Hilton Head woman jailed after breaking into ex-boyfriend’s home ‘to blow up the house’
A Hilton Head Island woman faces a pair of felonies after allegedly breaking into her ex-boyfriend’s home and admitting to police her half-baked plans to blow up the house, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Krystal Ciera Heyward, 29, was charged early Saturday morning with first-degree burglary and possession of an explosive device.
Deputies responded just after midnight on Sept. 21 to a residence on Bryant Lane, located in the Spanish Wells community in central Hilton Head. The homeowner told police her son’s ex-girlfriend had removed an air conditioning unit in a window off the patio to make her way into the house. Her son saw his ex-partner breaking in and alerted his mother, according to an incident report.
While being questioned by police, Heyward reportedly admitted to the break-in and removed two containers from her backpack, which she conceded were devices meant to “blow up the house.” That’s when officers handcuffed the woman, the report says.
In all, Heyward was in possession of a bleach bottle “that appeared to be highly pressurized,” a “sauce jar” and attached canister wrapped in a wet cloth that smelled of accelerant and other chemicals, several lighters and a knife, according to the police report.
The ex-boyfriend’s mother told deputies her son and Heyward broke up “a few weeks ago” and that she wasn’t sure what drove the woman to do this. Heyward had never lived at the house, she said.
Police called Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue to the scene, whose crews used a Blackline G7 gas detector to take air samples of Heyward’s homemade canisters. Authorities detected nothing in the devices that could have caused an explosion, according to sheriff’s office spokesperson Sgt. Danny Allen.
Although the containers’ contents were no more dangerous than bleach, police still charged Heyward with possession of an destructive device because she admitted her intention to use the items as explosives, Allen said. The felony is punishable by a prison sentence between two and 15 years. First-degree burglary — defined under South Carolina law as breaking into a home “with intent to commit a crime” — can result in a life sentence or a minimum of 15 years upon conviction.
As of Monday afternoon, Heyward remained in custody at the Beaufort County jail. Court records did not indicate a potential bond hearing or a public defender assigned to her case.
