Drinking The Cool Aid

Blake Leibel // Iana Kasian // 199 // Part 2

• Megan and Hanna Hawkins • Season 1 • Episode 199

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Shortly after Iana Kasian and Blake Leibel became engaged, and 3 weeks after Iana gave birth to their daughter, Iana stopped answering her phone.  On May 26th, 2016, the police arrived at the couple's apartment in West Hollywood, California.  They found Iana's mutilated body lying on the bed in the master bedroom, and she had been drained of blood.  During the trial, prosecutors said that Blake was jealous of the baby, and he wanted to control his fiancé.  On June 20th, 2018, he was convicted of first-degree murder, torture and aggravated mayhem.  He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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RECAP: Blake Leibel grew up in a very wealthy family and he wanted to make it big in Hollywood.  He was involved in publishing a graphic novel called Syndrome in 2010.  It was based on a serial killer, Dr. Wolfe Chitel, who studies serial killers, and the book showed many women being brutally killed.  He met Amanda Braun in 2006, they got married in 2011, and he left her one month before their second son was born.  He got involved with another woman, Iana Kasian and she got pregnant as well.  They got engaged shortly after their baby was born, but Blake was cheating on Iana with Constance Buccafurri (byook-a-fur-ee).   

 

Iana Kasian was very close to her mother, Olga, and they talked constantly.  Her mother even agreed to watch her newborn baby so Iana could work on her relationship with Blake.  When Olga stopped hearing from Iana on May 23rd, 2016, she knew something was wrong and she contacted the police.  Once they finally entered the apartment, they found a gruesome scene.  Iana Kasian had been murdered and her cause of death was exsanguination and head trauma.  Blake was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

 

COURT RECORDS 

Olga moved from Ukraine in April 2016 to help with the baby 

Iana rented a nearby apartment for her mother 

Iana Kasian took care of her baby for the first few days after her birth, then Olga took her 

Iana bought her mother a cell phone and they kept in constant contact 

The two of them talked for more than 7 minutes on the afternoon of May 24th, 2016 and that was their last conversation 

On May 25th, Olga called her repeatedly, but received no response. At 1:44 PM, Olga and a friend went to the apartment to look for Iana. Olga saw a car that Iana usually drove parked in the garage of the complex. She saw the sliding glass door on the balcony was open, so she called out and asked Blake to open the door.  There was a gate around the apartment complex, so Olga and her friend were standing outside of it. They saw Blake’s silhouette, then his hand reached out and closed the door. 

On the 25th and 26th, Iana failed to respond to 75 texts, 44 notifications, 100 calls, 37 texts and 16 chats sent to her phone. Twenty of the missed calls were from Olga. 

Olga called the police and two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies arrived and were there for two hours. The blinds on the balcony were closed and deputies were not able to see inside the apartment. One deputy knocked on the door and rang the bell, but no one responded. They heard no movement or noises inside. The property manager gave them Blake’s cellphone number and both deputies called him. One was at 4:20 PM and the other was 4:45 PM. They left voicemails saying they needed to speak to him urgently and gave him a callback number, but he never returned the calls. The deputies didn’t have any justification to enter the apartment, so they left. 

Cellphone data and surveillance video showed that on May 23rd, Blake left the apartment around 11:20 PM, and returned shortly after 5:09 AM the next morning, and he did not leave the apartment again until May 25th at 11:45 PM. Cell phone data showed that he remained in the apartment from 11:45 PM on May 25th and about 1:00 AM on May 26th, his cell phone records showed seven calls to or from his accountant, Steven Green. The calls were all made at or near the apartment and some calls went to voicemail. 

On May 25th at 1:45 AM, Blake used Iana’s phone to order food using Postmates and input instructions to leave the food at the door after being buzzed in and do not ring the bell. A few seconds later, Blake texted, “After you buzz up.” At 2:11 AM, Blake texted the delivery person to repeat the request to leave the food outside the door and do not ring the bell. Surveillance video shows the food was dropped off at 2: 14 AM. Blake ordered food from Iana’s phone again on May 26th, shortly before 3 AM and the delivery was dropped off 20 minutes later. 

On May 26th, Olga tried to contact her daughter.  She called, texted, and sent several chats between 1:45 AM and 11 AM, all were unanswered. Just before 3 AM, she sent a text, “Iana, answer me. Are you alive, my dear daughter? I called the police because he is holding you there. I came over there and knocked. Answer me.” Later that morning, Olga went back to the apartment and called 911. Deputy Micah Johnson arrived and spoke to Olga and a neighbor who confirmed they had not seen anyone in at least a day or two.  

Deputy Johnson knocked on the apartment door, but no one answered. At 8:44 AM, he called Blake and left a voicemail. He said he needed to know where Iana was and asked that she call her mother or the sheriff. Deputy Johnson obtained a key to unlock the door, but he was unable to get in because the inside safety latch was engaged, so he turned the investigation over to Deputy Todd Mohr, who consulted their sergeant. It was determined that they should take immediate action, so they kicked the door down. The deputies didn’t see anyone in the living room, dining room, kitchen, or on the balcony. The whole apartment was dark and the door to the hallway was locked. 

 

The deputies forced the door open to enter the hallway and they had to remove a mattress. They continued on their search and did not find anyone in the guest bedroom or bathroom, but Deputy Mohr did see blood on the headboard in the bedroom. They went to the master bedroom and the door was locked. After they announced their presence, they kicked the master bedroom door in, and there was another mattress barricading the door from the inside. The deputies began calling out and saying if someone was in there, they needed to come out. They heard a male voice from inside the bedroom saying he was not coming out because he was afraid of getting beat up.  

 

Deputy Mohr said they were just there to check on Iana. The male voice said she was fine, but she was at Cedars Sinai (sigh-a-nye) Hospital, and he provided a room or bed number. Blake also said his father was going to be there soon and he wouldn’t come out until he arrived. He was referring to Steven Green as his father because he was his accountant, and he was also a mentor to him. Blake had called Steven Green around noon and asked him to come to the apartment. Steven had been trying to get ahold of him for about a month prior to this and that was an unusually long time for them to go without communicating.  

 

Steven had called, texted, left voicemails and even left a voicemail on May 23rd at 2:26 PM saying he was really worried, he loved him, and he would help him with whatever was going on. Steven arrived at the apartment and was lead into the hallway to speak with Blake through a partially open bedroom door. When the Detective arrived, Steven was in the living room on the phone with Blake who was still inside the master bedroom. After he hung up, Detective Boagni (Boh-g-knee) asked him to call Blake back so he could talk to him. They spoke for a few minutes and Blake agreed to come out. When he did, he was only wearing white boxer shorts. Steven found clothing for him, and it was checked and there was a passport and $4k cash. Deputy Reyes grabbed Blake’s cellphone from his hand, and they entered the bedroom to search. One of the deputies screamed, “She’s on the bed.” Detective Mohr saw Iana’s body on the bed and ordered everyone outside of the apartment and called in two paramedics that had been waiting outside. Iana was pronounced dead around 1:02 PM. Her naked body was lying on a clean sheet and covered by a red Mickey Mouse blanket over a blue polka dotted blanket. Her head was on a pillow, but her scalp had been removed. There was another pillow to her left with an indentation on it and dried bloodstains on the mattress beneath the clean sheet.  I do want to mention that it’s believed that Blake had been lying in bed next to Iana after she was dead. 

 

Bloodstains and human flesh were found behind the bed and bloodstains were on the wall near where Iana’s head had been. A portion of an eyebrow was found on the floor near the bed and there were bloodstains on the mattress of a second bed, a side table, and in other parts of the bedroom. The mattress that was blocking the master bedroom door belonged to a second bed in that bedroom and it also had bloodstains that included a large one. There was a clump of hair and a bloodstained razor in a trash can. 

 

When the deputies entered the room, warm water was running in the bathtub of the master bathroom, which was turned off. Bloodstains and hair were in the tub and the drain later tested positive for blood. The drain of the sink also tested positive for blood. A green pairing knife, similar to the ones in the kitchen, was found in the top drawer in the bathroom, and blood was on the handle where it met the blade. 

 

The mattress that had been blocking the hallway door belonged to the guest bedroom and blood was found on it. The oval shape of the bloodstains on the headboard of the bed in the guest bedroom were consistent with having been made from the top of Iana’s scalped head. Also, there was blood on two towels, a pillow case, the floor, and the base of the drapes of the guest bedroom. The drain in the tub of the guest bathroom also tested positive for blood and also contained “freshly cut” hair. Chemical testing confirmed the presence of blood that someone had tried to clean in areas of the dining room, hallway, guest bathroom, and both bedrooms. The kitchen garbage disposal also tested positive for blood. 

 

Evidence was found in the dumpster under under the trash chute located in the hallway about 20 feet from their unit. In trash bags, investigators found bloodstained bedding, towels, clothing, bathmats, placemats,a bed skirt with bloody handprints, human tissue, including some pieces with hair that appeared to be scalp, and an ear. DNA testing proved that Iana’s DNA was on items including some of the tissue, the ear, and the bed skirt. 

 

Iana’s DNA was also found on the blood located on the green knife, in the master bath drain, on the mattress for the second bed, on the master bed mattress, and in the blood found in various areas of the master bedroom, including a diluted bloodstain to the left of the bed which contained a mixture of DNA from both Blake and Iana. They were both contributors to the DNA found on the bloodstained guest room mattress that was used to barricade the hallway door, and Iana’s DNA was found in the blood on the guest room headboard, and the wall behind the toilet and the cabinet in the guest bathroom. Samples taken from Blake’s left hand and fingernails contained Iana’s DNA. 

 

CORONER 

Chief Medical Examiner for the Los Angeles County Coroner, Jonathan Lucas, reviewed the file and photos from Iana’s autopsy, which was performed by Dr. Ribe, a medical examiner who retired. Dr. Lucas testifed that at the time of Iana’s death, she was 30 years old, five feet four inches tall, and weighed 152 pounds. She was dead for at least a day before being examined which was about 10 or 11 hours after her body was found. The cause of death was blood loss due to head trauma that cut or tore several arteries and veins. Blood loss is fatal when half the body’s original blood volume is lost, and just half or less than half of Iana’s original blood volume was still in her body. It’s not possible to drain all of the blood from the human body. 

 

Iana’s entire scalp had been removed from the eyebrows to the hairline in the back of her head, and a large portion of the skin on the right side of her face had also been removed. Skull bone was visible, as all the tissue over the top of her head had been removed. There were cuts across the lower forehead below the eyebrows, on the right side from the cheek to the jaw line, and on the left side toward the ear, which was missing. A bladed instrument had been used to remove the skin, but there was some tissue in the face that had been torn away manually. Based on the amount of injury to her face and skull, the difficulty involved the combination of cutting and tearing. Dr. Lucas said that in his opinion, the series of injuries would have taken a substantial amount of time to inflict.  

 

Dr. Lucas said the injuries would have been very painful, and he found indications on the body that supported a finding that Iana was alive during the torture. Inflammation of the injured tissue was present. Inflammation usually begins a minimum of six hours ater an injury, and occurs only if the body is alive and pumping blood. Pieces of the scalp, right ear, an eyebrow, and other soft tissue collected from the crime scene showed hemorrhaging, which would also mean Iana was alive at the time they were cut from her body. 

 

More than half of her blood was missing from her body, and there was no blood in her heart, veins, or arteries. Dr. Lucas found this to be highly unusual. Even with the injuries Iana sustained, and such a high level of exsanguination required the heart to be pumping blood, as gravity alone wouldn’t be sufficient. Dr. Lucas said that the bloodletting could have been accomplished by placing Iana in a bathtub with her head lower than her feet, with water running over her scalped head and ear. The water would have washed away the blood in the open areas, increasing the blood flow, which would stop the blood from clotting in the injured areas. 

 

His findings were consistent with Iana’s body being placed on a clean bed sheet after she was washed and dead. The pads of Iana’s fingers were wrinkled, there was an absence of blood, a presence of clear fluid in the vagina, and foam in her nostrils. This is all consistent with her being submerged in water for at least 30 minutes. She was washed prior to being placed on clean sheets. 

 

Iana had defensive wounds on her right arm and both hands. There were bruises on the back of her left hand and wrist which showed a struggle. She blocked something or fought back. There were abrasions and brusing on the left side of her face, consistent with blunt force trauma. There were abrasions on the upper neck, as well as abrasions and bruising on the left upper arm, left wrist, and hand. The bruising on the left upper arm was consistent with her being grabbed. There were human bite marks on Iana’s left jaw and left bicep, and fingernail marks under her jawline. 

 

DR. HABIB TESTIMONY 

Dr. Michael Habib (Ha-beeb), testified as an expert in human cadaveric anatomy and fluid biomechanics (including blood flow in the human body.) He was an assistant professor of integrative anatomical science at the University of Southern California school of medicine, where he was the director for human cadaveric anatomy, and he was in charge of the cadavers used in the instruction of medical students. Dr. Habib reviewed the autopsy report and the photos, along with the crime scene photos, and the medical literature involving the scalping. Based on this information, Dr. Habib determined that even in cases of complete scalping, victims aren’t usually in immediate danger of dying. The scalping is obviously very painful and traumatic, but it doesn’t typically cause a large amount of blood loss. Dr. Habib was not able to find any case in the literature where there was a death by scalping alone. 

 

In Dr. Habib’s opinion, the injuries Iana suffered, which resulted in the removal of more than 80% of her scalp, would have been excruciatingly painful, and judging by the cuts and torn edges, her scalp wasn’t removed all at once. It took many cuts and tears. The injuries were consitent with the initial use of a sharp instrument to cut the scalp, then fingers were used to remove the remaining parts of it. The deeper wounds that damaged the vessels would have caused the most blood loss and they appeared to be the torn ones. They were jagged and uneven, with variable depths, consistent with someone who wasn’t trained in dissection and anatomy. There was hemorrhaging in the edges which means Iana was alive and bleeding at the time of the wounds. 

 

Over a period of a year and a half, Dr. Habib studied 70 donated cadavers to see if it was possible to exsanguinate someone after death to the extent that he had seen in Iana’s case. Dr. Habib and his team used external pumps and cuts to the carotid and femoral (fim-oral) arteries to exsanguinate the cadavers, and then selected 14 different vessels from multiple depths and sizes in each of them. He found that the most exsanguinated cadaver still had blood in 12 of the 14 vessels, while most of the cadavers still had blood in every one of the examined vessels. Unlike Iana’s heart, none of the cadaver hearts was fully exsanguinated. 

 

The team even used state of the art laboratory and external pumps, but Dr. Habib said he never came close to exsanguinating any of the cadavers to the same level as Iana’s body. He concluded that unfortunately, Iana was alive during the exsanguination and it took a significant amount of time and effort. The exsanguination needed an operational heart AND gravitational assistance, such as inversion. Iana’s injuries were to her head, face, and upper neck. Meaning, her head needed to be one of the lowest points of her body to accelerate the exsanguination and keep her heart pumping blood. Iana would have needed to be inverted in a bathtub with the water running over her head for a significant amount of time for this to work. The running water would keep the wounds open and assist with the process. 

 

There was evidence of lividity in Iana’s face which is the bluish-purple discoloration of skin after death. This supports the inversion theory and also the theory that she was moved to the bed after death as the lividity didn’t match the position her body was found in. The small amount of blood around her head would also support that she was moved after death. There was evidence that blood was cleaned up in the hallway between the master bedroom and guest bathroom, showing that her body was transported between these locations. Dr. Habib believed that Iana may have been conscious, but immobile during the exsanguination until she was very close to death. 

 

DR. LUCAS 

Dr. Lucas didn’t fully agree with Dr. Habib’s findings. He noted an unusual lividity pattern on the left side of Iana’s body, which was similar to the imprint of the mattress she was found on. The unusually narrow pattern of the lividity was consistent with the lack of blood in her body. There were marks on her face consistent with blunt force trauma. Dr. Lucas did not agree with Dr. Habib’s opinion that the red marks on her face were indications of lividity. He found no evidence showing that Iana was or wasn’t conscious at the time that she was submerged in the tub, and he didn’t believe that there was evidence that she was conscious at the time. However, the presence of white blood cells in the injured areas showed she was alive for at least six hours after she was scalped. 

 

 

CRIME SCENE 

Tom Bevel, a certified crime scene reconstructionist reviewed the autopsy report and crime scene photos, the medical examiner’s testimony, and other evidence. Tom Bevel noted that the mattress that Iana’s body was found on had dried blood on it and a large amount of smeared and wiped blood was on the wall behind the mattress. The circular table next to the bed had a lot of spatter which was consistent with Iana being on the bed at the time of the attack. After the attack, the blood was deposited on the mattress where Iana’s body had time to dry. She was found on top of a clean sheet and the pillow under her head was clean. Based on the blood in several locations around the apartment, Tom Bevel believed that Iana was moved to different areas after the initial attack before being placed back on the master bed. Blood in the guest bathroom and tub showed she had been placed there. 

 

Tom Bevel said the blood pattern on the guest bedroom headboard was consistent with Iana’s wounded head making contact in 4 or 5 locations on the headboard, indicating head movement. The two bloody hand marks on the bedskirt found in the dumpster were consistent with another person lying on the bed with his hands on the bed and fingers pointing towards Iana’s body. The little finger of the right handprint was shorter and missing the top portion. The belief is that Blake Liebel laid in bed with Iana after he murdered her. 

 

When Blake was arrested on May 26th, 2016, he appeared to be clean, and had recently bathed. He had severe bruising to both eyes that extended across the bridge of his nose. He was wearing glasses and it appeared that he suffered some blunt force trauma to the face. He had linear scratches under his left eye, long linear red scratches on his chest, and a diagonal linear scratch along the left side of his face. He had scratches on his neck with punctures that appeared to be caused by fingernails, and an elliptical injury on his right bicep with a human bite mark. His right bicep would have been around Iana’s mouth when she bit him. Blake was missing the tip of his little finger on his right hand. There was bruising on the front shin of both legs at the base of the knee, and an oval shaped deep bruise on the top of the right foot near the ankle. 

 

TRIAL 

Blake Leibel said the trial court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence the graphic novel Syndrome, and this error resulted in a violation of his rights. The prosecution admitted several pages of the graphic novel into evidence to establish premeditation, intent, and motivation. They wanted to show that the crimes were similar to the book. When it was being reviewed prior to trial, the Defense argued that the illustrations weren’t even done by Blake, so it was a big stretch to say this could show premeditation. It was determined that there could be a connection because even though he didn’t illustrate it, his ideas were being illustrated. 

 

 

GRAPHIC NOVEL 

Blake Liebel brought his idea about a graphic novel to Robert J. Ryan and Daniel Quantz. He originally pitched it as a TV show three months earlier, but Robert declined. Blake said he had done tons of research on serial killers and that’s how he came up with the idea for the project. Blake’s associate Lawrence Longo called and asked if they wanted to turn the idea into a graphic novel called Syndrome. Robert and Daniel both agreed to this, and they had experience with graphic novels, so they did most of the writing and helped with the art. David Marquez illustrated it. 

 

Blake Liebel had past experience with a comic series and he oversaw the project and attended about 9 of the 50 meetings, and also met with the people involved many times. Blake had the final say on everything in the book. The cover art is a picture of a baby doll with the top of the skull sliced off, and a prop brain inserted into the space. There were 12 proposed covers presented and this was the one Blake chose.  

 

Blake’s story was about a doctor’s attempt to treat serial killers by presenting the question of how one treats evil. The doctor was originally called Wolfe Brunswick, but Blake changed it to Chitel. Seven years later, Robert learned that Chitel was Blake’s mother’s maiden name. A character in the book was named Karen Oats. She was an actress who gets lured into an experiment to treat a serial killer, and she ends up being used by the doctor as bait for the serial killer. She becomes the killer’s target, and he stabs her. Sometime after the book was published, Blake introduced Robert to his then girlfriend, whom he later married. He introduced her by her name, but made a comment that she was the “real Karen.” Robert took this to mean Karen Oats from the graphic novel. 

 

When Blake was coming up with the concept for the book, he presented the idea of draining blood from the victims. When he described it, he used a hand gesture to show what it would look like to hang someone from the ceiling to drain their blood and he made a whistle sound. Everyone discussed this idea and they came up with a way to incorporate this into the story. They would do a flashback in the story to an older killing with two victims, and Blake approved of this. The second page of the book depicts two victims being cut and hung upside down, their blood draining, and they had to watch each other die. Blake approved the illustration of a decapitated female victim’s body lying on a bed. 

 

Surveillance video showed that Blake was in the apartment when Iana’s injuries were inflicted. Surveillance videos at the apartment complex and cellphone records indicated that from 9:30 PM on May 23rd, until her body was found on May 26th, Iana never left the apartment. 

Her mother, Olga’s testimony and cellphone records show that she was in nearly constant contact with her daughter, but Iana never contacted her mother again after the afternoon of May 24th. 

Surveillance video showed that Blake was in the apatment after 5:00 AM on May 24th 

Cellphone data showed that he left for a short time a few minutes before midnight on May 25th, then remained at home until 1:35 PM on May 26th 

Dr. Lucas testified that Iana died about a half day to a day before she was found on May 26th, and it took a substantial amount of time to inflict the injuries 

Blake couldn’t have been locked in a room of the apartment, unaware of the attack on Iana because blood evidence and washed blood residue were found in the dining room, kitchen, hallway, guest bathroom, and both bedrooms. 

Blake couldn’t have come home after she was murdered by someone else because the front door security latch had been engaged from the inside and he was found barricaded behind three doors. The mattresses were all placed on the side of the doors facing his location. 

When the police arrived, Blake said that Iana was fine, why lie about it if he had nothing to do with her death? 

He also had clothing in the living room that contained a passport and $4k cash, which looks like he intended to flee the country 

The prosecution opted not to seek the death penalty in the case for two reasons.  One was because Blake didn’t have a prior criminal record, but there was also a massive backlog of inmates waiting for execution in California.  Iana’s mother, Olga read a victim impact statement and said, “He took away the most precious thing that a baby could have.  This monster ruined our lives, ruined the lives of his family, lives of his sons, of his newborn daughter, who looks like him, like a spitting copy.”  She said that she wished Leibel’s wealthy Toronto family would have at least offered condolences after her daughter was murdered, but that didn’t happen. 

 

Olga’s interpreter said, Olga is going to raise her own granddaughter, who’s part of her daughter Iana, part of her blood and she’s going to give her all the love, all the care that she can.” 

 

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