Manually moving the gantry on a belt CNC (e.g. Shapeoko) will cause tinyG lights to blink, etc, due to back drive, but no one has reported a death such as this.
But, it would not surprise me that constant drive such as you had, for a period of time, could likely have exceeded the tinyG input voltage .
I suggest you read the 8818 product data sheet.
It is a heat slug pachage, soldered to the PCB.
You are going to need a lot of heat and 3 or four hands (or good fixturing)
Good luck