Death by Fame on ID: What happened to Blake Leibel's fiancée Iana Kasian?

The upcoming episode of Death by Fame on ID will explore the brutal slaying of Iana Kasian at the hands of Blake Leibel, a former graphic novelist and screenwriter in Hollywood. The murder still rings out in the history of Los Angeles and is widely considered to be one of the most brutal murders in the history of Hollywood.

Iana Kasian and Blake Leibel, who also worked as an intern for veteran comedian Jim Jefferies, began dating shortly after he divorced his wife in 2016. In May 2016, Leibel murdered Kasian, shortly after the birth of their daughter, in a manner that would shock even veteran crime enthusiasts.

This case is the subject of ID's upcoming episode of Death by Fame, which will premiere on February 5, 2024, at 9.00 PM EST.

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Who is Iana Kasian and what happened to her?

Iana Kasian was born in Kyiv and worked as a lawyer for a Ukrainian tax service. But with the ambition of becoming a model, she soon relocated to Hollywood, where she met Blake Leibel, a Canadian graphic novel artist and screenwriter, who was working in the industry then.

Soon after meeting him, the two started dating. They even had a daughter together in 2016 and got engaged.

But problems started after their daughter was born, according to reports, which made Blake Leibel jealous.

On May 24, 2016, Iana Kasian's mother couldn't reach her on the phone, so she flew down to check on her daughter. After allegedly being ignored by Leibel, who did not open the door, despite knowing she was there, she got the authorities involved.

On May 26, 2016, police officers entered the West Hollywood, California, apartment that Kasian shared with Leibel and found her lifeless body in the bedroom. She was allegedly killed by head trauma, then mutilated, and drained of blood.

The nature of her murder sent shockwaves through the entirety of Hollywood. Prosecutors and experts also claimed that Leibel was most likely lying with the dead body before the police arrived.

Following a barricade stand-off between Leibel and police officers, he was arrested and charged with murder, torture, mayhem, and aggravated mayhem.

Olga Kasian, the mother of the victim, who also took in her infant granddaughter, filed a civil lawsuit. The lawsuit contained transcripts from Los Angeles County Coroner Dr. James Ribe's deposition, which read:

"Kasian's entire scalp was traumatically absent and was not found, was not present with the body. Her skull had been stripped down to the surface of the bone ... There was no scalp present except for little bits in the back of the neck... portions of the right side of her face were torn away including the right ear and part of the posterior face on the (right) side, all the way down to the jawline....

"I have never seen this before. And I doubt if hardly any forensic pathologists in this country or abroad have even seen this outside of, perhaps, wartime... So it's extremely rare..."

Blake Leibel was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Iana Kasian's family was awarded over $40 million as a part of the wrongful death suit in 2019.

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Catch this upcoming Death by Fame episode to get a better insight into the case on February 5, 2024.