A Deer Park woman was sentenced to 18 years in prison after prosecutors said she threw an explosive device into her boyfriend’s bedroom while he slept, causing him to lose his hand.
Keyonna Waddell, 35, was sentenced May 27 after being convicted at trial of first-degree assault and first-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both Class B violent felonies, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said.
Prosecutors said the attack happened March 22, 2024, after Waddell and the victim argued inside his apartment. The victim left and told Waddell to leave as well.
When he returned home, Waddell did not appear to be there, and he went to bed. Prosecutors said he later woke up to a hissing sound from what appeared to be a stick of dynamite.
After trying unsuccessfully to put it out, the victim picked up the device to throw it out a window. It detonated in his hand, prosecutors said.
The victim ran to the end of the driveway and saw Waddell fleeing on foot, according to prosecutors. He was taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where doctors amputated the rest of his hand and part of his arm.
Waddell was arrested March 23, 2024. Prosecutors said the investigation found she had threatened the victim with dynamite several times in the months before the attack.
A jury convicted Waddell on April 24, 2026, after a trial before Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz.
She was sentenced to 18 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision.
Photo: SCPD
