Suspect charged after California explosion due in court

UPDATE: 5/21/2018 10:41 a.m. A Southern California man who was arrested on an explosives charge after a blast killed his former girlfriend last week at her day spa is scheduled to appear in court.

Fifty-nine-year-old Stephen Beal is set to appear in federal court in Santa Ana Monday afternoon.

Beal is charged with possessing an unregistered destructive device that the FBI says was found at his home.

He has not been charged with the blast that killed 48-year-old Ildiko Krajnyak (IL-di-koh KRY-nyak) on May 15 when she opened up a cardboard box at the spa in the city of Aliso Viejo south of Los Angeles.

Beal and Krajnyak dated until recently and remained business partners.

Beal did not enter a plea during a court appearance last week and his public defender would not comment.

UPDATE: 5/16/2018 1:18 p.m. Authorities say they believe a woman killed in an explosion at a Southern California office building ran a day spa there.

Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes says the formal identification of the body is continuing Wednesday but authorities believe it is that of Ildiko Krajnyak (IL-di-koh KRY-nyak), a licensed cosmetologist.

The explosion Tuesday badly damaged a two-story building in the city of Aliso Viejo and injured three other people, including two who remain hospitalized.

Krajnyak lived in the Orange County community of Coto de Caza.

A neighbor who would only identify herself as Tiffany told The Associated Press that Krajnyak lived with her husband and her mother and has a son at Washington State University.

The neighbor says Krajnyak and her husband were separated but still living in the same house. The neighbor says Krajnyak was her mother’s caretaker and describes the husband as a massage therapist and nice man.

UPDATE: 5/16/2018 11:00 a.m. Two officials have told The Associated Press that an office in a Southern California medical building was targeted by an explosive package.

The officials were briefed on the investigation but not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

One woman was killed and three other people were injured in Tuesday afternoon’s explosion in Aliso Viejo.

One of the officials said one of them was believed to be the target.

The officials said the explosion did not appear to be part of a broader plot and there was no immediate connection to any extremist groups.

Orange County sheriff’s officials said late Tuesday night that they had not found a specific explosive device and were continuing to sift through the debris left from the explosion.

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UPDATE: 5/16/2018 10:01 a.m. Officials are investigating an explosion that killed a woman and injured three other people at a Southern California medical office building.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Carrie Braun says investigators worked through the night and were still at the scene Wednesday morning.

A U.S. official told The Associated Press that the explosion is believed to have been intentional and may have come from a package.

The official was briefed on the investigation, was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

A sheriff’s official said late Tuesday that no specific device had been found.

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Authorities say one person is dead and two others have injuries after an explosion rocked a Southern California office building.

Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy says 10 engines and 70 firefighters were dispatched in response to a 1:09 p.m. Tuesday call from Aliso Viejo.

Fennessey says the blast involved a building under renovation. The cause of the blast was being investigated.

There was no immediate information about the person who was killed. The injured were taken to a hospital.

Fennessey says children at a daycare across the street were not injured. They were being reunited with parents at a nearby store parking lot.

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