Blake Leibel, son of the founder of Toronto-based real estate company Canada Homes Inc., has been arrested in connection to the death of his live-in girlfriend in Los Angeles after her body was found in the couple’s apartment last week.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release that the victim’s mother contacted authorities after she reported her daughter missing on May 26.
Police arrived at the couple’s residence that day and located the body of 30-year-old Iana Kasian in a bedroom with “sustained blunt force trauma to her head.”
According to Los Angeles news station KTLA 5, Leibel had barricaded himself in the West Hollywood apartment and placed furniture and bedding to prevent police from entering.
Police said officers managed to force their way through the barricade and arrested the 35-year-old without incident.
The sheriff’s department said both Leibel and Kasian had a “child in common” and local media reports indicate the mother had just given birth four weeks ago.
Police said no weapons were recovered at the couple’s residence.
Prior to Thursday’s arrest, Liebel was also booked on a felony charge and had been released on $100,000 bail, as reported by the National Post.
According to internet movie database website IMDb.com, Leibel worked as a creative consultant for the cartoon adaptation of the movie Spaceballs, wrote and directed the comedy Bald, was a comic book creator and a “world champion gamer” of the video game Half-Life.
Leibel is also known as being the son of Toronto real estate developer Lorne Leibel who competed as a sailor for Canada at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Blake Leibel is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.