Man arrested after bag containing woman’s torso found in Encino; authorities search for his missing family members
By JULIE SHARP
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ENCINO, California (KCAL) — A man has been arrested after a woman’s torso was found inside a plastic bag near an Encino dumpster Wednesday morning.
The gruesome discovery was made just after 6 a.m. in the parking lot of a strip mall north of the Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue intersection, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
They say that the bag with the body part inside was found by a homeless man searching the dumpster for recyclables.
Investigators did not believe that the woman’s torso had been in the dumpster for more than two days.
Hours later, as the Encino investigation continued, additional detectives were dispatched to a Tarzana residence in the 4100 block of Coldstream Terrace, which they said was connected to the body’s discovery.
With SkyCal overhead, the large house could be seen teeming with investigators throughout the late afternoon.
Wednesday evening, LAPD announced that 35-year-old Samuel Haskell had been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the incident. He was taken into custody at the Topanga Mall.
“Typically if someone, a murder suspect, is dismembering a body it’s to delay identification,” LAPD Detective Efren Gutierrez said. “So, that by implication would mean that they may have been known to each other.”
Detectives said that three people who lived in the same home as Haskell, his wife Mei and her parents Gaoshan Lee and Yanxiang Wang, all are still missing and one car, a white Volkswagen Tiguan belonging to Mei’s parents, was missing. Neighbors told investigators that the car is normally parked on the street, and they had not seen it at all Wednesday.
While searching the Tarzana home, investigators said that blood evidence was located but did not provide further details.
Three children who also lived in the home were located elsewhere and placed in protective custody according to authorities.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call 877-LAPD-247.
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