Sam Haskell IV: Second-Rate Slasher

0:00You may have heard of the sex cult NXIVM and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack. But she's never told her side of the story, until now. People assume that I'm like this pervert. My name is Natalie Robamed, and in my new podcast, I talk to Alison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member, and what she thinks of it all now. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma to other people? I mean, I don't even know how to answer that question. Alison, after NXIVM from CBC's Uncover, is available now, wherever you get your podcasts.

0:34A note, this episode includes graphic information and discussions of self-harm that some people may find upsetting. Listener discretion is advised.

0:48The surveillance footage clearly showed a white Tesla gliding into a parking lot. It appeared to be the most ordinary of scenes, especially for Encino, California, a wealthy enclave a few miles northwest of Los Angeles. But then, instead of beginning the classic Angelino ritual of circling around looking for an empty spot, the driver pulled the car to a halt in front of a dumpster. The driver was a white man with long, dirty blonde hair and dressed in nondescript white tea and jeans, and he quickly got out of the car. He walked over to open the gate in front of the trash bins. Then he crossed back to his car and popped the trunk.

1:32The driver leaned in and reached for something. It was wrapped in a black trash bag, but whatever it was, it was big and unwieldy and difficult to carry. He wrapped both arms around it to roll it toward him and pulled it out of the car. He wrestled with it, trying to get a good hold on it. He bent his knees to heft its weight and then threw it over his shoulder and struggled to make a few steps to the waiting dumpster. looking almost like a parent carrying a sleeping child who was maybe a little bit too old for that. A couple other cars cruised through the scene, including a white van that passed right by the driver as he finished disposing of whatever was in the bag.

2:18His mission accomplished. He swung the gate shut behind him and got back in the car. He then slowly and smoothly executed a three-point turn and left the way he came. The driver is alleged to be Sam Haskell IV, the son of a major Hollywood power player. And his life was about to take a turn straight out of a movie.

2:46This is The Opportunist, an original podcast from Podcast One. You're listening to a story told in one episode called Sam Haskell IV, Second Rate Slasher. I'm Sarah James McLaughlin. In this episode, we tell the tale of a troubled Hollywood princeling who struggled to come into his own and the grisly scene he left in his wake.

3:37The tale of Sam Haskell IV would be incomplete without first mentioning his father, Sam Haskell III. Haskell Sr.'s story of plucky charm and determination reads almost like a classic script about a man on the rise. He started in the mailroom at the William Morris Talent Agency, one of the biggest and most powerful firms in Hollywood. From the very lowest rung on the ladder, he became the agency's youngest senior vice president. And within 20 years, he worked his way up to running the entire television department. As a talent agent, Haskell Sr. represented huge global stars like Whoopi Goldberg and Lily Tomlin, helping put together projects and making sure they got the best deals possible.

4:24This was a position that gave him incredible power throughout the industry. He helped put together iconic TV shows like Lost, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In 2007, he was named one of the 25 most innovative and influential people in television of the last 25 years, alongside titans like Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey. And, like any movie worth its salt, Haskell Sr.'s story also has a healthy dose of romance. He married his college sweetheart, Mary Donnelly, a literal beauty queen who was crowned Miss Mississippi in 1977. After his illustrious agency career, he made beauty pageants his business and transitioned to work with a Miss America organization.

5:22With his guidance, the iconic pageant, which had fallen on hard times, was revitalized, returning to a prime television slot. But then, in 2017, a revelation came out that put a permanent black spot on Haskell Sr.'s good guy image. Thank you, Miss America. The Miss America pageant, famous for its dazzling gowns, swimwear, and those crowning moments. New York! Now plagued by scandal after emails from the organization's CEO, Sam Haskell, were leaked to the Huffington Post. Tonight, the top of the Miss America organization resigning because of mocking and degrading contestants over email. Dozens of former pageant winners demanding change and tonight getting it.

6:14After several damning emails were leaked to the Huffington Post, It was revealed that Haskell Sr. had engaged in and encouraged crude, sexist comments about many past contestants. Based on his correspondence, Haskell wrote and replied to various offensive messages, describing women using vulgar anatomical references, as well as stooping to fat shaming and slut shaming. This was particularly disturbing, given how much effort and enthusiasm these women poured into the competition, and how much their participation meant to them and generations of girls. Haskell was happy to parade them in front of cameras in their swimsuits for profit, but behind closed doors, he belittled and demeaned them.

7:01Haskell Sr.'s success story left a big pair of shoes for his son to fill, as far as making it on your own. But also, there was a prominent dark streak of indiscretion and appalling treatment of women that may have also shaped Jr.'s views growing up. We spoke to Rachel Howlett, a journalist with knowledge of the case, who provides more context on how Haskell Jr.'s upbringing may have shaped him. Well, obviously growing up in Los Angeles, you have access to so many resources. You have access to the types of people that can open up doors for you, especially in something like the entertainment industry.

7:43Growing up in Los Angeles, the, you know, the entertainment world, like Hollywood is your backyard, your playground almost. And for Samuel Haskell, that was really no different. He grew up with an immense amount of wealth, immense amount of opportunities. But for whatever reason, he was not seeing success in the way that he was felt like he should be owed that sort of success based off of his upbringing. Samuel Haskell is the son of a huge Hollywood executive and Emmy Award winning producer. He was also his father was also an agent for some time and he's represented the likes of Dolly Parton and George Clooney back in the day.

8:27His mother, she was also an actress and a former Miss Mississippi back in the day. And Samuel Haskell attempted a foray into the entertainment business, much like his parents, but didn't quite meet the same amount of success as they did. That's a bit of an understatement. While Haskell Sr. guided the careers of some of the biggest stars in the last 50 years, Haskell Jr. couldn't seem to break out past direct-to-YouTube short horror films and photo shoots with influencers. It was a little bit of the outside looking in for him, and he really wanted to be a part of that circle, be the center of attention, and really pave his own way in the entertainment business.

9:20And unfortunately, that was just not how his adult life was panning out for him. I know he was he was a producer on several TV shows. I believe I was just making sure I believe he was credited as a producer for The Rich Housewives of Beverly Hills at one point. He also directed and created several of his own independent films that didn't really gain much traction. But what was interesting about those is like they were violent slasher movies, which didn't quite sit well with the audience at the time. But these films didn't quite sit well with the audience. They were quite violent and many referred to them as slasher films.

10:06He was also credited a few times as producers on popular television shows. But he really hadn't made a name for himself in the world of Hollywood quite yet. junior may have failed to match his father's meteoric rise in hollywood but as far as romance they appeared to be on a similar track at least at first like haskell senior haskell jr met his wife in college at cal state northridge may lee later may haskell came to the states from china to study accounting meanwhile haskell jr pursued a career as a photographer and director It seems like she was the main breadwinner of the family. It is unclear what, if any, financial contributions Samuel Haskell played in their dynamic, in their relationship.

10:59But she was working several jobs to be the family's main breadwinner. After meeting, the couple quickly married and started having children. They eventually had three boys in quick succession. And after their first was born, Mei's parents, Gao Shan Li and Yanxiang Wang, came over from China to help raise their grandkids and the couple's Tarzana home. Located near Encino, away from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, Tarzana has become a favored neighborhood for families who want a suburban feel while still having easy access to everything the city has to offer. Tarzana is located the west side of the San Fernando Valley, I would say.

11:44And it's very close to an area called Encino, which is in the last several years become a true celebrity hub. If you don't want to live in Beverly Hills or some of these other affluent neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Encino has really become the place to be. Multi-million dollar homes, a huge celebrity presence. It's just above the 405 and above Santa Monica. So there is that allure because you're just outside of the city, but you can still get in pretty easily to enjoy the city life, but then come back out to the valley to raise your family and be at home. So Tarzana has been a place where celebrities have congregated in the past several years.

12:27We've seen celebrities like Matt LeBlanc, Kelly Cuoco, Maya Rudolph, Khloe Kardashian, those types of celebrities have all spent time and lived in Tarzana. For many years, the Haskells appeared to live in peace. May worked as an accountant and ran an organization to help fellow Chinese immigrants to America. Meanwhile, Sam did photo shoots and made short films. He was active on social media, mainly TikTok. From 2022 to 2023, he uploaded many clips to the app, and he had a habit of name-dropping. Everyone from skincare influencers like Patrick Ta to celebrity friends like Brad Pitt. Hey, what's up, you guys?

13:12Hey, shout out to Patrick Ta for keeping my skin hydrated. You can hardly tell that I've had acne for like the past 20-something years. so epic it's like an epic vampire move like pull up in an escalade outside paul wesley's crib kids are like dad where's mom going what's mom doing she's like oh she's gonna go chill with brad she's gonna go chill with brad pitt for for a while maybe go to a concert but not all of his tiktoks were so cheery and upbeat some of them took a more sarcastic tone and seemed to reveal his personal and professional frustrations, as well as potential substance abuse. Yo, shout out to LinkedIn for just making it like so much more streamlined for me to be told no repeatedly.

14:04Like my resume says unhappy, bitter, resentful, and like really good at ordering off the menu. Real quick, you guys, by mistake, and the number one thing they talked about was consistency, like be consistent. Now I'm consistently never going to stop drinking. Using the pseudonym Sam Basinger and the Instagram handle Tragic Streets with a Z, he slid into women's DMs to request they do photo shoots with him. But his social media presence was throwing a signal that something was off. One model who worked with him made a similar assessment. He's always hit me up through Instagram to do photo shoots.

14:53And of course, in the beginning, I was kind of scared to do a photo shoot with him. But the consistent asking, eventually I took in the offer. I always knew he was a little bit more different. He was always very different, but I took it as he was just very passionate about his work. And it wasn't just online that Haskell had an eerie presence. There was also concern from people that knew him in real life. One of his neighbors described him as socially awkward, though she was quick to clarify that he didn't strike her as creepy. She said, When I say the socially awkward part, he was just very quiet, kind of pensive, always seemed to be deep in thought about something.

15:39Other neighbors went further with their descriptions. The neighbors we spoke with, they described May as a really loving and hardworking mother who also really cared for and loved her parents, which was such a stark contrast with her husband, Samuel Haskell. The neighbors described Samuel as strange and weird, a bit off, and kind of a creepy vibe, to be honest. There was a sense among neighbors in the area that there was really something off about him, and they didn't really understand the dynamics of their relationship. In addition to being standoffish, Haskell also had a large collection of weapons, like crossbows and samurai swords, which he proudly displayed.

16:25That same neighbor was so concerned about these that she forbade her children from playing anywhere near them. And apparently even Haskell's wife was uncomfortable having the weapons in her house because they also had three young boys running around. But in the end, it wasn't her sons that she needed to be worried about.

16:53In the fall of 2023, an old friend of Haskell's ran into him and said he was acting strangely, saying, he seemed very paranoid, and then he sat in the far back of the restaurant, away from everybody. So that was just weird, even for Sam. Coming up, Haskell's paranoia and general strangeness escalates into a series of unthinkable acts with a twist like something taken straight out of one of his slasher movies. This guy was as cold and calculated as they come. Maybe we weren't going to get it solved. It was like the epitome of innocence that had been preyed upon. This is a case that has no evidence.

17:35We didn't have DNA. We didn't have fingerprints. Step inside the court of law with the new true crime podcast, American Justice. We realize we have four men who answered the same ad for a job on a farm. My brother Ralph went to interview and he was never seen again. A podcast that explores impactful crimes and reveals how our justice system works. You have to consider that there are more possibilities than one. And sometimes how it doesn't. We have to find whoever this monster is. Go in-depth into chilling cases and their conclusions in this new true crime series. You just have a pit in your stomach thinking, how many people are we going to find?

18:17New episodes of American Justice are available every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. It's not too late for you to try CB Distillery with me. CB Distillery focuses on five areas of targeted solutions. Relief, relaxation, recovery, sleep, and focus and concentration. All of their products are created using non-GMO hemp grown right here in the U.S. Plus, their products are third-party tested for quality and consistency. CB Distillery uses only 100 % clean ingredients, no artificial colors or flavors, no preservatives, no corn syrup, and no artificial sweeteners. And it's not just for humans.

18:59CB Distillery also benefits our cats and dogs. For those of us that have seniors with mobility issues or puppers with separation anxiety, CB Distillery offers health and wellness support for our good boys and our good girls too. CB Distillery has a solid 100 % money-back guarantee, so let's try it together. I have a 20 % discount to get you started. Visit cbdistillery.com and use code opportunist for 20 % off. That's cbdistillery.com code opportunist. cbdistillery.com. Now, back to the story. In the fall of 2023, then 35-year-old Sam Haskell Jr. was living with his 37-year-old wife May Lee, her two parents, and their three sons in the charming enclave of Tarzana, California.

19:54To their neighbors, the family was a bit of an enigma. No one could quite figure out what was going on between Sam and May. People liked her well enough. They seemed to be kind and hardworking. As for her husband, neighbors thought he was a little odd with his habits of keeping to himself and collecting unusual weapons. But nothing seemed seriously amiss. Until a week after Halloween. On November 7th, Haskell paid$500 to hire a crew of four-day laborers. He tasked them with hauling away a stack of heavy, black, plastic trash bags from in front of his family's home. Haskell told them the bags were full of rocks, but when the men picked them up, something felt off.

20:46The bags didn't feel like they were full of rocks. They were heavy enough, but they felt soft, soggy, like they were full of meat. At first, the men attempted to complete the job, loading the bags up into their truck. But they only got about a block away before deciding they had to check what was in the bags. So they stopped, pulled over, and opened one of them. The bags contained human body parts. Frightened and wanting no part of whatever was going on, the men immediately turned around. They returned to Haskell's house, where he tried to convince them that the body parts they'd seen were just Halloween decorations from the previous week.

21:37But the laborers weren't convinced. They refused to do the job and left the bags on Haskell's driveway and returned the$500. dollars. Still, after leaving the Haskell home, something wasn't sitting right with the workers. If they had really seen severed body parts in the bag, and they believed they had, then a terrible crime had been committed. So they decided they had to report what they'd seen to the authorities. But they almost weren't able to do that. And the men then attempted to report this incident to the police. But sort of the crazy thing is about this that the police almost missed this heinous crime entirely because the men only spoke Spanish.

22:23And when they tried to alert authorities, they were bounced back between California Highway Patrol and LAPD. And then finally, they were told to call 911 and speak to a dispatcher there. They did eventually make contact with the police and alert them to what happened. The men told officers that they'd left a suspicious bag on the driveway of the Haskell home, but by the time officers arrived at the scene, the bags were nowhere to be found. The case might have ended right then and there, but the very next morning, more evidence came to light. Around six in the morning, a man was searching through a dumpster when he made a grisly discovery amid the trash.

23:06a dismembered female torso. Later, surveillance footage was found that showed a man who bore a strong resemblance to Haskell driving the same white Tesla that Haskell drove and dumping a bag into that very same dumpster the previous day. Authorities got a warrant to search the Haskell house and at this time, they found blood and other evidence inside suggesting a serious crime had occurred there. So to recap, Haskell pays some guys to dispose of bags full of human remains. They refuse. That same day, someone who fits his description dumps a bag of something into a dumpster. The day after that, a female torso is found in the same dumpster.

23:57And Haskell's house is found to have blood and evidence of a crime. Oh, and also, no one has seen Haskell's wife or her parents since the day before all of this went down. No one has been convicted of anything here, but the evidence paints a pretty compelling picture in blood and gore. Haskell himself would be hard-pressed to come up with a better plot. Haskell was arrested later that day at a local mall of all places. Meanwhile, it took several weeks to positively identify the human remains found in the dumpster. According to the Los Angeles Coroner's Department, the site was so violent and the cuts were so horribly disfiguring that it took them almost a month to identify her body.

24:49But eventually, investigators learned the truth. The torso belonged to Haskell's wife, May Lee.

25:02We spoke with Wayne Cheung, a friend of May's and an online gamer by the handle of D22Soso. He said, in the grand scheme of things, he didn't know May for long, but their shared Asian American background helped them form a real bond. it actually wasn't that long it was only a couple years but we you know a lot of asian americans bond very quickly because we go through very similar challenges one being adherent to like the asian culture and two just dealing with the american culture so we're kind of caught in between this like trying to appease both sides she was a chinese immigrant from a poor family in China.

25:46And again, she's a little bit younger than me, but we're relatively in a similar zone. So when she came to America, she didn't have friends and there was a language barrier and just, she felt very lonely. In California, Mei Li ran her own business, the Haskell Consulting Group, where she coached and tutored foreign students to help them gain admission to top U.S. colleges. This was her way of paying it forward and making the difficult process she went through a little easier for the next generation. I think it's less so, like, as she became older, she was more at peace with the way that she grew up.

26:28She just really had a passion for making sure kids like her didn't feel the way that she grew up. One of her projects was helping Asian, mostly Chinese immigrant children kind of develop themselves, like whatever they were interested in, if they wanted to get, you know, just to help them buff up their standings and to get into college, babysitting, mentoring, tutoring. She was literally the only Chinese person in her high school. And she just felt this loneliness. And I think that carried over into her adulthood. And she really enjoyed working with these kids to make sure they're taken care of and they don't feel alone.

27:09Chi Young described Mei as being charming, driven, and with a sense of self. Very charismatic, very independent. Like you can't, she has her own beliefs. You can't ever tell her like what to think. The more you tell her what to think, the more she's going to say no. And she's just very loyal, kind, especially giving to children. Just she never wanted, like I said, never wanted a child to feel like alone. Some people who have a lonely childhood can try to compensate by associating with as many people as they can when they're older, collecting acquaintances and connections, almost like a form of currency.

27:52As the daughter-in-law of a well-connected Hollywood power player, Mei was in a prime position to seek this out. But Chi Young says she wasn't motivated to rub elbows with the rich and famous. No. She had access to like a lot. I'm sure she has more access than me, even on her own, without any of that. We live in L.A. There's so many people that are just famous and it's just like you just get desensitized. You don't even care. It's like in the beginning, you're like, oh, my God. In the first like X months or year, you're just like, oh, my God. Then then in the end, it's like, oh, you know, they're just people, you know.

28:30Given that May seemed unmoved by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, it seems even more surprising that she ended up with Haskell. They seem to have come from very different backgrounds. He was raised in LA by a power agent and a beauty queen. She was raised in a poor family in China. For his part, Chiang speculated on what might have brought the two together. Okay, so admittedly, I'm going to have a biased point of view and sense that I'm told one side her side i don't know how true it is she's a very honest person i would tend to like not think that anything was dishonest but it's also one-sided so i'm under the impression that sam was predatory basically isolated her and other other women too that were kind of in this like lonely state and just you know was predatory but again this is really tough because i only know her side.