On Friday, a Southern California man was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences plus 30 years for blowing up his ex-girlfriend's spa business with a parcel bomb in 2018, killing her and seriously injuring two others. He was sentenced to imprisonment.
Friday's hearing ended Lawsuit against Stephen Beale64. The case was the first of many failures for investigators and prosecutors since the May 15, 2018, bombing at a spa in Aliso Viejo, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Los Angeles. .
Ildiko Krajniak, 48, was killed in a fiery explosion when she opened a box containing a homemade bomb that had been hidden in a spa where Beer was visiting family in Hungary. Two patients she had just treated, her mother and her daughter, were thrown from her feet. The explosion destroyed the store and tore large chunks from the building. Part of the body was found in the parking lot.
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“Mr. Beal will never be able to appear in court again to harm an innocent victim,” E. Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said at a news conference after the verdict.
A federal judge sentenced Beal to two life sentences on charges of use of a weapon of mass destruction causing death and malicious destruction of a building resulting in death.
Beal was also sentenced to 30 years in prison for use of a destructive device during and in connection with a crime of violence, which will run consecutively, and possession of an unregistered destructive device. He also received a concurrent sentence of 10 years in prison.
In this photo, E. Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, speaks about the sentencing of Stephen Beal in Los Angeles on January 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Dazio)
Craig Harbaugh, Beal's federal public defender, did not respond to a request for comment.
“After five years of waiting and wondering, our family and friends are at peace knowing that Mr. Beer will spend the rest of his days in prison,” Eva Boni, Mr. Krajniak's cousin, said at a press conference. “It has become,” he said.
Prosecutors said Beal, a business partner, was jealous that Krajniak was dating another man after their 18-month relationship ended.
“She was a shining light,” close friend Nicole Barrett said at a news conference. “She was a wonderful human being.”
Beal was arrested shortly after the explosion on a single charge of possessing an unregistered destructive device, but was not formally named as a suspect in the explosion for several days. The charges were dropped after prosecutors questioned whether items found at his Long Beach home constituted “destructive devices.” Beal claimed that the explosives found in his home were intended for a model rocket.
He remained free for almost 10 months until he was rearrested after careful analysis of the evidence.
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Beal's first trial in 2022 ended in a mistrial after a federal jury deadlocked. He was retried in 2023, and a second jury found him guilty of four felonies, including manslaughter by use of a weapon of mass destruction.
“Our justice system can be slow,” Estrada said Friday. “What matters is the end result.”
Orange County Sheriff Don Burns said Beal pleaded not guilty during a hearing Friday.
“I can't think of anything more insulting,” Burns said at a news conference.
