haskell and the couple's three young children, were last seen on or about Nov. 6, authorities said. The children were found and are being cared for by family members, police said.
Haskell was arrested following the discovery of human remains inside a trash bin near Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Way in Encino. Police have said they suspect the remains are those of Mei Haskell, but forensic testing was still being performed.
Prosecutors said Haskell allegedly tried to pay day laborers to remove bags from his home with what they realized were body parts and, when that failed, the defendant was caught on video dumping the bags out of the back of his Tesla into the trash bin.
The murder charges include a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders. If convicted as charged, Haskell would face a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.
