Relatives of the suspect accused of attacking a woman during a break-in at the home of Beanie Babies tycoon Ty Warner say they warned law enforcement that he might hurt someone. Russell Phay's siblings called the Colorado Department of Corrections, which oversees parolees, beginning on May 19, two days before the alleged assault in California, and "left multiple messages over the course of the week expressing our fear that Russell was spiraling and could harm someone," the family says in a statement, per NBC News.
They say they never heard back. "This tragedy might have been preventable, and we are devastated that our efforts to sound the alarm went unanswered," the family adds.
They say Phay—a 42-year-old Army veteran with an extensive criminal history, including a prior conviction for assaulting someone with a baseball bat—has experienced severe schizophrenia, which made him unstable and occasionally violent. Described as 6'3" and 250 pounds, he's accused of violently attacking Linda Malek-Aslanian, a financial services agent who previously worked for Ty Warner Hotels & Resorts, at the billionaire's mansion in Montecito on May 21. He initially broke into the home, claiming it as his own and demanding everyone else leave, reports the Santa Barbara Independent. He was arrested and charged with attempted murder, burglary, kidnapping, assault, and other crimes, while Malek-Aslanian was hospitalized with a brain injury. She's currently in a coma.
"Many of us have had to distance ourselves from Russell for our own safety, though it has never been easy to do so," reads the family statement. "Even with our estrangement, we tried to take action when we saw warning signs that he was in crisis." The family cites concerning phone calls from Phay in the weeks before the attack. He was largely incoherent, according to one sibling. He made no specific threats, per NBC. (More Ty Warner stories.)
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