Man tied to California blast victim freed, charge dropped
LONG BEACH, Calif. — A Southern California man arrested on suspicion of having explosives after a blast killed his ex-girlfriend at her day spa has walked free after U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday that they had dropped the charge against him.
Stephen Beal was released from jail Sunday — a day after a judge approved prosecutors’ request to drop a single charge of possessing an unregistered destructive device, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Beal, 59, was arrested during the investigation into the May 15 bombing that killed Ildiko Krajnyak in her Orange County spa, but he was never named as a suspect in the blast.
Federal investigators said they had discovered two improvised explosive devices, three firearms and more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of explosive material during a search that Beal allowed of his house.