LOS ANGELES (TCD) — A man was arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman’s dismembered body was discovered in a large dumpster this week.
According to KTLA-TV, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at approximately 6:15 a.m., a man looking through a recycling bin in Encino found a duffel bag with a trash bag inside. When he opened it, he found a female torso. No other remains were reportedly found at the site.
KTLA reports workers called police Tuesday evening to report a “suspicious bag they believed could have body parts inside.” Officers went to a residence on Coldstream Terrace in Tarzana but did not find anything. Investigators looked through surveillance footage from the parking lot where the torso was found and located a car linked to the suspect, Samuel Haskell.
Police arrested Haskell Wednesday at a mall and booked him into the Van Nuys Jail. His bail was set at $2 million.
According to KABC-TV, Haskell, his wife Mei Haskell, and her parents Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshen Li all lived at the home on Coldstream Terrace. Samuel Haskell’s wife and his in-laws are missing.
Los Angeles Police Det. Efren Gutierrez said investigators were “concerned” about Mei Haskell, Wang, and Li because they did not answer their phones, nor were they home at regular hours.
Gutierrez told KABC officers went into Haskell’s home and found “evidence of a crime, including some blood evidence and other items that I’m not going to provide at this point.”
The victim whose torso had been left in the dumpster has not been positively identified yet.