The suspect in the bombing of a day spa in Aliso Viejo that killed one woman and injured two others had all of the materials necessary to create a bomb at his home, except for a 9-volt battery and a cardboard box, both of which he was captured on camera purchasing just days before the explosion, according to prosecutors.
Authorities allege defendant Stephen Beal, 63, of Long Beach rigged the cardboard box with an explosive set to detonate when his ex-girlfriend, 48-year-old Ildiko Krajnyak, opened the package at her spa, Magyar Kozmetika, in Aliso Viejo. The May 15, 2018, explosion killed Krajnyak, injured two of her clients and ripped apart the building, sending glass and debris flying toward neighboring offices.
‘Plan to destroy her’
Beal appeared for the first day of his trial Thursday, June 16, at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.
“This is a case about infatuation, obsession and control,” said U.S. Attorney Annamartine Salick in her opening statements. “When Ildiko rejected his infatuation and starting dating another man, the defendant realized he could not control her.”
Humiliated, Beal channeled his rage into “a plan to destroy her,” Salick argued.
Beal is charged with the use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, malicious destruction of a building resulting in death, and use of a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, according to court filings. He has pleaded not guilty.
Beal’s seven-week trial is expected to include 105 witnesses, 1,400 exhibits and six hours of footage from his interviews with law enforcement. If convicted, he could face a potential life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Blast carnage
The prosecution spent much of the first day of trial on the destructive force of the blast. First responders to the scene, initially reported as a car fire, found half of the structure torn asunder with bricks ejected from the exterior walls, the ceiling collapsed, water pouring from burst pipes and fires still burning. A responding officer found body parts in the parking lot within minutes, but it would take weeks to recover all of the remains, according to Salick.
One of the injured witnesses told investigators she saw Krajnyak at a desk attempting to open the box before the explosion occurred.The woman and her mother were badly burned, but managed to crawl out of the rubble.
Beal reportedly called the Orange County Sheriff’s Department later that same day and explained that he was a co-owner of the spa and that Krajnyak was “his friend and ‘ex-wife,’ ” according to a memo filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office ahead of the trial.
Bomb materials
OCSD and FBI bomb technicians allegedly found 130 pounds of “explosive precursors” in Beal’s home and chemical residue in his newly purchased Toyota Prius that was consistent with residue found at the site of the explosion. The chemicals at Beal’s home would produce the same grayish white smoke seen at the spa if they were detonated, according to the prosecution.
“The defendant possessed specialized skill and the knowledge and expertise necessary to build the bomb,” Salick said.
Serial numbers on a chunk of the battery embedded in the ceiling led investigators to determine that the battery used as a power source for the bomb was part of a shipment of batteries to CVS stores in Southern California in March 2018. Receipts and surveillance footage showed Beal had purchased similarly sized boxes and a CVS brand battery just days before the explosion.
One of the women injured in the explosion identified the box purchased by Beal as looking similar to the one she saw Krajnyak opening, according to Salick.
Beal previously explained the chemicals in his home were from a model rocket hobby and that he had previously made smaller explosive devices to assist a neighbor with a gopher problem, but that he’d stopped after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, because he did not want to “give the wrong impression,” according to a 2018 probable cause statement.
These “model rockets” were not toys purchased from a hobbyist shop, but, in fact, were high-powered rockets requiring a special permit, Salick said. One of Beal’s rockets, displayed in a picture by the prosecution, stood as tall as a two-story building.
“The defendant knew exactly how potent the chemicals he mixed would be,” Salick said. “He did not just kill someone, he destroyed a building.”
FBI ‘desperate’
During the defense’s opening statements, attorney Craig Harbaugh argued that the FBI — “desperate to find the person responsible as soon as possible” — zeroed in on Beal and then ignored other evidence and suspects that did not fit its “snap judgment.”
“They started with a conclusion and worked their way backwards,” Harbaugh argued.
The defense showed pictures of dust covered plastic buckets of chemicals at Beal’s home and said the materials had not been used in years. The chemicals were not hidden and were clearly labeled. Beal let the FBI search his home and phone voluntarily and willingly submitted to more than 12 hours of interrogations, Harbaugh said. The residue found in Beal’s Prius could have come from natural sources or the cleaning supplies from an ongoing remodel at Beal’s home, he argued.
“Mr. Beal had no motive to harm Ms. Krajnyak,” Harbaugh said.
Relationship cooling?
Though Krajnyak told friends she had broken up with Beal in January because he was “boring,” the pair traveled together to Portugal in March 2018 and to Mexico that April. The prosecution described these trips as last-ditch attempts by Beal to reconcile, while the defense pointed to the excursions as evidence that Beal and Krajnyak remained in a romantic, non-exclusive relationship.
Krajnyak and Beal began dating in 2016 after meeting online, according to testimony. Beal helped Krajnyak move her spa to the new location and was actively involved in the administrative side of the business up until the day of the explosion.
Beal originally told investigators his relationship with Krajnyak had “cooled” in early 2018 following a trip to Portugal where she “admitted to the defendant that she was in an intimate relationship with another man from Northern California.” Krajnyak’s clients and friends reportedly observed Beal “parked outside of Krajnyak’s workplace for hours” and “showing up at the Spa unannounced in an attempt to reconcile with Krajnyak.”
‘Constant monitoring’
The victim allegedly told friends that Beal was ” ‘freaking her out’ with his constant monitoring and jealous attempts to control her life,” according to court filings.
Both sides acknowledged that Krajnyak began dating other men in early 2018. She traveled to Hungary to meet a potential romantic partner in May 2018 and returned two days before the bombing.
In her opening statements, Salick alleged Beal had set up Krajnyak’s online scheduling system and would use it to track her whereabouts. He was able to log in to her accounts, including for the airline, to determine when she would be back.
“The defendant was checking her schedule to find the perfect time to plant the bomb while she was away,” Salick said.
Investigators allege surveillance footage showed Beal’s Prius entering a parking lot a block away from the spa, located at 11 Mareblu, approximately four days before the explosion. Beal was one of a small group of people with keys to the suite.
Digital evidence showed Beal had viewed Krajnyak’s schedule on May 11, the day he allegedly planted the bomb, and on May 15, before the bomb went off. He allegedly viewed her Facebook page, though she had never accepted his friend request, as many as 16 times per day, including immediately prior to the bombing.
Harbaugh alleges Beal went to the spa on May 11 — 30 minutes from his home in Long Beach — to check that an outlet could handle a new machine Krajnyak had purchased during her trip to Europe. He stayed for about 10 minutes before leaving.
Other suspects?
Harbaugh laid out two other possible suspects: an electrician working as a maintenance man at the building and a married former lover of Krajnyak’s, who had experience in the military and whose wife had previously attacked Krajnyak over the affair.
The defense argued that neither suspect was investigated to the extent that Beal was, because the FBI’s investigators had made up their minds.
The maintenance worker had keys to the suite and Krajnyak, who was married but separated from her husband, had expressed concerns about the man.
Two clients reportedly found the door to the spa’s lobby unlocked before Krajnyak had arrived May 15, Harbaugh said. “She was meticulous about locking her door, but it was open the day of the bombing,” he said.
Beal originally was arrested for possessing an unregistered explosive device in 2018, but was not charged for Krahnyak’s death. The U.S. Attorney’s Office later dropped those charges against him, with prosecutors explaining the device he possessed may have been legal.
Harbaugh argued the very public arrest led to the conviction of Beal “in the court of public opinion.” The FBI instead “doubled down” on their investigation into him instead of looking for other suspects, he said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not charge Beal with the death until March 2019.
Wife’s death
Beal separately was charged with fraud in January 2020 for failing to disclose a $350,000 life insurance settlement he had received when his wife died in 2008 during bankruptcy proceedings in 2009.
According to Los Angeles County coroner’s records, Christine Beal died in 2008 when she was 48; her cause of death was “undetermined,” but the report notes she was suffering from “pancreatitis, electrolyte imbalance” and “chronic lead intoxication.”
In a 2010 filing related to Beal’s lawsuit against his insurance company, he claimed his wife died from traumatic pancreatitis. He said the cause was her falling down a flight of stairs while carrying a 49-pound end table.
The Long Beach Police Department launched an investigation into Christine Beal’s death following Beal’s initial arrest in 2018, but so far has not released any findings.
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