Woman's torso found in bag in car park bin with suspect's wife still missing
A 35-year-old husband and father of three has been arrested after the dismembered torso of a woman was discovered in a dumpster about five miles (eight kilometres) from his family's home.
The discovery was reportedly made by a homeless man who had been rummaging through the giant bin looking for recyclables. He noticed body parts hanging out of the bag just outside the dumpster and contacted the authorities.
Los Angeles Police Department Detective Efren Gutierrez told ABC7 that it was "a dismembered female," but further identification has yet to be made. A few hours later, a suspect was identified — 35-year-old Samuel Haskell of Tarzana, Los Angeles.
A running but unconfirmed theory is that the body belongs to his wife, Mei, who is missing alongside her parents, Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshen Li, who live with the couple at their Tarzana home along with the couple's three children, who were pulled from their school on Wednesday after the arrest was made and placed safely into the custody of the county's Department of Children and Family Services.
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Mei Haskell, Samuel's wife, is believed to be the body that was discovered, but reports are unconfirmed. She and her parents remain missing (ABC7)The authorities allege that Samuel slaughtered and dismembered Mei sometime over the previous few days at the family residence, where blood was discovered as well as undisclosed evidence that seemed to link Samuel to the killing — or that, at the very least, doesn't look good for the 35-year-old.
Investigators have continued to rummage through the home as they search for more clues and try to positively identify the body and find Mei and her parents.
The dumpsters were located at the rear of a car park near the strip mall. A homeless man allegedly found the body (ABC)Samuel was caught after security footage near a strip mall around Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue in Encino allegedly pictured him around the area, which is where the body was discovered on Wednesday at 6.15am local time near the dumpster at the rear of a car park there. It remains unclear exactly what the footage showed, but the police told local media that the evidence was strong enough to link Samuel to the torso.
He was arrested at around 11.30am local time near the Westfield Topanga Mall in Canoga Park and is being held on a $2 million (£1.63 million) bond. The LAPD charged him with one count of murder.
Identifying the body has been a gruelling task, however, as the police say there are no tattoos or markings that could allow them to more easily identify the woman. The only certainty is that she appeared to be dead for no more than a few days at most — but her cause of death remains unclear, too.
Evidence, including security footage, allegedly linked Samuel Haskell to the dismembered torso (ABC)A witness came forward and told the police that they had seen a black bag near the home that appeared to contain a body and called the police at the time, but when officers arrived, they found no evidence of such a bag or a body.
The home in question is located in the 4100 block of Coldstream Terrace in Tarzana and is about five miles from the strip mall where the torso was found, local station KTLA reported. Anyone with additional information about the case has been urged to contact the LAPD.
One resident was particularly shocked by the discovery, noting that Encino has seen a spike in crime. "I think it was kind of weird to drive up and be blocked off along the boulevard and into the little centre over here and to find out that there were body parts there... in Encino!" the resident told ABC7.
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