Does violent novel hold the clues to Canadian millionaire murder? Heir to industry fortune was working on bloody comic series and 'was increasingly paranoid before torturing and killing new lover'

A Canadian millionaire charged with torturing and killing his new lover was working on a violent comic that may have foreshadowed the alleged murder, it has emerged.

Blake Leibel, 35, was arrested and accused of murdering his 30-year-old Ukrainian girlfriend Iana Kasian on Thursday after her mangled body was found in his Hollywood apartment.

The property heir had been invited his girlfriend to his home to talk about his recent arrest for alleged sexual assault the day before her mangled body was discovered by police.

Friends said Leibel - who was also inside the home - had left his heavily pregnant wife and become increasingly paranoid in the months leading up to the killing.

He had published a graphic novel that contained cartoons of decapitated and bloodied women and a hand dripping with blood, alongside the caption: 'In the end we ALL become monsters.'

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Blake Leibel, 35, was arrested and accused of murdering his 30-year-old Ukrainian girlfriend Iana Kasian on Thursday after her mangled body was found in his Hollywood apartment. He is pictured here with ex-wife Amanda Braun 

Leibel, who is the son of prominent Toronto developer Lorne Leibel, is accused of murdering Kasian (pictured). Kasian appeared to have been badly beaten, authorities said

Sick: Leibel had published a graphic novel that contained cartoons of decapitated and bloodied women

Leibel has pleaded not guilty to murder, mayhem, aggravated mayhem and torture.

He had recently had a child with Miss Kasian, but also has a baby with his ex-wife, who he suddenly left in the summer of last year when she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, the National Post reported.

Leebel, the son of wealthy Toronto developer Lorne Leibel, spent his days coming up with ideas for bizarre novels, comics and movies - which were largely panned when they were finally produced.

Nonetheless he seemed to be living a contented life with his pregnant wife Amanda Braun and their child, until he took a sudden turn last year and walked out on her.

'We all thought it was because he was embarrassed of what had happened with his wife,' his friend said.

But other friends painted a more troubling picture.

Inside Leibel's novel is a hand dripping with blood, alongside the caption: 'In the end we ALL become monsters'

Kasian (pictured) was tortured and mutilated before she was killed and all of her blood was drained from her body, prosecutors said

He would walk into comic book stores and try to give out his chillingly violent books for free, one friend told the Post.

Leibel also seemed to have an 'obsession' with brutality and had written a novel called Syndrome, which is about a serial killer trying to find a cure for men who 'do terrible things'.

'If you loved hurting things, what would you do?' the book's foreword says.  

He was working on another novel, Psychopomp, with illustrator Trevor Goring when he met Miss Kasian, and ended up moving in with her.

She later fell pregnant, but moved out after the sexual assault allegation was made.

Days later, Leibel apologized to Miss Kasian and asked her to come over and hear her out.

That evening, her mother, Olga - who was visiting from Kiev - became worried and went round to the apartment, but there was no answer. 

A week before the body was found, Leibel was arrested on a sex-assault charge, Deputy District Attorney Tannaz Mokayef said. He was booked May 20 and released later in the day on $100,000 bail, according to jail records. Police outside the couple's apartment

A family friend said when Kasian found out about Leibel's charge, she moved out of their apartment and in with her mother. Aronchik said Kasian went to the apartment to speak with Leibel and when she didn't return by the next day, her mother went to police

She called the LAPD but officers would not knock down the door because she been missing for less than 24 hours.

Police returned the next day and forced their way in, finding a gruesome scene.

Behind a barricade of furniture, Miss Kasian was found lifeless in the bedroom and had clearly been tortured before her death, police said.

The deputy district attorney on the case said Leibel had mutilated his ex-girlfriend and drained her of blood.

A couple killed in Liebel's Syndrome novel were also drained of blood after being strung up by their feet.

A cartoon in that story shows a woman's decapitated body on a blood-stained bed. 

Leibel was also found and was eventually arrested by police after he failed to cooperate.

He is being held without bail and is due back in court on June 14.