A man from Long Beach, California received a life sentence Friday for the 2018 bombing of his ex-girlfriend’s spa, which killed her and injured two of her customers.
The ex-boyfriend behind the bombing, 64-year-old Stephen William Beal, was sentenced to a life plus 30 years in federal prison by United States District Judge Josephine Staton, according to a Friday press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Staton also scheduled another hearing for April which will “determine how much restitution Beal should be ordered to pay victims of the bombing,” according to the press release.
The bomb exploded at the Magyar Kozmetika spa in Aliso Viejo, California, on the afternoon of May 15, 2018, killing the man’s ex, Ildiko Krajnyak, and injuring a mother and daughter. The surviving victims suffered second- and third-degree burns, and one lost an eye. (RELATED: Boston Marathon Marks Ten-Year Anniversary Of Darkest Memory)
“The cold, calculated nature of this crime is chilling,” Staton said at the sentencing hearing, according to the release. (RELATED: Cluster Bomb, Ammunition Found In Thrift Store Donation)
United States Attorney Martin Estrada addresses the press after today’s sentencing hearing for Stephen William Beal, a Long Beach man sentenced to life plus 30 years in federal prison for the 2018 bombing of an Aliso Viejo day spa that killed one person and injured two others. pic.twitter.com/hX0fkKWHsb
— US Attorney L.A. (@USAO_LosAngeles) January 19, 2024
In July 2023, a federal jury found Beal guilty of four felonies, including the use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, 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, according to the press release.
“Mr. Beal callously murdered a loving mother, maimed two other victims, and put at risk many others in the vicinity, including children and teachers at a nearby preschool,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada.
California News: Long Beach Man, Stephen William Beal Arrested on Federal Charges for Bombing Aliso Viejo Spa that Killed Ex-Girlfriend https://t.co/e8PeojgmJ4 pic.twitter.com/JR3dRVh4iq
— STL.News (@stlnewsonline) March 4, 2019
After the bombing, FBI investigators obtained a search warrant for Beal’s home, where they found an bomb-making materials, including over “130 pounds of explosive precursor chemicals and completed explosive mixtures, as well as electric matches and wires.” (RELATED: Anonymous Bomb Threat Sent To Every Public School In Maryland: REPORT)
Beal is also the subject of a separate case involving wire and Social Security frauds as well as the concealment of bankruptcy assets, and is expected to face additional sentencing in that trial after pleading guilty to a string of charges in November.