Jealous man builds bomb to kill ex in spa explosion
Stephen Beal used the skills honed by his hobby to violently murder his former girlfriend
Ildiko Krajnyak was a hard-working beauty therapist who loved helping to make people feel good. Stephen Beal was a widower who had done a few small acting jobs and enjoyed building model rockets. They met via an online dating app in the summer of 2016 and started a relationship that would last 18 months. Ildiko, who was originally from Hungary, had a son from a previous relationship and she worked hard to provide for him. Beal’s wife had died seven years earlier, but being with Ildiko appeared to give him a new spark. The couple took luxury holidays to Portugal, Cuba and Canada. Then they decided to open a day spa together in Aliso Viejo, California.
With Ildiko’s expertise in skincare and Beal’s financial investment, Magyar Kozmetika spa started to build a reputation for services including eye lashes, waxing, massages and facials. With loyal clients and Ildiko’s work ethic, she was seeing her dream of running a successful spa becoming a reality. But her relationship with Beal, who lived in Long
Beach, California, was becoming strained.
Ildiko told friends she thought Beal was “boring” but he was desperate to make their relationship work – taking her on holiday and buying her expensive gifts. When Ildiko tried to back away from Beal, she saw another side of him. He was controlling and would check up on her online schedule and social media accounts. Beal would also accuse Ildiko of cheating.
At the start of 2018, the couple split up, but the spa was still getting established and they decided to remain business partners. Beal was paying $1,500 a month rent and half the operating costs. If Ildiko didn’t make enough money to cover all the costs, Beal would loan her the money to cover the shortfall.
Ildiko started going on dates again and took a trip to Hungary, where she visited family. When she got back, she went straight back to work.
On 15 May 2018, a mother and daughter had just finished having their treatments carried out by Ildiko, then 48, before an upcoming wedding and at around 1pm, they headed to the front counter to pay. They noticed there was some mail, including a couple of cardboard packages. Ildiko picked one of the parcels up and started to open it.
The spa was engulfed by flames
Scene of devastation
Suddenly, there was a massive explosion.
The two women paying were thrown to the ground and the spa was engulfed by flames. The ceiling had blown open, the floor buckled and the walls collapsed. The severely injured daughter pulled her bleeding mother from the rubble and dragged her outside to the car park, which was covered in glass and debris from the blast.
Outside, horrified members of the public saw the exploded body parts of Ildiko, who had been instantly killed in the explosion. The force had torn her body in two. The two clients were rushed to hospital. Both had suffered serious burns and one lost an eye. It was a miracle they had survived standing so close to the bomb – and it was lucky that more people hadn’t been harmed.
It was speculated that the spa had been the target of a bombing – but why? It was destroyed and nearby buildings were badly damaged. Investigators spent weeks going through the rubble for clues. A nine-volt battery was found along with scraps of duct tape and wires. Meanwhile, orange ribbons were hung on the streets in Ildiko’s memory.
Police were aware that Ildiko had recently
split up with Beal and they discovered he had years of experience building high-powered model rockets and launching them using homemade pyrotechnics. They searched his home. They found two improvised explosive devices, along with 130 pounds of explosives and some unregistered guns. With nothing solid to connect him to the spa explosion, Beal was charged with possessing an unregistered destructive device.
Beal said he’d seen the explosion on the news and didn’t have enough material to make a blast that big. Then the charges were dropped as it couldn’t be determined whether the items were “destructive” and the materials were connected to his hobby.
For 10 months, Beal was free, but the police continued to investigate him. Ildiko’s friends told officers she had feared Beal. She had been seeing someone new and Beal had threatened her. He was one of the few people who had access to the spa and he’d visited it while Ildiko was away in Hungary. Officers matched wire at Beal’s home with fragments embedded in the ceiling at the crime scene. Security footage captured Beal buying a battery six days before the bombing that was the same as the one used in the explosive device. He also bought cardboard boxes matching the shape of the packages that Ildiko had found at the front counter.
Discovering the truth
Finally, in March 2019, Beal was arrested and charged with planting a homemade bomb in the spa with the intention of harming Ildiko. In 2022, Beal went on trial, but it ended in a mistrial in August of that year.
In 2023, Beal was back to face a second jury. The prosecution said Beal had built a handmade bomb to kill his ex as a twisted revenge plot. They said Ildiko had rejected Beal and had started dating other men.
The defence said Beal was a rocket hobbyist and was bound to have similar materials. They argued that just because he could build a bomb didn’t mean he had built the one used to kill his ex. After a four-week trial, Beal was found guilty of using a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death. Beal also was found guilty of 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.
In January this year, Beal, then 64, faced sentencing. The judge said he was likely to remain a danger to the public for the rest of his life. “The cold, calculated nature of this crime is chilling,” the judge said. “He wanted her dead simply because she didn’t want to continue their romantic relationship. The defendant apparently decided revenge is a dish best served cold.”
Beal made a statement and maintained his innocence. “I just wish the person who actually committed this crime was sitting here, not me,” he said. He was sentenced to life in prison with a further 30 years. He was ordered to pay restitution, with the figure to be agreed at a later date.
Beal’s conviction has raised questions about the death of his wife, who died in 2008 from traumatic pancreatitis after falling down a flight of stairs while carrying furniture. Investigators also found an unusually high amount of lead in her blood. Beal had taken out an accidental death policy six weeks before the incident and, at first, he didn’t mention he was with his wife when she fell.
Beal has not been charged in connection with his wife’s death, but he is facing another sentence after pleading guilty to wire fraud, social security fraud and concealment of bankruptcy assets. He failed to report $350,000 he got from his wife’s estate when he was in bankruptcy proceedings and fraudulently claimed insurance benefits and Social Security payments, which ran into thousands of dollars.