A handyman suspected of having an affair with a married Queens mother and stabbing her to death in her home will not testify before a grand jury investigating the accusations against him, his lawyer said Tuesday.
David Bonola, 44, of South Richmond Hill, was arrested on charges of murder, criminal tampering, and possession of a weapon in the death of Orsolya Gaal, 51, whose body was yanked from her Forest Hills home in her son’s hockey bag and left on the side of a road. Gaal’s body was dragged from her Forest Hills home in her son’s hockey bag and left on the side of a road.
Gaal, a mother of two, was discovered in the bag at the intersection of Metropolitan Avenue and Jackie Robinson Parkway in Forest Hills just after 8 a.m. Saturday, according to the NYPD.
Bonola had been a handyman at Gaal’s house for two years, according to authorities. The victim and the suspect had been in “an intimate connection” on and off for most of that period, according to cops.
Gaal, according to officials, had gone to see a play at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center on Friday night before taking the train back to Forest Hills. According to investigators, Gaal stopped at a neighborhood tavern at about 11:20 p.m. before returning home an hour later.
Bonola arrived at the house at about 12:30 a.m. According to Chief of Detectives James Essig, he was either “allowed involuntarily” or used a key he knew about stashed in a barbeque.
According to a law enforcement source, Bonola subsequently claimed to police, “We went down to the basement to discuss, and it got into an argument. Authorities said that as the couple was arguing about their relationship in the basement, Bonola got a knife from the house. Gaal was stabbed over 60 times in the neck, body, arm, and hand.
Her spouse and their older kid were in Oregon on a recruiting trip. Her 13-year-old son was sleeping upstairs in the house. The bag was wheeled down the street, leaving a blood trail, as seen on the doorbell camera video. Security camera footage shows Bonola arriving at his house at 6:05 a.m. Saturday, two hours before the victim’s mangled corpse was discovered by a dog walker on Metropolitan Avenue, which passes through highly forested Forest Park.
Following his detention, federal immigration officials found that Bonola, a Mexican native, has been residing illegally in the city for the last two decades and faced deportation if acquitted of the murder.
Following his arrest, Bonella allegedly confessed to the murder.
