NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A handyman who’d been having an affair with Queens mom Orsolya Gaal for two years got into a fight with her in the basement of her family's Forest Hills home, stabbing her nearly 60 times, stuffing her body in a duffel bag and then dumping the bag near a park, police said Thursday following his arrest.
David Bonola, 44, was charged with murder in the second degree, criminal tampering in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and is being held at the 112th Precinct stationhouse, police said.
At a press conference Thursday, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said detectives canvassing for video on Wednesday night saw Bonola—who was wanted for questioning in the case—walking with bandaged hands near his home in south Queens. He voluntarily went back with them to the police station, where he made “incriminating statements,” Essig said.
“We have enough to arrest him and charge him with murder,” the chief said.
Hours before she was murdered, Gaal, 51, attended a show at Lincoln Center Friday evening and then took the subway back to Forest Hills, Essig said. At 11:20 p.m., she stopped at a local establishment “for a short while” before returning to her family’s Tudor-style house on Juno Street at 12:20 a.m.
Minutes later, between 12:30 a.m. and 12:40 a.m., Bonola arrived at the home, Essig said. He was either voluntarily let in by Gaal or used a key hidden in a barbecue to get inside.
Bonola was employed as a handyman at the home on and off for two years, and he and Gaal had been having an “intimate affair” during that time, according to Essig. Bonola confronted Gaal about their relationship and a heated argument erupted between the two in the basement. During the fight, Bonola allegedly brandished a kitchen knife believed to have come from the home.
“A violent struggle ensues, resulting in our victim being stabbed ruthlessly and brutally in excess of 55 times, causing her demise,” Essig said.
Stab wounds to Gaal’s hands indicate she was trying to fight off her killer. She also had stab wounds to her neck, torso and left arm. The medical examiner determined her cause of death was “sharp force injuries of the neck.”
After allegedly stabbing Gaal, police believe Bonola got a hockey duffel bag belonging to her son and placed her inside of it.
Essig said video shows him “rolling the body down the sidewalks, leaving a bloody trail through the streets of Forest Hills.”
The abandoned duffel bag containing Gaal's body was discovered by a dog walker just before 8 a.m. Saturday near Metropolitan Avenue and the Jackie Robinson Parkway.
Police believe Bonola fled through nearby Forest Park after disposing of the body.
Investigators discovered a jacket believed to be Bonola's in the park. Additional leads led detectives to a location where boots, a t-shirt and bloody bandages were discovered.
An investigation also revealed that Bonola received treatment for wounds to both hands at an area hospital later on Saturday, Essig said.
Essig cautioned that the information is preliminary and that police are still awaiting forensic evidence and canvassing for more video “as we speak.” Nevertheless, he said that with the help of the public and the Queens D.A. police were able to “quickly take this killer off the street.”
Essig said there are no outstanding suspects at this time.
As for a potential motive, NYPD detective Julie Morrill said Bonola and Gaal “had broken up prior but reunited early in the month of April, and their relationship was considered at an end.”
Lt. Timothy Thompson, of the NYPD's Queens North homicide squad, said it appeared that Friday night's argument stemmed from a “domestic-type dispute they were having over their intimate relationship.”
“They started to get into just regular domestic issues that seemed to occur between them,” Thompson said.
Despite previous reports, there's no indication that Bonola—who came to the U.S. 21 years ago from Mexico and has no known prior arrests—ever lived at Gaal's home during the time he was a handyman, police said.
Police confirmed earlier reports that a threatening message was sent from Gaal’s cellphone to her husband saying a “person from a crime in the past was back again” and that the family was in danger.
Police believe Bonola sent the threatening message and that there was no crime in the past connected to the killing of Gaal. They don’t believe the rest of the family was ever in any danger.
Gaal's 13-year-old son was on the upper floor of the home at the time of the killing, while her husband and 17-year-old son were on the West Coast on a college search. Police said the younger son was not aware of what was going on and that the duffel bag was not taken from his room.
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