Former boyfriend of blast victim arrested

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A former boyfriend and business partner of a woman killed in an explosion at the spa she owned in California was charged Thursday with a federal count related to explosives found in his house.

Stephen Beal was not charged with causing the blast that killed his former girlfriend and seriously injured two patrons of her spa when she opened a box that erupted in a fiery explosion.

Beal, 59, a rocket enthusiast and actor in several short films, and Ildiko Krajnyak, 48, a cosmetologist, had recently broken up, his son, Nathan Beal, said.

Stephen Beal was arrested late Wednesday after investigators found two improvised explosive devices in his Long Beach home, investigators said.

He was handcuffed when he arrived in U. S. District Court in Santa Ana on a charge of possessing an unregistered destructive device.

A phone message seeking comment from Beal’s public defender was not immediately returned.

Beal was an investment banker who had turned to acting after his wife’s death several years ago, said friend and neighbor Steven Young.

“You can’t imagine him doing what we’ve been hearing,” Young said referring to the blast. “I don’t recall him ever being visibly angry at anything. He’s been a good neighbor and a good friend.”

Nathan Beal said it was “highly unlikely” his father was guilty of any charge related to a destructive device.

The father and son build sport rockets fuelled by a propellant that is commercially and legally available at specialty hobby stores. The biggest of the rockets used about 5 pounds of fuel in multiple motors.

“Probably what they found were motor cases made out of aluminum,” Nathan Beal said.

State records show Stephen Beal and Krajnyak were officers in a skin care business called I& S Enterprises. The name of the business uses the letters of their first initials.

Krajnyak had just returned home after visiting family in her native country of Hungary.