Motherhood brings joy to the life of every woman. But for Iana Kasian, it came with a darker turn. She became the victim of a homicide, and the manner of the crime bore resemblance to a certain graphic novel.
From Ukraine to the United States
Official records or court documents do not mention any details about Iana’s early life. Before she became the victim of a ghastly crime, she must have been a young Ukrainian girl with dreams in her eyes.
She lived in Kyiv until her late 20s. But unlike most people her age, she had built a serious career. By the age of 28, she had several years of experience as a lawyer prosecuting tax crimes.
A family friend, Denis Aronchick, told the Los Angeles Times that she moved to the US on a student visa. Jake Finkel, the family attorney, said her biggest dream was to have kids and raise a family there.
Soon after she relocated, she met Blake Leibel, a struggling writer, director and graphic novelist.
Leibel was the heir of a wealthy Toronto family. CBS’s 48 Hours describes the man as someone who moved to Hollywood in his 20s and lived a trust-fund dream life. Before he met Iana, he had already released a few creative projects.
Bald (2008) was a comedy about a balding young student, for which Leibel is credited as the writer and director. He was also on the directing team for Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008-2009).
He also worked on a graphic novel titled Syndrome (2010), in which a rogue neuropathologist teamed up with an actress, a director and a serial killer. When Iana met him in 2014, she didn’t know the novel would become disturbingly relevant.
As per an LA Times article, Leibel was still married to Amanda Brown. When he started a relationship with Iana, Amanda and he were in the process of settling an amicable divorce.
They separated in the summer of 2015, when Brown was about to give birth to their second child. He left her in July 2015, while she gave birth in August that same year. Leibel had moved into a condo with Iana.
Scott Johnson, a writer with the Hollywood Reporter and a ’48 hours’ consultant, explained in an interview that the new couple were taking trips and going out for dinners. There’s even a mention of Leibel buying Iana a Mercedes.
It looked like the beginnings of a happy family, but no one, not even Iana’s mother, Olga Kasian, knew what the future held for them. And she wasn’t prepared for what came next.
Trouble in Paradise
In a few months, Iana was pregnant. She called her mother and ecstatically told her about the good news! Olga flew to the US to meet Leibel and help with the baby. A few days later, the baby was born.
Coincidentally, it was Olga’s 60th birthday. In a later interview, Olga was asked if Leibel was good to her daughter. “Yes, because — he always kissed her and he kept saying … in Russian … ‘My beloved.'” she said.
On the surface, it seemed like Iana’s dreams were coming true. She had a happy family in the US and was raising a beautiful baby girl. Leibel seemed like a happy dad, too, but only on the surface.
Under his joyful demeanour was a much messier state of mind. He was dealing with a complex situation. He had an ex-wife, two kids with her, his ongoing divorce, a new wife (Iana) and his daughter with her (Diana).
A close family friend confessed to The Hollywood Reporter that Leibel began behaving “erratically” and started showing “signs of instability” shortly before abruptly leaving his pregnant wife and small child and moving out.
Prosecutors in the Iana Kasian case would later argue that Leibel had begun to feel jealous of the attention Iana gave their newborn. He was motivated by envy and anger. These were the first signs of trouble in paradise.
It was natural for a new mother to pay more attention to her newborn. But apparently, Leibel couldn’t take it. In early 2016, the man’s life had become more complicated. He had started seeing a third woman, Constance Buccafurri.
This addition to his love life put him in a messy quadrangle. And in mid-May 2016, Leibel lashed out. The third woman, Constance, accused Leibel of sexually assaulting her. He was arrested and put in jail.
This was a chance for Iana to escape the relationship, but unfortunately, she didn’t take it. In hindsight, things would have turned out better for her if she had left with her daughter. But what she did was the complete opposite.
She bailed Leibel out of jail. But all was not okay. Iana must have surely found out about the affair with Constance, leading to tension between them.
Jake Finkel, the Kasian family attorney, theorised that Iana must have asked him a lot of probing questions after. “What’s going on here? We just had a baby together. Why — why aren’t you at home helping me with the kid? I need your help.”
After this, Olga began to notice alarming signs, and her instincts told her that things were going wrong. Little did she know, her hunch was spot on. Her daughter was in trouble.
Mother Knows Best
Olga Kasian gave Maureen Maher, a 48 Hours correspondent, a detailed account of what went down between Iana and Leibel after their relationship soured.
She told Maureen that Leibel had become uninterested in the new baby. In a desperate bid to save their relationship, Iana agreed to let Olga and the baby live in a separate apartment a few miles away.
Her daughter thought this would help her focus on their relationship. “He constantly demanded sex, and that he could leave her for another woman. He was controlling her like a hawk. He wanted her to do everything he wanted.”
Once, when the mother-daughter duo went shopping on May 23rd, 2016, Iana got some texts from Leibel. On seeing the texts, her facial expressions changed. “I am going to him,” she said and left quickly.
This was the last time Olga would see her daughter alive. The next afternoon, she tried calling Iana six times… but each time, the call went to voicemail. In her gut, Olga felt like visiting her daughter and checking up on her.
But the baby would be sleeping. So instead of going there herself, Olga did the next best thing. She called the police and told them to go and check on her. But the cops didn’t do anything, despite repeated calls.
Two days after seeing her daughter for the last time, she took matters into her own hands. She took a friend with her and went to Iana and Leibel’s property herself. She knocked on their door again and again. No one answered.
Now getting more frantic, Olga called the police. She was sure something had gone terribly wrong inside the apartment. Two uniformed cops did show up this time. She kept telling them to break the door.
The cops didn’t want to, though. They informed her that they couldn’t hear anyone screaming, so they had no right to enter… since there wasn’t any indication of foul play. The police tried calling Leibel instead.
POLICE VOICE MESSAGE: Hello, this message is for Blake Leibel. This is … the West Hollywood Sheriff’s station … We are at your apartment, and we need to speak to you immediately, sir.
Leibel didn’t respond to this message. The cops waited for a few hours and then left. The next morning, Thursday, Olga was back at the apartment and back on the phone begging the police for help.
This time, the cops decided to intervene. In a CBS news article, Olga revealed that they asked her to sit near the entrance. They got hold of a key & tried to open the door, but were unsuccessful.
Finally, the cops broke open the door & rushed in. Sgt. Martindale found Leibel holed up in the master bedroom, blocking the door with a mattress. It’s reported that the man was on a call with a friend.
“The friend convinces [Leibel] to open the door and come out of the bedroom. Wearing only boxer shorts, Blake emerges from the room.” Sgt. Martindale revealed in an episode of 48 Hours.
The cops found Iana covered to her chin with a Mickey Mouse blanket. But when they took the blanket off, they saw the damage that had really happened.
The Death Of Iana Kasian
Iana had suffered grave injuries to her head, and her body was unusually pale. Leibel, too, had marks and scratches on his face, indicating Iana had fought back hard. Their apartment, too, had signs of a violent struggle all over.
The cops led Leibel out of the apartment in handcuffs. Sgt. Rob Martindale, one of the detectives who led the breach, then had to break the deeply heartbreaking news to Olga. That her daughter was the victim of a homicide.
Investigators later found that Iana’s death took 6-8 hours and that she had lost her life to exsanguination – fatal blood loss leading to cessation of normal functions of the body.
But one thing stood out to Leslie Thompson, a crime scene specialist with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. There was very little blood spatter in the room. She expected more. So she used Luminol 2.0 to shed more light on the matter.
It’s a chemical compound that, when sprayed on a surface, reveals where blood was and where a cleaning substance was used to remove it. After they used the chemical, the whole room lit up.
Sgt. William Cotter and his team found 11 trash bags, all filled with a lot of evidence… including towels, clothing and bedding.
There was ample evidence, but no clear motive. Why did Leibel resort to violence, and to such a fatal end? Dr Kris Mohandie, a forensic psychologist, explains the probable reason in his video below.
In the video, Mohandie explains that Leibel acted out of narcissistic rage. He believed that he was at the centre of the universe. If his demands weren’t met, he would get angry & violent.
The doctor elaborated that Leibel “has an underlying violent fantasy life that he’s been mentally rehearsing for years. And so when the rage comes out, it takes the form of those fantasies.”
This quote from the video perfectly sums up Leibel’s state of mind. Beth Silverman, a prosecutor on the Iana Kasian murder case, believed he was acting out a fantasy from his graphic novel.
The cover of Syndrome (2010) shows a doll with its scalp missing on the cover. This evidence, along with a few other scenes from the novel, was shown to be the blueprint for the homicide.
It took the jury just three hours to reach a verdict. The court clerk read it aloud.
“We the jury … find the defendant Blake Leibel guilty of first- degree murder of Iana Kasian.”
An emotional Olga Kasian was seen hugging Sgts. Martindale and Cotter followed the guilty verdict. But the lack of a speedy response has shattered her family permanently, and she alone has to live through the loss.
Life After Iana
For Olga, she hadn’t only lost her daughter. “This murder didn’t just kill one person, it really did kill the family, it shattered the family.” Finkel, the family’s attorney, said in a later civil case.
Blake Leibel was convicted in June 2018 and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. In 2019, a Los Angeles judge also ordered him to pay $41.6 million to Iana Kasian’s family in a wrongful-death lawsuit.
There isn’t much known about Iana’s daughter, Diana, and probably for good reason. When her mother died, Diana was just an infant. It’s best that her privacy is respected.
It’s fortunate that on the day of the incident, Diana was with Olga. Leibels’s family has not come forward to support her. While nothing can repair this loss, let’s hope the Kasian family finds the strength to move forward.
While Iana Kasian’s case was tragic, her family found some closure. Not all families are that lucky. Indiana University student Lauren Speirer went out for the night and never came back. Find out what happened in this article.