A woman in Montecito is reportedly comatose after sustaining multiple serious injuries during an attempted robbery at the home of the billionaire businessman behind the Beanie Babies empire.
On May 21, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies were responding to reports of a possible robbery in progress when they discovered Linda Malek-Aslanian, 60, seriously injured outside of Ty Warner’s home. Authorities believe Malek-Aslanian was badly beaten by the attempted robber.
Warner, 80, is the sole owner of Ty Inc., the toy company behind the ’90s cultural phenomenon Beanie Babies. Warner was present when the attempted burglar entered his home, but escaped without injury and contacted authorities, police told People. Malek-Aslanian is a financial services expert who worked for Warner’s string of hotels and resorts from 2004 to 2015, reports the Santa Barbara Independent.
Inside the home, the suspect, Russel Maxwell Phay, 42, had barricaded himself into an upstairs bathroom, police said in a statement. Concerned that Phay, a Nevada native and Army veteran, may be holding a hostage, the Sheriff’s deputies called in reinforcements, including a crisis negotiating team, K-9 officers, and a helicopter. Malek-Aslanian, meanwhile, was immediately transported to a local hospital, where she remains in critical condition.
While crisis negotiators attempted to talk Phay into surrendering, the suspect instead escaped the home through a bathroom window. He was quickly apprehended.
Phay is now charged with first-degree attempted murder, residential burglary with a person present, assault, and resisting or delaying a peace officer. In his charging document, as reported by People, authorities noted the assault caused his victim to “become comatose due to a brain injury.” Phay has pleaded not guilty on all charges.
Investigators don’t believe Phay had any personal connection to Warner, and aren’t sure whether he had a motive to choose Warner’s home in particular. However, the Montecito area is well-known for being home to the rich and famous.
Alongside Warner, its residents include Oprah, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and the Sussexes, who relocated to the California enclave after leaving the royal family in 2020.
The reportedly reclusive Warner is a longtime resident of the California enclave. In addition to his private home, he also owns the Montecito Country Club and the luxury resort San Ysidro Ranch. In 2018, Beanie Babies even released a Montecito-centric toy, Cito the Dog, to honor the victims of the 2018 Southern California mudflows.
The Ty Inc. CEO, who made his fortune with inventive business decisions like launching one of the first-ever direct-to-consumer websites, is himself a convicted felon. In 2014, the CEO was sentenced to two years’ probation for tax evasion after authorities discovered he had concealed an offshore account in Switzerland that at one point held up to $107 million.
Meanwhile, this is not Phay’s first brush with authorities.
In 2014, Phay briefly served prison time after his estranged wife alleged he threatened her and followed her across state lines when she moved to Colorado with their child, according to SFGate.
The same year, Phay was featured in a story from the same publication detailing alternative justice efforts for veterans who struggled with mental health issues and had been convicted of misdemeanors and non-violent felonies.
According to the feature, Phay is a trained infantry combat soldier who received specialized weapons training and expected to serve in Kuwait, but was discharged before he could be deployed. After serving prison time, he participated in a voluntary program known as Veterans Court, which aims to reduce recidivism for veterans by allowing those who meet certain requirements for receiving drug testing and mental health counseling to have their charges reduced.
At the time, Phay told the Chronicle of his time in Veterans Court, “They’ve recognized that I am salvageable. I need treatment, and I’ve gotten treatment.”
However, according to local outlet KEYT, Phay was arrested again in 2017, this time in Siskiyou County, on charges of battery and assault. Those charges were eventually dismissed in 2024, but the same year, Phay was named in a complaint by a couple in the Arroyo Grande region who alleged he threatened them over the phone.
Upon his arrest for burglary, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney John Savrnoch filed a special allegation alongside the charges, citing Phay’s history of violence and claiming he “poses a serious danger to society.”
The post Woman in Coma After Break-in Attack at Beanie Babies Billionaire’s Mansion appeared first on The Daily Beast.
