- Day laborers told NBC Los Angeles they were hired to move three bags full of body parts.
- They said they were hired by Samuel Haskell, the son of a prominent former Hollywood executive.
A top Hollywood agent's son has been accused by a group of day laborers of paying them $500 to dispose of three large trash bags full of body parts.
Samuel Haskell, 35, was arrested Wednesday in connection with an "unidentified female torso" found in a dumpster on Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release. The LAPD said Haskell's wife, Mei Li Haskell, and her parents, Gaoshan Li and Yanxiang Wang, were all missing. The police said they were also searching for two missing vehicles: a white Volkswagen Tiguan and a white 2014 Nissan Pathfinder.
A group of laborers told NBC Los Angeles that Haskell hired them on Tuesday and initially told them to move three bags full of rocks. But the laborers told the news outlet the bags felt soft and soggy, weighing about 50 pounds each, and they decided to look inside.
"I started seeing body parts, a belly button," one worker told NBC Los Angeles. "I was astonished. Of course, I felt bad. We had been tricked."
The worker said they drove back to Haskell's home, returned the money, and left the bags on the driveway. They added that they reported the incident to an LAPD station, were turned away, and told to call 911. The LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
CNN and other outlets identified Haskell as the son of the Hollywood agent Sam Haskell, a former executive vice president of the William Morris Agency, who represented clients such as Kathie Lee Gifford, Ray Romano, Whoopi Goldberg, Dolly Parton, and George Clooney.
The elder Haskell's current company, Magnolia Hill Productions, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
The LAPD's news release said Samuel Haskell and Mei Li Haskell had three children together. It added that the children had been located and were with family members.
The LAPD's news release said Haskell was being held on $2 million bail. On Monday prosecutors said Haskell took the body parts in his Tesla and threw them in a dumpster after the laborers refused to help.
It's not immediately clear whether Haskell had a lawyer.