LOS ANGELES
A federal jury Wednesday found a Long Beach man guilty of building and planting a package bomb that detonated inside an Aliso Viejo day spa in May 2018, officials stated.
The blast killed his ex-girlfriend, causing serious injuries to two spa clients and damaging a commercial office building.
Stephen William Beal, 64, was found guilty of four felony counts: use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, malicious destruction of a building resulting in death, use of a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
(News Report 2018)
U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton scheduled a Nov. 17 sentencing hearing.
Beal faces up to life imprisonment.
“Using his expertise in explosives, Mr. Beal cowardly murdered his former girlfriend, permanently injured two other victims who were her customers, and risked the safety of many others in the area, including a day-care center across the street,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada.
“I am thankful for the painstaking work of our investigators, hazardous devices team, and our federal partners working together to provide justice for Ms. Krajnyak’s family,” said Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes. “While a verdict will not lessen the pain of their loss, nor take away the suffering of the two additional victims inside the spa when the bomb exploded, we hope they know that we never stopped investigating this shocking act of violence. Rest assured, the community is safer with today’s decision.”
According to the evidence presented at a three-week trial, a bomb exploded at a commercial office building in Aliso Viejo at approximately 1:05 p.m. on May 15, 2018.
The explosion instantly killed 48-year-old Ildiko Krajnyak – who owned Magyar Kozmetika, a day spa located in the office building – and permanently injured two of her clients, a mother, and her daughter.
At trial, one of the surviving victims testified that she saw Krajnyak standing behind her desk, opening a cardboard box immediately before the massive explosion.
The surviving victim pulled her mother from the rubble, and together they escaped the burning building through a blown-out wall.
The evidence at trial showed that Beal became obsessed with Krajnyak after she attempted to distance herself from him following an 18-month romantic relationship.
Krajnyak’s family and associates testified that Beal was controlling and possessive, and some said they feared for her safety.
During a search of Beal’s residence the day after the explosion, law enforcement found more than 130 pounds of explosive precursor chemicals and completed explosive mixtures, as well as electric matches and wires, the evidence indicated.
Beal had years of experience building high-powered model rockets and homemade pyrotechnics, and laboratory testing determined that the explosive mixture Beal used in the bomb came from the same chemicals he had at his home,
The FBI’s Evidence Response Team spent more than two weeks collecting and processing evidence from the scene of the bombing, according to officials.
The FBI recovered parts of a 9-volt battery and wire fragments that were embedded in the ceiling above the blast site. The wires used in the bomb’s fusing system were of the same unique type as electric matches and wires found at Beal’s home.
Beal purchased the remaining items he needed to complete the bomb just days before the bombing.
Store security camera footage showed Beal using cash to buy a single 9-volt battery six days before the bombing.
Beal also purchased three cardboard boxes that matched the particular size and shape of the box the surviving victim testified Krajnyak opened when the bomb exploded.
Beal kept tabs on Krajnyak before the bombing, checking her online schedule and social media accounts, according to evidence presented to the jury.
Security camera footage and cellular locational data showed that Beal, who had a key to the business, visited the spa on multiple occasions before the bombing while Krajnyak was out of the country.
Beal left the package bomb for Krajnyak to open upon her return.
In a separate case, Beal is scheduled to go on trial on November 14 on federal fraud charges alleging he failed to report in a bankruptcy proceeding $350,000 he received from his late wife’s estate.
Beal also allegedly schemed to obtain insurance benefits and Social Security payments fraudulently.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Annamartine Salick, Chief of the National Security Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Takla, Solomon Kim, and Sarah Gerdes, all of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section, are prosecuting this case.