An Army veteran who allegedly broke into the California mansion Beanie Babies mogul Ty Warner and beat the billionaire’s live-in girlfriend into a coma reportedly claimed he was instructed to do it by pop star Katy Perry.
Russell Phay, 43, told investigators that he had a “head-link” with Perry, who he said had directed him to Warner’s $40 million Montecito home in May, Detective Matthew Maxwell testified at a preliminary court hearing last week, according to the Santa Barbara Independent.
Phay, a Nevada resident, believed he was married to Perry, who also lives in Montecito, according to Maxwell. Perry was at one time married to comedian, conspiracy theorist Russell Brand, and has a daughter with actor and ex-fiancé Orlando Bloom. She is now romantically linked with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
When Phay entered Warner’s house, which he said he thought would be empty, he ran into Linda Malek-Aslanian, 60, an employee and paramour of Warner’s, the news outlet reported. Phay told detectives that he believed Malek-Aslanian was Perry’s mother, and that she had molested her, Maxwell said on the stand.
The 6-foot 3-inch Phay then brutally assaulted Malek-Aslanian, which was captured on security cameras, according to police. Warner, who was also home at the time, heard what he described as a “blood-curdling scream,” and ran to investigate, cops said. Phay then chased Warner through the home, but Warner, 81, managed to escape in his Mercedes and make it to a nearby resort, where he had a staffer call 911 and summon help.
When deputies from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene, they discovered Malek-Aslanian outside the residence, clinging to life, and rushed her to the hospital, according to a release issued at the time. Police cordoned off the area as reinforcements arrived, and deputies entered the home, finding Phay barricaded in an upstairs bathroom.
While officers tried to convince Pham to give himself up, he attempted to escape through a second-story window, but was tased and apprehended, the sheriff’s office said.
A felony complaint filed against Phay on May 23 said he “personally inflicted great bodily injury upon… Malek-Aslanian, causing [her] to become comatose due to brain injury.”
Her present condition remains unclear.
Phay was charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, burglary and assault by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury.
Days earlier, Phay was arrested on charges of violently assaulting another woman who confronted him after he wandered onto her property and began to drink from a garden hose, according to Maxwell’s testimony. He said a passerby found the homeowner in her front yard, unconscious, and that Phay later told detectives that he watched the woman’s “soul leave her body,” and that if she were still alive, that “she would be a zombie.”
Phay has an extensive criminal history for assault, stalking and menacing, and in 2020 pleaded guilty in Colorado to attacking someone with a baseball bat, according to NBC News. He was sentenced the following year to two years in prison, with 218 days suspended, and given two years of supervised release. Phay has long suffered from schizophrenia, his family told NBC.
Relatives said in a statement provided to the outlet that they had notified the Colorado Department of Corrections shortly before the Montecito attack, saying Phay was “spiraling and could harm someone,” but claimed they never got a response from his parole officer.
The family had already contacted authorities in Texas and Nevada, where Phay had also been convicted of crimes, but said they were informed he was no longer under supervision in either state.
“Many of us have had to distance ourselves from Russell for our own safety, though it has never been easy to do so,” the family’s statement said. “Even with our estrangement, we tried to take action when we saw warning signs that he was in crisis.”
They said they were “heartbroken” by the incident, and that their “hearts [were] with… the innocent woman who was so grievously harmed,” going on to slam the “system that continues to fail so many families like ours.”
Phay served in the Army for four years, but was discharged before ever seeing combat. After he left, Phay threatened his then-wife but was diverted to a special court for veterans, according to a 2014 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.
“I am fully trained for combat,” Phay told the paper. “I have been trained to eliminate you. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true.”
As for the diversion program, Phay said, “They’ve recognized that I am salvageable. I need treatment, and I’ve gotten treatment. I feel like people here understand the brotherhood.”
Phay is scheduled to appear next in Santa Barbara Superior Court on June 2.
