LOS ANGELES _ A 59-year-old California man has been arrested in connection with a fatal blast at a day spa that claimed the life of his ex-girlfriend and business partner last year, authorities said.
Stephen Beal of Long Beach was taken into custody without incident Sunday morning, according to Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Los Angeles field office. The FBI and U.S. attorney's office are expected to hold a news conference to discuss the arrest and possible new charges on Monday morning, Eimiller said.
Beal had been a person of interest since a cardboard package exploded at the Magyar Kozmetika spa in Aliso Viejo on May 15, 2018, killing 48-year-old Ildiko Krajnyak. The blast was so powerful that it tore open the ceiling and buckled the floor of the building. Witnesses saw body parts fly into the parking lot.
Federal investigators immediately locked onto Beal, who had begun dating Krajnyak in 2016. The two went on several international vacations before going into business together and opening the day spa, but the relationship collapsed two or three months before the explosion.
During a search of Beal's Long Beach home last May, federal investigators said they found two complete improvised explosive devices, two cardboard tubes, batteries, a 9-volt battery connector, 130 pounds of explosives and precursors, two handguns and a shotgun.
Beal had been charged with one count of possessing an unregistered destructive device at the time, but he was never charged in connection with the fatal explosion.
The destructive-device charge was dropped less than two weeks after Krajnyak's death.
Beal's wife, Christine, died in 2008. The Los Angeles County coroner's office listed the manner of her death as "undetermined," but pointed to pancreatitis, electrolyte imbalance and chronic lead intoxication as factors. She was 48.
After the Aliso Viejo explosion, the Long Beach Police Department said it was reviewing Christine's death, according to a report in the Press-Telegram. It was not immediately clear whether that investigation was resolved.
