Sam Haskell, son of top Hollywood agent, pleads not guilty to killing family

The 35-year-old son of a well-known Hollywood entertainment executive pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder on Friday following allegations that he killed and dismembered his wife and parents-in-law in the home they all shared in the Los Angeles suburbs, and then attempted to dispose of their remains in ordinary black garbage bags.

Sam Haskell IV, whose father, Sam Haskell III, was worldwide head of television for William Morris and represented clients including Dolly Parton, George Clooney, and Prince Edward before his retirement 20 years ago, appeared handcuffed and shirtless in court because of official concerns that he might be a suicide risk.

Haskell has been held without bail since his arrest in November, following the discovery of a torso, later confirmed to belong to his wife, Mei Haskell, in a strip-mall dumpster about five miles away from his house. The body was so unrecognisable after being chopped into pieces that it took the Los Angeles coroner’s office more than a month to make a positive identification.

The bodies of Mei’s parents, Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshan Li, have yet to be found despite an extensive citywide search. Prosecutors and police investigators say they are in no doubt, however, that they are dead and suffered a similar fate. Police who searched the family home discovered blood and “other evidence consistent with death and dismemberment”, according to the county district attorney’s office.

Sam and Mei Haskell’s three children have been moved out of the house and are now in the care of other family members, police say.

In a brief arraignment, Haskell told the judge he understood what was happening and entered his plea to the three separate murder counts. Instead of a regular prison outfit, he was wearing a quilted suicide prevention suit, a measure his lawyer said was based on “wild speculation” about his mental state.

The case is among the most gruesome to hit the headlines in years, yet the Los Angeles police almost missed it because a group of day labourers who first found evidence of the murders in early November spoke only Spanish and were not taken seriously when they reported their findings.

Related: Son of top Hollywood agent in custody after woman’s torso found in dumpster

The labourers told investigators, and later a television crew from a local NBC affiliate, that Haskell gave them $500 to dispose of several garbage bags. He told them they were full of rocks and Halloween decorations. They quickly realised, however, that whatever they were carrying was wet and soggy and not like rocks at all. They thought it might be meat.

One block from Haskell’s house in the San Fernando Valley, they opened a bag and, after seeing a human belly button, closed it up again and returned everything to Haskell, saying they could not accept his money.

They tried to alert the authorities but were bounced between the California highway patrol and a Los Angeles police station before being advised to call the 911 emergency line and let an ordinary dispatcher handle whatever it was they had to say. By the time a police patrol showed up at Haskell’s home, hours later, the bags were gone. (The LAPD says it is investigating how the case was handled.)

It was only after an unhoused man found the bag containing Mei Haskell’s torso the following day that the investigation began in earnest. Security footage was later found to show Haskell dumping the bag out of his Tesla. He was not home when police returned to his house with a search warrant, but he was arrested soon after at a neighbourhood shopping mall.

The authorities have said little about a possible motive for the killings. According to court records, Haskell was previously arrested in 2008 and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He later pleaded no contest to battery and was put on three years’ probation.

An uncle of Mei’s told the Los Angeles Times that she had come to the United States from China to study accounting and met her future husband when they were both students at Cal State Northridge, a public university in the northern San Fernando Valley. After the first of their three children was born in 2010, Mei’s parents emigrated from China and moved in with them.

According to the uncle, Mei worked several jobs and was the main breadwinner in the household. It is not clear what work, if any, Haskell did or whether his family supported him financially.

If convicted, Haskell faces life imprisonment without parole. George Gascón, the Los Angeles district attorney, who has sometimes come under fire for seeking alternatives to long prison sentences, made clear that he foresaw no leniency in this case.

“Our major crimes division will work tirelessly to bring about a prosecution that reflects the severity of this devastating crime,” he said soon after Haskell’s arrest. “We stand with the victims’ loved ones … and will do everything in our power to ensure justice is served.”