Sam Haskell IV, the son of a retired Hollywood agent, pleaded not guilty on Friday to the gruesome killing and dismembering of his wife and in-laws in Los Angeles. Haskell appeared in court in suicide prevention clothing, shirtless and handcuffed, and has been held without bail since the discovery in November of his wife’s dismembered torso in a strip mall dumpster. Shortly before the discovery, he allegedly attempted to hire workers to dump of his wife’s body parts, unsuccessfully passing them off as rocks and Halloween decorations, and then was caught on camera disposing of the body in large black trash bags. The body was so dismembered that it took authorities a month to identify it as Mei Haskell, a Chinese immigrant described as the breadwinner of the family. Her parents, Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshan Li, have yet to be found, authorities are certain that they are also dead. Haskell's motive for the murders remains unclear.
