NEW YORK — The longtime lover of a married Queens mother confessed to her killing, with a heated late-night argument in her basement ending with a brutal homicide in which was stabbed dozens of times, police said Thursday.
Handyman David Bonola, 44, was charged with murder, criminal tampering and criminal possession of a weapon in the attack on 51-year-old Orsolya Gaal about seven hours before her body was discovered last Saturday — stuffed inside a duffel bag, dragged from her house and dumped at a nearby park.
“A violent struggle ensues, resulting in the victim being stabbed ruthlessly and brutally in excess of 55 times,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig at a news conference. “(Bonola) came back to the (112th Precinct) and made incriminating statements.”
Bonola placed the corpse into a hockey equipment bag belonging to Gaal’s son as the teen slept upstairs, he said. A blood trail was left as he then toted the corpse through the darkness, police said.
The murder weapon was apparently a knife belonging to the victim’s family grabbed by the suspect once he entered the home. Bonola, as he was led by police out of the precinct, lashed out at a bystander who called him a “piece of s---.”
“F--- you, motherf---er,” responded Bonola.
The suspect and his victim shared an on-and-off relationship over two years before their final and fatal encounter, with Bonola repeatedly stabbing Gaal after he snapped during their final conversation, police said. The couple were still seeing each other as recently as earlier this month, said Essig, but the victim was not expecting the accused killer when he appeared at her home after midnight Saturday.
Bonola was arrested Wednesday night when police, after visiting his home around 10:45 p.m., spotted him on the street with bandages wrapped around his hand, according to a source.
Essig said the suspect’s jacket was recovered in Forest Park, not far from where Gaal’s body was found, with Bonola’s boots, T-shirt and bloody bandages found at another location. Gaal had earlier stopped for a nightcap at the Forest Hills Station House restaurant, ordering her usual drink, a Moscow mule, before heading home, according to CBS New York.
Bonola is separated from his wife and was, like his victim, a parent to two children, said Essig. Sources said Bonola had a pair of previous arrests, both sealed.
The suspect acknowledged his romance with the married mother of two teenage boys and admitted after his surrender to arguing with the victim before killing her, sources said.
Investigators quickly became focused on Bonola, who met Gaal while working as a handyman at the family’s Tudor home and knew an extra house key was kept hidden in an outdoor barbecue grill. But officials said it was unclear if the victim let him in or if he used the key to come inside around 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
The suspect also acknowledged texting the victim’s husband to warn the family was in danger and referring to a made-up past burglary, apparently as a ruse to steer investigators away from the handyman, a source said.
In past public Facebook posts, Bonola offered compliments in Spanish about Gaal.
“The most beautiful woman,” read one message from two years ago, while a more recent post from Mother’s Day 2021 commented on her “eyes in love.”
The earlier message featured am emoji of Guatemala’s flag only months after Gaal’s post declaring she loves “everything Guatemalan” and about a year after photos indicated she made her own trip to the nation in Central America.
Gaal apparently put up a fight when confronted after she arrived at her Forest Hills home from a night out with friends in Manhattan, with investigators finding defensive wounds on her hands among the dozens of injuries inflicted on her, officials said.
Gaal’s 13-year-old son was sleeping upstairs at the time of the deadly dispute, while her husband, Howard Klein, and the couple’s 17-year-old son were across the country visiting colleges in Oregon.
Gaal returned home around midnight Friday after seeing a show near Lincoln Center with friends and then stopping by a local bar alone. Her corpse was discovered by a dog walker about eight hours later this past Saturday morning.
Police recovered doorbell video showing the killer lugging Gaal’s body from her home. Police said there were no signs of forced entry.
According to police, the killer entered through a back door of Gaal's home and attacked her on the first floor, with the victim suffering dozens of wounds as she fought for her life.
Stunned neighbors told the New York Daily News there was no indication of any problems with Gaal, describing her as a devoted mom with a perpetual smile on her face.
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