The son of a Hollywood producer and a beauty queen actress who police say killed his wife and her parents returned to court Friday – shirtless and carrying a clear bag that appeared to be filled with dog biscuits and a carton of milk.
Police charged Sam Haskell IV with the murders of his wife, Mei Haskell, 37, and her parents, Goashan Li, 72, and Yanxiang Wang, 64, after a dumpster-diving homeless man found a headless torso in a bin down the street from the family home last month.
The in-laws had emigrated from China and into Haskell's home, where they helped take care of the couple's three sons, family friends told Fox News Digital.
Haskell, 35, is allegedly the man who appears in surveillance video pulling up to the dumpster and struggling to toss something heavy inside.
Police visited Haskell's home twice prior to his arrest. On the first occasion, a group of day laborers told them they had been asked to remove suspicious bags that felt heavy and soggy. However, responding officers found no evidence at the scene and were forced to leave.
The second time, they brought a search warrant and allegedly found blood and other evidence inside, according to LAPD Detective Efren Gutierrez. They arrested him at a shopping mall nearby.
HOLLYWOOD HEIR SAM HASKELL'S TIKTOK RANTS EMERGE AS SUSPECT IN HEADLESS TORSO CASE HEADS TO COURT
The arraignment has been pushed back to Jan. 12. He faces three counts of first-degree murder as well as special circumstance allegations that could increase the sentencing if convicted.
He is being held without bail and could face a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole, stiff measures that have become rare under Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who vowed in this case to "do everything in our power to ensure justice is served."
The delay prompted a protest from the deputy district attorney prosecuting the case, who said that some of the victims' relatives had traveled from China to be present for the proceedings.
Haskell's parents, Hollywood producer Sam Haskell III and beauty queen and actress Mary Donnelly Haskell, are known for a series of Christmas movies.
The father was also a former talent agent who represented George Clooney and Dolly Parton, among other A-list stars.
Weeks before the murders, Haskell ran into an old friend at a local diner and acted strange.
"Typically, when we run into each other, it's a hug," his friend told Fox News Digital. "This time, he was backing away from me. … He doesn't want a hug, and he's backing up, like I'm a threat or something like that."
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The woman asked to remain anonymous out of safety concerns and out of respect for Haskell's parents, whom she described as "wonderful people" who were always good to her.
Haskell waved her away with his hand, she said, as if he were protecting his children from her getting close.
"He seemed very paranoid, and then he sat in the far back of the restaurant, away from everybody," she said. "So that was just weird, even for Sam."
She described him as attractive, intelligent and extremely socially awkward.
He scowled in court during his first appearance last month, as a group of Mei Haskell's friends sat in the gallery, some carrying handwritten signs that read, "We Miss Mei" and "Justice for Mei Today!" During the hearing, some of them could be heard crying.
