Sam Haskell Jr. appears SHIRTLESS in court as he’s charged with killing and dismembering his wife, as well as murdering her parents
Sam Haskell, the son of a Hollywood superspy accused of killing his wife May and cutting up her body, made a brief bare-chested appearance in a courtroom in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
The heavily tattooed 35-year-old, who is also accused of killing May’s parents, is on suicide watch at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Jail in Van Nuys.
Velcro straps on the special robe he was wearing came undone, allowing it to slip off, a court deputy explained to DailyMail.com after the hearing.
Haskell was scheduled to be arraigned Friday and plead guilty or not guilty to three murder charges against him.
Sam Haskell appeared topless in court Friday during a hearing for the murder of his wife and her parents.
Haskell, who will now be asked to enter a plea next month, is accused of beating his wife May.
Sam Haskell (pictured), son of the Hollywood guy of the same name, is accused of killing his wife and her parents and then hacking them to death.
But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kimberly Baker Guillem continued the arraignments and pleas until Jan. 12 at the request of Haskell’s new attorney Joseph Weimortz, who had just been hired and said he needed time to become familiar with the case.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman objected to the continuation, telling the court, “We are opposed to delaying this case another six weeks.”
He was sent back to jail without bail.
Haskell, who could face the death penalty if convicted, was arrested after the decapitated torso of a woman believed to be his 37-year-old was found in a dumpster near his office in Encino, northwest of Los Angeles, last month. Mei’s Chinese-born wife. .
He was charged with Mei’s murder, as well as the murders of her parents, mother Yanqing Wang, 64, and father Gaoshan Li, 72, who remain missing.
May’s friends told DailyMail.com she had wanted to divorce Haskell for at least four years but feared his powerful agent father would persuade the court to give him custody of their three sons, aged six, eight and 12.
Prosecutors say the day after the murders, Haskell hired four day laborers to remove black trash bags from his Los Angeles home.
One worker said he was paid $500 to remove three large garbage bags, adding that Haskell claimed they were filled with rocks and then pretended the body parts were “Halloween props.”
“When we picked up the bags, we realized they weren’t rocks,” he said, noting that the bags were soft and wet.”
He and his colleagues looked into the bags and saw “body parts, a belly button” inside.
May (pictured) is said to have wanted to leave Haskell but feared his powerful father would try to prevent her from seeing the couple’s three children.
Pictured are Mei, her mother Yanqing Wang, 64, and father Gaoshan Li, 72. Haskell’s relatives remain missing and it is feared they were killed by him.
Police are searching the six-bedroom, $2.5 million home where the young Haskell family lived with May’s parents.
“I was amazed. Of course I felt bad. We were deceived,” he said.
The men then returned the bags and money to Haskell’s home, telling him they “didn’t want to be involved.”
The workers immediately contacted law enforcement and notified the California Highway Patrol and police.
Prosecutors said that later that day, Haskell “was allegedly spotted and photographed near his home throwing a large trash bag into a dumpster in the 16000 block of Ventura Boulevard.”
Haskell is the son of Samuel Haskell III, former executive vice president and head of international television at talent agency William Morris Endeavor.
His clients have included Dolly Parton, George Clooney, Kathie Lee Gifford, Whoopi Goldberg and King Charles’ brother, Prince Edward. He left in 2004 and founded Magnolia Hill Productions.
Haskell Sr. also served as CEO of the Miss America Organization from 2015–2017, but resigned after it was revealed that he had criticized some contestants in private emails, ridiculing one for gaining weight and another called her slutty.
May’s friends spoke of the alleged fear she lived with for years given her family connections.
“May first started talking about divorce when I was getting one in 2019,” one friend named Jenny told DailyMail.com. “I told her she could do it, but she just felt she couldn’t risk losing her boys.”
“May felt trapped,” said longtime friend Jenny, who gave her name only for fear of retaliation from the prominent Haskell family.
“She said she couldn’t leave because of the boys. She was afraid that her husband would take the children with the help of his very rich and powerful father.”
“She said that’s not happening. That she had no opportunity to get a divorce.
“Maybe she brought it up again and then he snapped.”
“There was also physical violence,” Jenny added. “She told me he hurt her. He hit her.
Jenny also claimed that Mei told her that her husband did not get along with her mother Wang and father Li.
The parents moved to their home in Tarzana, 25 miles north of Los Angeles, about five years ago to help care for the couple’s three young sons.
“She said he was rude to them and ignored them. That they made him angry,” said one friend.
“They didn’t speak English, but he made no effort to interact with them.
“When Mei had her youngest son, her parents moved from China to help care for the child. They were very helpful with the children.
The bag containing the headless torso was found in a duffel bag and dumped in a trash bin behind Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue, near a family restaurant, a hair salon and two banks.
The Los Angeles dumpster where a woman’s dismembered torso was found before the son of former Hollywood agent Samuel Haskell Sr. was arrested for murder
“May has no other family here other than her parents.”
May’s friends called her husband “weird.” “He was making these sudden movements with his hands and just blurting out stuff,” said one person, who wished to remain anonymous.
“When I first met him, I immediately thought of Jeffrey Dahmer, with the same creepy vibe. He walked very quickly, with his head down, rarely raising his eyes and never making eye contact.
“We are absolutely devastated. May was such a bright light and loved her children so much. She wanted to create a wonderful world for them, and she did it.
“May was the one we all turned to if we needed help or advice. She was always there for us. She was always so positive. She never complained. Her boys were everything to her, and the boys loved her very much.”
Ironically, despite the horrific nature of the murders he is accused of, unearthed texts from six months ago reveal that Haskell could not bear the sight of blood and gore.
In a message to his former personal trainer, Troy Piedad, about watching the horror movie The Purge: “He didn’t like the movie because of the dismembered bodies,” Troy said.
“He (Haskell) wrote: ‘They really do kill fools in Mexico, I’m having a hard time enjoying a movie about it, I’m not a fan of the anarchy in The Purge 2.'”
Troy said he sensed something was “a little off” with Haskell, whom he met nearly 15 years ago. He added that he felt Sam was “very concerned” but did not think his former client could be the killer.