This story was updated at 2 p.m. May 15.
An aesthetician was killed and three clients injured in an explosion within an Aliso Viejo cul de sac of dental and medical offices Tuesday, May 15 about 1:10 p.m.
Sheriff’s deputies identified the victim as Ildiko Krajnyak, 40, of Trabuco Canyon, the owner of the spa. Two of those injured in the blast are undergoing surgery and are expected to live, while a third was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene and released, Undersheriff Don Barnes said at a press conference Wednesday, May 16, in Santa Ana.
Businesses around 11 Mareblu remained closed today even as some patients and clients returned to the area. Sheriff’s deputies escorted them to retrieve their cars, which they were forced to leave behind when the area was evacuated following the explosion.
“I thought it was the marine layer,” said Marianne Besseling, of Laguna Woods, who encountered a debris cloud from the explosion that still hung in the air as she arrived with a friend for a 1:20 p.m. dental appointment on Tuesday. “The first police arrived with us,” said Besseling, whose dental x-rays were halted when the building and others, including nearby Academy on the Hills preschool, were ordered to be evacuated.
Besseling returned to the area with a friend Wednesday to pick up her car.
FBI spokesman Paul Delacorte said there have been no claims of responsibility for the explosion in the ground floor office and no indication there are other devices in the area. “We do not believe this to be an accident,” Barnes said.
Delacorte declined to identify the nature of components recovered from the scene, except to say they were inconsistent with the business. The components were sent for analysis to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va., he said.
Barnes said criminal investigators are trying to determine a motive and how the bomb arrived at the location. He said search warrants had been served in Trabuco Canyon and Long Beach in connection with the inquiry.
The victim operated the business Magyar Kozemetika, which offered lash extensions and facials. One client described herself as a 20-year patron in a Facebook post.
Property records show the building has been owned by Jack R. Barnes of Mission Viejo since 1990.
