LOS ANGELES _ Federal prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against a man who was arrested after a suspected package bomb killed his former girlfriend and business partner in Aliso Viejo, according to court documents.
Stephen Beal, 59, of Long Beach, had faced one count of possessing an unregistered destructive device. He had not been charged in connection with the explosion that killed Ildiko Krajnyak, Beal's former girlfriend.
Krajnyak, 48, was killed when a cardboard package blew up at the Magyar Kozmetika spa. The May 15 explosion tore open the ceiling and buckled the floor.
Soon after, during a search of Beal's Long Beach home, authorities 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.
The findings were detailed in a 10-page affidavit and criminal complaint filed by federal authorities Thursday in U.S. District Court. But a motion over the weekend to dismiss the complaint called the findings into question.
"Further examination by the Federal Bureau of Investigation raises questions as to whether the devices meet the statutory definition for a 'destructive device,'" the U.S. attorney's office stated in court documents.
