A violent maniac is behind bars for savagely beating a woman into a coma after breaking into the California mansion of Beanie Babies founder Ty Warner, state prosecutors announced.
Russel Maxwell Phay, 43, of Nevada, was charged with first-degree attempted murder and related offenses for invading the Ty Inc. billionaire’s Montecito home and viciously attacking a 60-year-old woman who was inside on May 21, according to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, NBC News reported.
The victim, Linda Malek-Aslanian, a financial services expert, was found battered outside the ritzy estate and taken to a nearby hospital, where she remains comatose due to a brain injury, court documents obtained by local station KSBW showed.
The famously reclusive 80-year-old CEO — who is worth a staggering $6.1 billion, according to Forbes — was home during the alleged home invasion and assault but was not harmed.
Aslanian and Warner have known each other for 25 years and are rumored to be romantically involved, sources familiar with both told The Post.
Police responded to the Fairway Road home at 4:31 p.m. and found the suspected attacker barricaded inside a second-floor bathroom, according to the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office.
A crisis team tried to coax the brute from the bathroom before he jumped out of a window and was immediately taken into custody.
Phay, an Army combat veteran, was also charged with kidnapping, burglary and assault.
The alleged assailant, who has had previous run-ins with the law, was featured in a 2014 San Francisco Chronicle column about a specialized court system created for military veterans where he boasted his ability to “eliminate” anyone.
“I am fully trained for combat,” Phay told the Chronicle.
“I have been trained to eliminate you. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true.”
At the time, Phay had been accused of following his wife across state lines and threatening her. He also faced battery and assault charges in 2018, though the case was dismissed the next year, KSBW reported.
He is being held at the Santa Barbara County Southern Branch Jail and is due back in court on June 2.
Aslanian is currently a financial advisor at NYLIFE Securities but previously worked as an asset manager for the Four Seasons Hotel Warner owns on Billionaires’ Row in Manhattan.
She is also an architect and was involved in a renovation of the swanky hotel about a decade ago, sources told The Post.
Aslanian, who got a Masters of Arts in architecture from Columbia University and an MBA from Baruch College, has an apartment about four blocks from the hotel at 225 E. 57th St., public records showed.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
