Jurors convict man of 2018 California spa bombing that killed his ex-girlfriend

A Long Beach rocket and explosives hobbyist was convicted of crafting a homemade bomb that killed his ex-girlfriend, injured two other women and obliterated a day spa in a deadly explosion.

A Long Beach rocket and explosives hobbyist was convicted Wednesday of crafting a homemade bomb that killed his ex-girlfriend, injured two other women and obliterated an Aliso Viejo day spa in a deadly explosion more than five years ago that shocked the quiet Orange County community.

The Los Angeles jury deliberated for less than two hours before finding Stephen Beal, 64, guilty of using a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, among other explosives-related charges, in the May 15, 2018 killing of 48-year-old Ildiko Krajnyak.

Just after federal prosecutors ended their closing arguments against him, Beal had been amiably chatting with his attorneys inside the courtroom. But he was quickly taken into custody after the jury’s verdict.

Earlier Wednesday, Beal had listened quietly inside a Downtown Los Angeles courtroom as prosecutors accused him of building a simple but powerful bomb inside a cardboard box disguised as a package that Krajnyak opened at her desk at the Magyar Kozmetika day spa.

The explosion, triggered when Krajnyak pulled back the flaps of the box, tore through Kranjnak’s waist, severing her body in two, according to graphic photos of the blast scene prosecutors showed the jury. It also injured two spa clients, and left debris and body parts strewn across a normally sedate business park near the Oso and Moulton parkways, in the shadow of the 73 toll road.

In interviews with FBI agents after the bombing, Beal appeared to know specifics about the bomb that killed Krajnyak before those derails were public,.Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Takla said.

“I’m sure there was some sort of oxidizer,” that triggered the explosives in the bomb, Beal told his interviewers that day.

Takla said Beal’s statement was accurate. He also showed FBI agents pressing Beal on his apparent knowledge about the bomb’s appearance.

“Why would you assume it was a package?” the agent asked Beal.

“The news said it was a package,” Beal told him.

But defense attorney Meghan Blanco argued the FBI displayed “tunnel vision” in latching on to him as a suspect so quickly.

Blanco questioned why, if Beal was the bomber, he would have taken no steps to conceal from law enforcement the 130 pounds of explosive chemicals he kept in sealed containers inside his home.

Given Beal’s decades of experience experimenting with homebuilt rockets, including some that featured timed fuses, it defied common sense for Beal to choose an explosive as a murder weapon.

“The stupidest way (for Beal to kill Krajnyak) would be to build a bomb,” Blanco said.

To do so, she said, would be to invite scrutiny on himself.

The two survivors — a mother and daughter who had just gotten facials at the salon — recalled Krajnyak had been chatting with them while opening a small cardboard box that suddenly exploded.

It would take weeks of around-the-clock work by law enforcement and specialized technicians to comb through the deadly blast site, a process an FBI agent would later describe to Register reporters as “looking for something microscopic in a building that was hit by a tornado.”

But those investigators found evidence they said tied the bomb back to Beal: miniscule fragments of a 9-volt CVS branded battery that the FBI said likely powered the device were found lodged in the ceiling panels directly above where the blast occurred. They later found security camera evidence of Beal buying a single, similar battery at a CVS near his house in the days before the blast.

Beal — who had both personal and professional ties to Krajnyak — quickly emerged as the prime suspect in the bombing, someone investigators and prosecutors have repeatedly described as the only person with the motive, means and opportunity to carry out the bombing. According to prosecutors Beal shortly before the bombing learned that Krajnyak — his ex-girlfriend — had traveled to Hungary with another man.

Beal and Krajnyak met online in 2016 and began a “tumultuous” dating relationship, prosecutors have said, while also becoming co-owners of the spa.

Beal told investigators that the chemicals they found inside his Long Beach home were related to a fireworks and model rocket hobby that he had stopped pursuing after his children grew up.

But prosecutors showed apparently recent photos of Beal posing with large rockets he had built. They argued Beal’s hobby would have given him a unique skill set ideal for making bombs.

“(Beal’s) skill set is in his DNA,” Takla said.

Takla noted a previous incident in Beal’s neighborhood that showed his preference for making bombs. Years earlier, a neighbor had asked Beal for help dealing with a gopher in his yard.

“When confronted with a problem, (Beal) made a bomb to kill this gopher,” Takla said. “He set off an explosive device in a residential neighborhood. That’s alarming.”

This is the second time Beal has been tried for Krajnyak’s death.

His first trial ended in 2022 with a jury split 9 to 3 in favor of his guilt. At least one juror speaking to attorneys after the mistrial repeated the defense’s argument about the FBI’s “tunnel vision” in focusing on Beal.