Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan: Ticking Time Bomb, Ildiko Krajnyak's Final Moments

Episode Date: October 1, 2023

Ildiko Krajnyak, having just returned from a visit to her family in Hungary, finds herself on the cusp of a life-altering moment as she opens a seemingly innocuous package, only to be thrust into a realm of near-instant vaporization by a devastating explosion. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack unfurl the intricate threads of Stephen Beal's connection to Ildiko Krajnyak. They delve deep into the captivating dynamics that once defined the relationship between Beal and Krajnyak, former lovers and business partners, and explore the deadly explosion that tragically marked their intersecting paths.   Subscribe to Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan : Apple Podcasts Spotify iHeart Time Codes: 00:00:20 - Joseph Scott Morgan introduces the potential inside a package, setting the episode's tone about potential energy and explosive themes, hinting at a devastating event where a package almost vaporized its opener. 00:03:20 - Stephen Beal, with his obsession as a model rocket hobbyist, is introduced as the episode's main subject. 00:04:20 - Dave Mack delves deeper into Beal's progression from model rockets to destructive explosives, he touches upon the mysterious circumstances surrounding Stephen's first wife, suggesting a potential link to Ildiko Krajnyak's case. 00:07:38 - Joe Scott discusses the challenges of assimilating into a new culture in the context of Ildiko, a Hungarian woman who was very attached to her family. 00:08:20 - Dave Mack elaborates on the professional relationship between Stephen and Ildiko Krajnyak after their romantic split with reflection on the complexities of maintaining business ties after a personal relationship ends. 00:10:40 - Dave gives insights into Ildiko Krajnyak's new romantic affiliations and Stephen's continued obsession with her. He narrates the tragic event when Ildiko was nearly vaporized after a package exploded as she opened it. 00:15:22 - Joseph Scott Morgan recalls a gas explosion from his past, shedding light on the horrors of such incidents. Dave Mack offers a riveting survivor's perspective on enduring an explosion. 00:18:31 - Morgan walks listeners through the investigator's precise methods in an explosion's aftermath, describes the challenges, and highlights the complexity of the task. 00:20:09 - The Olympic Park bombing is referenced, emphasizing the enduring trauma of explosion victims. 00:22:57 - Morgan describes the significance of minutiae at a crime scene, explaining the process of triaging survivors and securing a scene after an explosion, highlighting the potential of everything as evidence. 00:24:14 - Mack decodes the investigative process post-explosion, including deciphering the intended victim. The intricacies of blast trauma and bomb residue in forensic science are explained. 00:30:41 - Discussion of the complexities of constructing a lethal device with common materials, with emphasis on the importance of knowledge and access to the environment where the device will be placed. 00:32:07 - Dave Mack points out the immediate suspicions about Stephen Beal after Ildiko Krajnyak's tragedy and highlights the strategic search at Beal's residence, leading to explosive discoveries. 00:34:23 - Joe Scott Morgan expresses his suspicion over Beal's claim that he did not have the materials to create an explosion that large, pointing out the length of time it took for this case to make it through the systemSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan. Think about packages just for a second. Is there anything more exciting than the potential of what's contained inside of a package? And when I say package, I'm not talking about some kind of fancy envelope that arrives from whatever carrier where you kind of rip that seal off of. And I'm talking about a package where you've got something that's arriving from either a department store or you've got it coming to you as a birthday gift or maybe even Christmas. You look at a Christmas tree and you think about all of the brilliantly wrapped packages. And the one word that comes to mind is potential. Why is that? We're going to talk about potential.

We're going to talk about potential energy. Because when you unwrap a package, there could be anything in there. For today's discussion, we're going to talk about a package that was so devastating when opened that the poor soul that opened it was almost vaporized. I'm Joseph Scott Morgan, and this is Body Packs. Dave Mack, when I was a little boy, the thing I always wanted and was never given, I'm a grown man, I still think about this. I'm a grown man. I still think about this. I ought to go out and buy it right now. I always wanted an ST's rocket set.

And for some reason, those that had parental control over me never trusted me. I guess they thought I was going to put my eye out or blow something up. But I always wanted an ST's rocket set. I always had visions. You know, I came up just like you when the moonshot was going on. And it was fascinating to me because with that, I saw what could happen when this thing was initiated and would go up in the air. I've always been fascinated by going to firework shows. I just took my family down to our favorite place in the world, an island off of the shore of

Alabama, a barrier island called Dolphin Island. And world, an island off of the shore of Alabama, a barrier island called Dolphin Island. And we sat down there and watched the 4th of July fireworks over the Gulf of Mexico, which is an astounding thing to see reflected there in the water, that explosive event where you see the chemistry literally brought to life because of all of the different chemicals that are contained in these explosions. So I've always been fascinated by this. But, you know, this case that we're talking about today, it involves somebody that was, in a more sinister sense, fascinated by explosions as well. Stephen Biel is a man who is an actor, claims to be, and many other things in his career.

But the biggest one is a model rocket hobbyist. He actually claims to have had one of his model rockets achieve Mach 2. But safe to assume that Stephen Biel has been a man consumed with model rockets and realizing that to send a rocket up, you've got to have an explosion, a controlled explosion. And that would kind of lead you down the path of explosives, bombs, which is where this story comes into play. Stephen Biel was involved in a relationship. So Ildigo and Stephen had been dating for a while. And Ildigo is this beautiful, vibrant Hungarian. And they met online. He had been married previously, so did she.

And Stephen Beale's first wife had passed away. In an odd way, there was some mystery surrounding that. There was. Can I interject something real quick? Because talking about chemicals here, one of the things about Stephen Beal's first wife's death, there was alleged to have been the substance of lead, the element lead involved in her death. But the medical examiner slash coroner never could come to a conclusion. They just said, I've seen it quoted as mysterious circumstances. Right.

The thing is, part of the reason they had trouble with it is Stephen Biel would not cooperate with the investigation. He would not cooperate with her doctors. He would not cooperate with the coroner. He would not cooperate with investigators. When somebody dies unexpectedly, there is an investigation. When it came right down to it, they never were able to come up with a suitable finish. So it was left open pretty much. And we'll come back to that in a minute because it will come back into play, believe it or not. So we have Stephen Beale and

his girlfriend Ildigo, and they both have a passion. They live in Southern California, by the way. We're talking about Orange County, Long Beach, that general vicinity. And together they open a spa, day spa. At this spa, there are a number of people who actually are there because of Ildigo and her relationship with Hungary, her family coming from Hungary and her friends. You come from another place, you tend to gravitate towards those you have a similar background and language. I've been out to L.A. many times to do television shows and everything. And you know who I find many times that are limo drivers that I come in contact with are people that are part of the Albanian culture. And I've gotten to know several of those people, fine people. And I would imagine that there is probably, what do they refer to it as, a diaspora of Hungarians that are located

there as well. And you're right, they get together in like this little clutch. And because, Lord have mercy, just looking at the spelling of her name, it'd be difficult to pronounce. I can only imagine how hard it is to assimilate. You want people that can actually interact with you, speak your own language and remind you of home. And you pointed out, speak your own language and remembering home. And that all plays into this as well, because Ildigo was very attached to her family. And in May, she actually had gone and spent time in Hungary, her native nation. I want to back up to Stephen Beale and Ms. Ildigo. They had been in a relationship, but the relationship fell apart after they opened the spa. It was kind of a compact period of time here between the relationship beginning and the spa opening.

It happened fairly quick, and they were both all in, but the relationship broke down. Stephen Beale and Ildigo were no longer a couple, but they were still all in, but the relationship broke down. Stephen Beale and Ildigo were no longer a couple, but they were still partners in the spa. But Stephen was more of a silent partner. He wasn't really there much, but he had a key. He still had a key. That's what allowed him access to the spa while Miss Ildigo had gone back to Hungary to visit her mother and other family members. What a kind of an interesting dynamic that two people would be involved in this kind of romantic relationship. And then this kind of dissipates. They break up for whatever reason at this point in time, but you still have a business relationship. And I know that there are other

relationships out there like this, but how awkward would that be? Because whatever friction existed romantically, you have to think that it's going to probably bleed over into the business relationship. And I don't know anything about running a day spa, but I would imagine much like a restaurant, it's something that you have to have attention on like 24-7. You're always thinking of it just to keep the thing afloat. Ildigo was actually a licensed cosmetologist and Stephen Bill was not. Stephen Bill was a part-time actor and businessman and rocket hobbyist, but he had no background in cosmetology. He had no background in running a spa. Ildigo did. So basically she was the licensed cosmetologist heading up the spa, and he was just a partner in the business because at the time they started it, they were a couple romantically linked.

And when that broke down, Ildigo had moved on and she was dating somebody. Certainly at least one romantic rival for Stephen Biel. And Stephen Biel was not really moving on. He said he was, but not really. He was pretty obsessed with her. So when Ildigo comes back from her trip to Hungary, she's in the spa and there's plenty of mail. There were a couple of boxes, a bunch of letters, and there were two of her Hungarian friends who were also there at the spa that morning. And it was in that moment when she was checking the mail that Ildigo picked up one of the boxes and opened it. The 48-year-old was blown up

by opening this box. It was such a big explosion that when investigators looked at it, when they first got the call about an explosion, they thought a gas line or something along those lines. When they got there and found out it was a box that had something in it, they were like, this is not an accident. The two other women were injured, but Ildigo was killed. Pretty much, you mentioned vaporized. It happened real fast. And at 48 years old, she was dead. Yeah. And when you begin to think about bombings, you think about a kill radius. And we've seen this over the years. We've been at war for a long time as a country.

And unfortunately, and I personally have had former students of mine that have died as a result of improvised explosive devices overseas. And, you know, they talk about a blast radius. Sometimes you'll hear the term kill radius and how much of that energy travels outward and can really wreak havoc. But when you begin to talk about an explosive device that goes off inside of an enclosed space, that's a completely different dynamic. But Dave, I know this, when that explosion initiated, I can tell you who wasn't of these names in Southern California. I don't know what it is, Dave. I know you're from Southern California originally and from the OC, I believe.

I've always wanted to say that in a conversation. Joe, I actually lived about a mile and a half from where this house was in Long Beach, where Stephen Beal's house was. Well, where his house was, but I think the spa was in a place called Alicio Vallejo. Is that how you pronounce it? Vallejo in Southern California in the OC. And yeah, Mr. Stephen Beal, actually, he was a Long Beach resident. And to back up a little bit, we have to understand that this case has been ongoing for some time now. We're talking about roughly five years downrange when this thing is finally adjudicated. This occurred in the morning on May 15, 2018.

And I can just imagine you're hanging around the firehouse, you're a local firefighter, and then all of a sudden the bell starts clanging and you're getting reports that are rolling in to the fire station where they're saying there has been an explosion. There's actually been an explosion and the fire department, I know the police will show up, but the firefighters in this case, these are the people that are right on point. Because when you think about explosion, one of the first things you think about, other than the devastation that takes place as a result of the initiation of this event, is going to be associated fire. And then having to triage any injuries that might be there. And of course, the fire department is uniquely equipped to do this. All these guys, most of them are at some level in paramedical training,

whether it's an EMT or a full-on paramedic. So when they arrive at this location, there is what's referred to, and you'll hear this in bomb investigations. They see from Jump Street that this is what they call a debris field. So you've got these fragmented bits and pieces that are everywhere. Interestingly, when you roll up on a building and you see a structure that's kind of blown out like this, the first thing you're going to think of is not a package bomb, a mail bomb. You're going to think gas main explosion. And you know, Dave, I don't think I've ever mentioned this on the podcast. I actually worked a case, and this is early on in my career. Again, I was still in the New Orleans area when this happened. We had a family that had gone off on vacation and they had a brick ranch home.

One of the eyes on their gas oven had been left on and the house was filled with gas. And there was mail stacking up on the front porch of the house. Their mail person had come by and kind of checking status to see who was there. And when the doorbell was rung, that was enough. That was an initiator because of the current that it set off a blast that literally leveled this brick home. That's how powerful a gas explosion is. And it took it down to, it literally took it down to the slab. There were homes damaged. Of course, the person that rang the doorbell was deceased. And you have all of these types of events that occur like this.

The first thing you're going to think of when you're a firefighter and you're rolling out, you're hearing explosion is not going to be package bomb. It's just that's not on your radar. I mean, you've heard about them, but most of the time you're thinking that this is some kind of gas main leak that happens. We tend to see things on television and movies and have a certain visual that applies to seeing an explosive. In reality, it doesn't happen that way. You're not watching for it. Your eyes are not trained on it. It's something that happens. Like in this particular case, I was reading one of the victims who survived and she said that her back was turned.

She didn't see when when Ms. Ildigo lifted the box or opened it. She didn't see that, but she described what she did see. And it was a bright light and it was being pushed into a wall. And it was a dramatic recounting of something she didn't see, but she knew. When arriving on a scene, and you know, we've got fire and police, body parts were found in the parking lot. What does that tell you from the outside looking in, showing up at the scene? Where do you start in examining the deceased? Do you start with the foot in the parking lot? Well, you secure it. And that's the most important thing.

Any kind of, well, anything there is not just simply the anatomical elements that are torn apart, that are torn to shreds in this environment. From an investigative standpoint, every bit of fragment that's out there has the potential to lead back to an explanation. We're not talking suspect at this point. We're talking explanation because that's what you want to know. What happened? What brought this about? Hey, look, we've got one explosion. Is there a chance that there will be another explosion? So we have to be very careful out there. And what will occur, I know that many people have seen over the years when you watch crime shows and all these sorts of things, you see these little evidence markers that we put out. Lots of times they're these little yellow tents. They're made out of hard plastic and they have numbers on them. What happens with a debris field this big many times

is that instead of little yellow markers, many times you'll have various colored little flags that are placed out there. And each color will denote a different type of item. Let's just say you have a biological sample that's there. Maybe you'll put a green flag by that. And when I say biological sample, it could be like, for instance, a part of a limb that you can look at and say, okay, that's a hand. Or you could look down and just see kind of a little mound of what appears to be red tissue. And that might be, say, thigh muscle, but you have no idea what particularly it is. But it has some kind of resemblance to something that may have originated from a body. And you get this kind of commingling of all of this debris.

So if you've got mortar where it's been holding together bricks, and this building does have a brick facing on it and glass and metal. So you'll get this kind of commingling of all of these different items. You might have a bit of muscle that's immediately adjacent to a bit of brick. So you could have multiple little flags all in one particular area, depending upon what you're looking for. And there were two patrons inside of this place who, by the way, have never been named. There's no need to name them by the courts. But I can tell you this, these two unfortunate ladies that were in there, from what I understand and what has been put forward,

they have been scarred for life. And that's not unexpected. You know, my office worked the infamous Olympic Park bombing back in 1996. And for my money, I don't want to go chasing rabbits here in this conversation, but I will say that one of the biggest heroes of all time was Richard Jewell. The guy that they blamed for it at first. Yeah, the guy that they blamed for it. And because he reoriented that device at that particular time when he recognized it, a lot of lives were spared. But we did have one victim of the blast that died as a direct result of the initiation of that device. But, you know, Dave, we don't hear about all of the victims that were there at Centennial Park that night that were maimed for life that

will carry scars for the rest of their lives. So, well, there are. There were other people that were grievously injured that were out there. And when you have that kind of event that goes on in that environment, if you have these eye or ear witnesses, you mentioned this one lady that didn't see it, but she apparently felt it and her back was to it. I think she may have been in another room and she actually talks about this force that knocks her down. That's a real important part of the mechanics of an explosion because there's multiple elements. First off, when you think about explosions, you have potential energy. And what does that mean? Well, you have, say in this particular case, you have a box that is sitting there.

It's not doing anything. It's not necessarily inert, but it has to have a triggering mechanism. So we have potential energy that is sitting there. And when that thing is released, is released, and that trigger mechanism takes place, then the explosion initiates and you have a sequence that goes through it where, in this particular case, a nine-volt battery was actually used as the little electrical charge. And that's really all that it took. And Dave, you know, in this case, in this debris field, it's hard to imagine. For me, it is because, yeah, people think I'm a detailed person because I'm an investigator by trade. But

when it gets down to these little fine points, it's frustrating to me. They actually found the body, half of the body of a nine-volt battery that was still contained at the scene. And you know what else? This thing was so powerful that the wiring that was used in this blast, in this device, if you will, was blown up into the ceiling and they actually recovered that wiring. And so when you're looking at this from an investigative standpoint, it looks like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle and you don't know what is actually contains value and what doesn't, what's going to point to a reason as to what happened at the scene, but everything has a certain level of importance to it. Where to begin is a question I think that many people have asked over the years when you have an explosion event that occurs.

The starting point is obviously is to triage everybody that's there. That is that anybody that survived this event, you think that is going to have the potential to make it out alive. You get them out of there as soon as you possibly can. But after that, Dave, everything has potential to be evidence and everything is treated that way. And the scene is immediately locked down. This happened. Police were thinking on their way to the scene before they get there. They know they've had an explosion. And so they're thinking gas line or. And again, it does come up in discussion. What's the possibility we're dealing with somebody committing an act of terror?

But is it a car bomb? They didn't know. But when police arrived, when investigators arrived on the scene, they knew based on the severity of Ildigo's injuries and the size of the blast, they knew right away or believed based on experience that it was a homicide, that this was an intentional act. Now they just had to determine was she the intended target or was it somebody else based on where it took place and who was holding it? And immediately they look at, and once you've determined the homicide, who are they closest to? You're looking at husbands, boyfriends, things like that. And you mentioned the wire and the nine-volt battery. That really was a huge part of their investigation because the wire was embedded in the ceiling. So as part of

their investigation of putting all this back together, they start at the bomb, but now they're doing background work on her relationships and who else benefited from this type of an act of aggression. You're the forensic guy. You know, there's a bomb. We can all tell it was a bomb. But don't you have to be able to examine the body of the victim here and determine what actually caused their demise? It's not enough to say that she was blown up. It has to be more than that because you have to figure out what was the bomb made of so you can figure out who built it, right? Yeah, you do. And the body is going to reveal blast trauma. Remember, she's the one that has opened this package, Dave, that has initiated the sequence.

Her body, her clothing, that that remains will have what's referred to as bomb residue on every bit of her. Is that similar to like the stippling we get when somebody puts a gun up against somebody's body against their skin? Yeah, it can be. It can also be it has a real close familial chemical familial context to gunpowder residue testing, GSR. It's the same principle. You go into an environment and you're checking to see if they have powder residue on them. In this case, we're talking about a variety of different chemicals that were actually involved

in this case where you have things that are, well, let me kind of give you the view of it. What we do know is that there was a substance that Beal had access to that. Have you ever seen a magician that would take what's referred to as flash powder and kind of throw it down? Smoke kind of goes up. Well, there's a chemical that he had access to that's the name of it is potassium perchlorate. And so it is a flash powder. And what this means is that you actually see it in percussion caps with gunfire. Okay. So the little cap that's in the base of a bullet and base of an ammunition, similar composition, and it's an unstable compound. It burns very

quickly. And that's what you want when you're initiating a firing sequence. When you say unstable versus stable, does that mean it can just go off if you bump it? No, it's not like liquid nitroglycerin or something. I'm just talking about when it's initiated. It has to be initiated with like fire being applied to it or electricity. In this case, it was an electric current. It's going to go off really quickly.

Because it burns so quickly and it's kind of chemically unstable when compared to, say, for instance, black powder, which was found at Mr. Beal's residence, it's a bit more stable but highly more explosive. This is the trick, trying to understand how to mix all of these chemicals. And understand, Beal was an amateur rocket guy, like we mentioned. Dave, reportedly, he has launched rockets that were so large that it required a team to assist him. Now, he would go out in the desert in California, which there's a lot of desert out there. And some of these rockets, these homemade rockets that he built were as tall as a house. Just kind of wrap your mind around that, that a private citizen would build one of these things. And I think it's grand that people can do that if they know what they're doing and all of that. But you mentioned the speed

at which that occurred, the velocity of these things. I think you had mentioned Mach 2. I had heard certainly upward above Mach 1 relative to the rate at which these things were ascending. But he also had a background. He was a pyrotechnic enthusiast as well, which means that he dealt with fireworks. And I would imagine if he was in the movie industry, thinks he's an actor, that sort of thing. Maybe he was an actor. I have no idea. But maybe he had some experience in that realm as well. But you have to understand the composition when you begin to think about this flash powder when combined with not just black powder, but there's also a substance out there referred to as red gum, which is unique in that it's used as a binder in fireworks. And this is the thing about it, and it's so fascinating from a scientific standpoint. Red gum and black powder are both organic substances, which means that they're made from

some base materials that are out there that are like red gum, essentially, hence gum. It's actually extracted from a plant and has been known for years and years. So that's an organic substance. So when you're trying to do your chemical testing and you do these chemical swabs that they do, you know, where they'll apply it to a surface, if you get a hit on this and you say, oh, OK, well, this chemical is here, you do another hit and maybe you'll find some kind of inorganic substance that's kind of chemically constructed, made in a laboratory like this. It's not really it's more refined.

And you combine those two things. You say, well, I have these two elements out here that I know that when combined create a hell of an explosion. And that's what happened in this particular case. When he loaded up that box with this explosive mixture that he had and he initiated this thing with the battery, all hell broke loose. Here's another thing that's from an investigative standpoint. You can have wire.

You can have a nine volt battery. You can have all of these various chemical elements that are out there. But if you don't know how to construct this thing, that's a problem because it's just all of those elements in and of themselves are not necessarily going to be lethal, but it's putting all of these pieces together and then going into an environment which you have access to, placing it amongst all the other male that's there on a counter. And you know she's coming. What did you say, Dave? She's just taking a trip to Hungary, isn't she?

Yeah. She had been in Hungary visiting family. And this was my understanding her first day back. And that's why the two women were there for their spa treatment. And it was early enough in the day that she still had her mail. And because her business partner and former love interest, Stephen Beal, had a key to the facility during the investigation, they were able to figure out a lot. But, you know, I wanted to point out something, Joe, and this is a common practice in investigators when somebody's dead and you know it was an intentional act, as they believe from the beginning on this, they immediately start looking at close associates, love interest.

And in this case, you have the ex-boyfriend who, talking to a few friends, they find out he was very obsessed with her and she has begun dating other people. He, suspect here, Stephen Biel, is immediately somebody they're going to look into. So we're talking a day after this bomb went off, the day after the police show up at his house with a warrant. They want to look around. How many people do you know in your little circle have experience, I mean, real experience with explosives where they're building rockets and they're doing pyrotechnics and all that. Do you know that many people around you? And so as an investigator, this is an excellent point.

You know, here this lady who originates from Hungary, she's been in a romantic relationship with a guy that builds rockets and has access to explosives. And if anybody asked him about it, he can simply say, oh yeah, I'll build rockets or I like to do fireworks. And people say, oh, okay, well that explains a lot. It explains everything, but it also points, wait a minute, your ex-girlfriend and business partner got blown up. Well, who are the possible people? And immediately he's right there. So they go and search his house. So this is one of those police things that I'm sure that within your realm of your sphere of influence and talking with investigators that I bet y'all have some funny discussions about. We're going to get this guy. We're going to just trip him up a little bit

because when they went to his house, they already knew a little bit because when they went to his house they already knew so much but when they went to his home in long beach a search warrant was served and joe they found it mostly in his garage but some inside the house about 130 pounds worth of explosives they found a seven foot tall rocket. They found rocket making equipment, two containers of potassium percalor. I don't know how to say it. Is that on the periodic table? I don't know. My table's got pizza on it. So you've got the two container.

You mentioned the red gum. He's got two containers of that and at least three containers of black powder. Now, according to the affidavit, Beal told detectives he saw media coverage of the explosion and claimed he did not have material to create an explosion that large. Yeah, it would raise suspicions for me. And that's what's so fascinating about this case is that it took so long to make it through the system. We're talking about 2018, and what Beal was engaged in rises to a federal crime. You've got the FBI getting involved, the ATF, who arguably the premier organization that investigates fires and explosions. That's kind of their bailiwick, if you will. And not to mention,

you know, all of the other associated groups where you've got people, certainly in Southern California, that are very well equipped to handle events like this. And you think about who has this kind of knowledge, who has access to these materials, who has the ability to gain access to a location where he knows that the intended target would be able to put her hands on this thing that's going to create this event. And of course, he's nowhere around the area when this thing initiates. He's the owner of the business. She hasn't been around for a few days. They got mail that's stacked up. There's CCTV footage of him at any number of times going back and forth into these locations, which I think played a key role because you're putting him in that location as he is entering this building and this sort of thing. And then he knows because,

you know, this guy blows things up in big open areas. You ever been to a firework show? These things are done at a distance. They're out in an open area. You ever been to a firework show? These things are done at a distance. They're out in an open area. But Dave, here's what actually brought about her death. The fact that this potential energy that was contained within this bomb was contained within a structure. So you've got a bomb contained in a box and the box is contained in a structure. This is what's referred to as a pressure event. You've got this intense pressure. If you've ever seen anybody shake up a bottle of just champagne and then pop the cork on it, the cork goes flying off in the distance. That's very minimal. When you think about the pressure that is initiated, that pressure from that device going off is trying to seek that location where it can free itself into the open air and it will eventually dissipate.

But it has to travel this course that goes through furniture, through a desk, through a wall, and ultimately through the body of an innocent victim. I'm Joseph Scott Morgan, and this is Body Bags. you're listening to an iHeart podcast