Blake Leibel: Iana Kasian Murder, Trial, and Sentence

The Blake Leibel murder case refers to the 2016 torture killing of Iana Kasian in a West Hollywood apartment by her fiancé, Blake Leibel, a Canadian-born graphic novelist and heir to a Toronto real estate fortune. Leibel was convicted in June 2018 of first-degree murder, aggravated mayhem, and torture, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentencing judge called the case “unusual only in its savagery.”¹

Who Blake Leibel Is

Leibel grew up in Toronto as the son of Lorne Leibel, who built Canada Homes into what was at its peak the country’s largest homebuilder.² Blake and his older brother Cody relocated to California, where their parents bought each of them a house. For seven years, Blake lived on a monthly allowance of about $18,000.³ After his mother Eleanor’s death in 2011, he unsuccessfully contested her will and received less than half of the roughly $12 million estate, including two properties.⁴

He worked on the fringes of the entertainment industry, attached to an animated version of Spaceballs, a film called Bald, and a screenplay titled Psychopomp about a vigilante who beheads people.⁵ His best-known project was the 2010 graphic novel Syndrome, which he created and funded. That book would later become central to the prosecution’s case.

Iana Kasian

Iana Kasian was 30 years old at the time of her death. She grew up in Ukraine and had worked as an attorney prosecuting tax crimes before immigrating to the United States in 2014.⁶ She and Leibel began a relationship after he left his wife, Amanda Braun, in 2015.⁷ Their daughter, Diana, was born in the spring of 2016, just weeks before Kasian’s death.

Kasian had briefly moved out to stay with her mother, Olga, but returned to the West Hollywood apartment hoping to reconcile with Leibel.⁷ Leibel’s personal life was unraveling. He was in divorce proceedings, and in mid-May 2016, another woman, Constance Buccafurri, had accused him of sexual assault. Kasian posted his bail.⁴

What Happened in the Apartment

On May 23, 2016, Kasian went to see Leibel at the apartment after he sent her text messages. Her mother never saw her alive again. Kasian last spoke to Olga by phone on May 24. Over the following two days, Olga made 164 unanswered calls and messages to her daughter.⁸

On May 25, Olga asked police for a welfare check. Deputies came to the door. Leibel refused to open it and insisted Kasian was fine.¹ Olga called 911 again the next day. Deputies forced their way in and found the apartment door barricaded with a mattress. Leibel was in the locked master bedroom. He refused to come out, claiming he was afraid officers would hurt him and that Kasian was at Cedars-Sinai Hospital.⁸

When Leibel finally emerged, he appeared recently bathed and was carrying his passport and $4,000 in cash. Sergeant Robert Martindale documented severe bruising around Leibel’s eyes, scratches on his face, neck, and chest, a human bite mark on his bicep, and a missing fingertip on his right little finger.⁸ The couple’s two-month-old daughter was found unharmed nearby.⁷ Kasian’s body was on the bed in the master bedroom. She was pronounced dead at 1:02 p.m.

What the Autopsy Showed

A medical examiner described Kasian’s injuries as “unprecedented outside of wartime.”⁹ Her entire scalp had been torn away from the eyebrows to the back of her hairline. Skin had been removed from the right side of her face, leaving the skull exposed. Her left ear was missing and was later recovered from a dumpster in the building.¹

More than half of Kasian’s blood volume was gone. No blood remained in her heart, veins, or arteries. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jonathan Lucas testified that this level of blood loss was “highly unusual” and required the heart to still be pumping while the victim was inverted, likely in a bathtub with water running over her wounds to prevent clotting.⁸ Pathologists estimated the process took six to eight hours.⁴ Tissue inflammation confirmed she was alive when the injuries were inflicted. She had defensive wounds on her arms and hands, bite marks on her jaw and bicep, and bruising consistent with a prolonged struggle.

Investigators used a chemical called Bluestar Magnum to reveal blood evidence that had been wiped from surfaces throughout the apartment, including bathroom drains.⁴ Trash bags from the building’s chute contained a bedskirt with a bloody handprint that matched the missing tip of Leibel’s right pinky finger.

The Graphic Novel Prosecutors Called a Blueprint

Syndrome, the 2010 graphic novel Leibel funded and created, has a cover showing a baby doll with a partly removed scalp. Inside are scenes of victims hung upside down by their feet, throats slashed, and drained of blood.¹ The script was written by Daniel Quantz and R.J. Ryan, with illustrations by David Marquez.¹⁰ Co-author Ryan testified that Leibel provided a page-and-a-half outline and held final editorial approval but did not write or illustrate the scenes himself.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman called the book “a blueprint for this murder.”⁴ Prosecutors presented testimony that Leibel had pitched the blood-draining concept to his co-authors and had physically demonstrated, using hand gestures and a whistling sound, how someone could be hung from a ceiling to drain their blood.⁸

On motive, Silverman argued that Leibel had grown jealous when Kasian’s attention shifted to their newborn daughter. In closing arguments she told jurors: “The amount of cutting and tearing, the violence involved; that’s a lot of anger because she no longer was making him the number one most important thing in her life.”¹¹

Trial, Verdict, and Sentence

The trial took place in June 2018 at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles, before Superior Court Judge Mark E. Windham.¹² Silverman and Deputy District Attorney Tannaz Mokayef prosecuted; Deputy Public Defender Haydeh Takasugi handled the defense.¹³

The defense did not raise insanity or diminished capacity. Takasugi instead challenged Leibel’s connection to Syndrome, arguing he had not written or illustrated it and that the cover imagery was someone else’s idea. She also pointed to DNA on trash bags in the dumpster that did not match Leibel but instead revealed the profile of an unknown male.¹ The trial court ruled the graphic novel admissible, finding that how much creative control Leibel exercised was “a question of fact for the jurors.”⁸

On June 20, 2018, after roughly 90 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Leibel guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated mayhem, and torture.¹² Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder by torture and murder by mayhem. The District Attorney’s Office had not sought the death penalty.

Six days later, on June 26, 2018, Judge Windham sentenced Leibel to life in state prison without the possibility of parole, citing his “inconceivable cruelty.”¹

Appeals and the Civil Judgment

On appeal, Leibel’s appointed appellate attorney, Sara H. Ruddy, argued the trial court had erred in admitting Syndrome. On April 29, 2020, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, rejected the claim and affirmed the judgment.⁸

Leibel filed a federal habeas corpus petition in the Central District of California in June 2022. On January 31, 2023, U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton denied the petition, dismissed the case with prejudice, and denied a certificate of appealability.¹⁴

Kasian’s family, represented by attorney Jake Finkel and others, filed a wrongful death lawsuit. In a bench trial before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Bobbi Tillmon, Leibel was ordered to pay $41.6 million. He did not attend, and no attorney or family member appeared on his behalf.¹⁵ As of the most recent reporting, the family had not collected on the judgment.⁴ Diana, the daughter Kasian gave birth to weeks before her death, has been raised by her grandmother Olga in Ukraine.

1
Los Angeles Times. Blake Leibel Sentencing
2
Toronto Star. Evil Captivated Son of Toronto Real Estate Developer Before Murder Charge
3
CBS News Los Angeles. Toronto Tycoons Creative Son Accused of Torture Mutilation of Girlfriend Who Just Gave Birth
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CBS News. Hollywood Horror Story – Producer Blake Leibel – 48 Hours
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The Independent. Blake Leibel Torture Iana Kasian Murder
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Los Angeles Times. Blake Leibel Iana Kasian
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New Zealand Herald. Horrific Tale of Iana Kasians Hollywood Murder
8
Court of Appeal of California. People v. Blake Leibel, B291049
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BBC News. Blake Leibel Convicted
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National Post. Blake Leibel Trial Focuses on Graphic Novel Prosecutors Say Was Template in Gruesome Torture Killing
11
KTLA. He Is a Monster – Boyfriend Found Guilty in Torture Murder of Young Mother
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CBS News Los Angeles. WeHo Man Guilty Girlfriends Gruesome Slaying
13
Los Angeles County District Attorney. Man Sentenced for Murdering Girlfriend in West Hollywood
14
PACER Monitor. Blake Leibel v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations
15
KTLA. Boyfriend Ordered to Pay Nearly $42M to Family