Keyonna Waddell faces up to 25 years in prison after prosecutors said the blast cost her boyfriend his hand.

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — A Suffolk County jury convicted a Deer Park woman after prosecutors said she threw an explosive device into her boyfriend’s bedroom while he slept, causing a blast that severed his hand.

A verdict returned April 24 moved the case against Keyonna Waddell, 35, from trial to sentencing. Jurors found her guilty of assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree. The charges came from a March 22, 2024, attack inside the victim’s apartment. Prosecutors said the case showed how an argument became an explosive assault that left the man permanently maimed. Waddell faces up to 25 years in prison when she returns to court May 27.

Prosecutors described the day as beginning with a dispute between Waddell and her boyfriend at his apartment. The man, whose name was not released by the district attorney’s office, told Waddell to leave after the argument. Both people left the home. The victim later returned and did not see Waddell there, prosecutors said. He went to sleep believing the apartment was safe. Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said the man was later “awoken by a hissing sound” and saw a flame on the floor of his bedroom. When he got out of bed, the man realized an object resembling a stick of dynamite had been thrown into the room.

Instead of running at first, the victim tried to stop the danger inside the bedroom, prosecutors said. He attempted to extinguish the burning device, but the fuse kept going. With little time left, he picked up the object and tried to throw it out of the room. It exploded while still in his hand. Tierney said the victim felt searing pain and realized his hand was gone. The man ran outside to the driveway after the blast. Prosecutors said he saw Waddell running away on foot, a detail that later became part of the case against her. The blast caused injuries so severe that surgeons at a hospital removed the rest of his mangled hand and part of his arm.

Investigators arrested Waddell the next day, beginning a criminal case that lasted more than two years before jurors reached a verdict. The district attorney’s office said investigators later learned that Waddell had threatened the victim with dynamite several times in the months before the explosion. That alleged history gave prosecutors a timeline that extended beyond the single night of the blast. Authorities did not publicly release the victim’s full account, the apartment address or a detailed forensic report. They also did not say in their public statement how Waddell allegedly obtained the explosive device. What they did release was a sequence of events: argument, departure, return, sleeping victim, burning device, explosion, amputation and flight.

The first-degree assault conviction centered on the injury to the victim, which prosecutors described as permanent and life-changing. The first-degree weapon conviction centered on the explosive device. New York courts treat both counts as serious violent felony matters, and prosecutors said the sentence could reach 25 years in prison. The verdict did not make Waddell’s punishment automatic. A judge must still decide the final sentence after hearing the positions of the parties. The court may consider the severity of the injury, the use of an explosive, the alleged prior threats and the jury’s finding that Waddell committed the charged crimes.

Tierney framed the case as a domestic violence prosecution after the verdict. “Domestic violence can escalate to deadly levels, and this case is a sobering reminder of that reality,” he said. The statement credited the trial prosecutors and the Suffolk County Police Department for the investigation and conviction. The district attorney also said Waddell had been held accountable and would face a lengthy prison sentence. His office did not release a statement from the victim, and the public case summary did not say whether the man addressed the court after the verdict. It also did not include a statement from Waddell or her defense lawyer.

Suffolk County prosecutors have brought several serious domestic violence cases involving unusual weapons or extreme injuries, but this case stood out because the weapon was described as an explosive thrown into a bedroom while the victim slept. Deer Park, where Waddell lived, is a hamlet in western Suffolk County on Long Island. The case was handled through the county’s criminal courts in Riverhead. The explosion itself happened at the victim’s apartment, though prosecutors did not publish the address. Public accounts do not say whether the blast damaged other parts of the home, whether neighbors were placed in danger or whether any other person was inside when the device detonated.

The victim’s medical outcome remained central even after the trial ended. Prosecutors said he was taken for treatment and that doctors removed what remained of his hand and part of his arm. They did not provide a recovery update or say whether he has returned to the apartment. The amputation, however, formed the clearest measure of harm in the case. The attack left a domestic dispute documented not only by witness statements and court filings, but also by a permanent physical loss. That injury gave the prosecution a concrete basis to argue the assault was among the most serious charged under state law.

Waddell’s next scheduled appearance is the sentencing hearing on May 27. The guilty verdict has resolved the trial question, but the case remains open until the judge imposes sentence. Prosecutors have said the maximum prison exposure is 25 years. As of Tuesday, the public record showed conviction, a pending sentence and a victim whose injury remains the defining fact of the case.

Author note: Last updated May 19, 2026.