Authorities with the Los Angeles Police Department have announced an arrest in connection with the torso of a woman found in a dumpster in Tarzana Wednesday morning.
At a press conference late Wednesday night, officials with the Los Angeles Police Department said 35-year-old Samuel Haskell was arrested at 11:25 a.m. at the Topanga Mall in connection with the crime.
He has been charged with one count of murder.
While authorities believe the torso found in the bag is Haskell’s wife, they said partial remains are harder to positively identify.
“If a murder suspect is dismembering a body, it’s to delay identification,” said LAPD homicide detective Efren Guttierez.
They also said they are looking for Haskell’s elderly parents, all of whom lived together in the Tarzana home in the 4100 block of Coldstream Terrace.
The incident, according to police, began yesterday at around 7:30 p.m. when someone reported seeing body parts in a bag outside the house. When authorities went to investigate, the bags were gone.
On Wednesday morning at about 6:15 a.m., a homeless man scavenging for recyclables discovered the woman’s remains in the dumpster in a parking lot near Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue, roughly five miles away from the home on Coldstream Terrace.
Later in the day, detectives returned to Haskell’s home and were seen going in and out of the residence, eventually confirming that the home was linked to the torso found in the dumpster.
Police believe the woman was killed sometime within the past few days. Investigators are still soliciting tips and hoping surveillance video will shed more light on the investigation.
Haskell is being held at the Valley Jail in Van Nuys on $2 million bail.
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