Blake Leibel, the son of a wealthy Toronto real estate developer, is facing torture and murder charges in Los Angeles.
Leibel pleaded not guilty to murder, mayhem, aggravated mayhem and torture, according to a press release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Leibel is accused of murdering his 30-year-old girlfriend, Iana Kasian, on or between May 23 and May 26, at their apartment in West Hollywood. Before she was killed, Kasian was tortured and mutilated and all of her blood was drained from her body, the release said.
Police officers arrested Leibel at his apartment on May 26 where they found him barricaded with Kasian’s body.
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.
A decision has yet to be made whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty in this case.
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.
With files from David Shum