Orsolya Gaal news: David Bonola appears in court as police say he slashed lover’s throat
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The handyman accused of murdering Queens’ mother-of-two Orsolya Gaal before stuffing her body in her son’s hockey duffle bag and dumping it in a nearby park appeared in court on Thursday night charged with her murder.
David Bonola, 44, was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on charges of murder in the second degree, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
A judge ordered him to be held without bond after police said he confessed to killing the 51-year-old, who he had been in an on-off relationship with for the last two years.
Prosecutors said Ms Gaal let Mr Bonola into her home in Forest Hills in the early hours of Saturday morning before they got into an argument in the basement and she asked him to leave.
The suspect then allegedly slashed Ms Gaal’s throat and stabbed her over 50 times with a kitchen knife before moving her body to Forest Park, where a passer-by discovered it later that morning.
Police said Mr Bonola handed himself in on Wednesday and spilled the details of her murder.
Surveillance footage captured suspect returning home with bandaged hand after killing
Surveillance footage captured murder suspect David Bonola walking back to his apartment with his left hand wrapped in a bandage not long after he allegedly killed married mother-of-two Orsolya Gaal.
The video shows the 44-year-old strolling down 114th Street in the direction of his home in the Richmond Hill neighbourhood of Queens just after 6am on Saturday morning.
He has what appears to be a white bandage wrapped around his left hand.
Police said on Thursday that Mr Bonola, who has confessed to the killing, went to a CityMD urgent care centre later on Saturday with cuts to his left hand.
He was referred from there to a hospital for treatment because of the severity of the wounds.
Separate surveillance footage had also captured a man believed to be Mr Bonola at around 4.30am dragging the duffle bag containing Ms Gaal’s body along the street from her home in Forest Hills to the park where it was dumped.
Killer moved victim’s body so family wouldn’t find it
Police believe accused killer David Bonola moved Orsolya Gaal’s body from her home and dumped it in a nearby park because he didn’t want her family to find her.
Ms Gaal was killed in the basement of her home in the early hours of Saturday morning.
After slashing her throat and stabbing her more than 50 times, her suspected killer allegedly stuffed her body inside her a duffle bag belonging to her son and dragged it through the neighbourhood to a nearby park.
The bag containing her remains was discovered by a dog walker hours later.
When asked about the suspect’s decision to move the body in a press conference on Thursday afternoon, officials said that “we believe he moved the body out so that it woudnt be found by her family”.
Murdered mother’s last known movements
Murdered mother-of-two Orsolya Gaal went to see her favourite composer before going for a drink at her local gastropub on the night she was killed.
On the evening of Friday 15 April, Ms Gaal was spotted by neighbour John Blankson in the backyard of her Tudor-style Forest Hills home with her dog Teddy.
She then went to a show at the Lincoln Center that night with friends.
Police said she then took the train back to Forest Hills and, on her way home, she stopped in at the Forest Hills Station House at 11.20pm
There, she dined alone, enjoying a bite to eat and Moscow mule while chatting casually to staff.
Bar manager Gabriel Veras told NBC New York that nothing seemed out of the ordinary and Ms Gaal was in a happy mood, saying she had just seen one of her favourite composers.
He said she was a regular at the bar and was always friendly to staff.
Police said she left soon after arriving home at around 12.20am Saturday morning.
Suspect David Bonold then arrived at her home between 12.30am and 12.40am, said police.
They then got into an argument and Mr Bonola allegedly murdered Ms Gaal.
Victim and suspect had ‘reunited’ earlier in month
Investigators have said that Orsolya Gaal and her alleged killer David Bonola “reunited” earlier in the month before calling their affair off before her death.
Ms Gaal and Mr Bonola had been having an affair on and off for the last two years.
Officials said on Thursday that they had broken up but had “reunited in the month of April”.
The relationship was “considered at an end” at the time of Ms Gaal’s murder, police said.
It is not clear who ended the relationship.
ICYMI: Suspect ordered to be held without bond at first court appearance
David Bonola, 44, appeared in court for the first time on Thursday night on charges of murdering his on-off lover Orsolya Gaal.
Mr Bonola was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on charges of murder in the second degree, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
The court heard new details of Ms Gaal’s final moments, detailing how she willingly let her alleged killer into her home in Forest Hills before he slashed her throat with a kitchen knife and stabbed her more than 50 times.
Queens Criminal Court Judge Judge Anthony Battisiti ordered that Mr Bonola will be held without bond following his confessions to the grisly crime.
“The accused lays out in detail what happened, how it happened and what he did following the events given rise to this case,” the judge told the courtroom.
Mr Bonola is next scheduled to appear in court on 26 April.
If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Orsolya Gaal’s handyman lover appears in court charged with murder
David Bonola, 44, was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on charges of murder in the second degree, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree
Victim’s chilling note helped lead police to alleged killer
A chilling note written by Orsolya Gaal before she was brutally stabbed to death and her body dragged to a park helped lead investigators to her accused killer, it has been revealed.
The handwritten note, reading “GET A NEW HANDYMAN”, was found posted on the fridge inside the victim’s Forest Hills home early on in the investigation, a law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.
The memo was reportedly written by Ms Gaal sometime prior to her murder in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Investigators believe the note was a reference to David Bonola, the 44-year-old handyman and on-off lover of Ms Gaal who has now been arrested and charged with her murder.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Orsolya Gaal’s chilling fridge note pointed police to alleged killer
Investigators believe the note was a reference to David Bonola – Orsolya Gaal’s handyman and on-off lover who is now charged with her murder
David Bonola will appear in court on Tuesday
David Bonola is scheduled to next appear in court on Tuesday 26 April on charges over the killing of Orsolya Gaal.
Mr Bonola was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on Thursday night on charges of murder in the second degree, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
He did not enter a plea.
The judge ordered him to be held without bail after he confessed to carrying out the brutal crime.
If convicted, Mr Bonola faces 25 years to life in prison.
Jealous handyman says he killed lover after finding text messages to another man
The jealous handyman accused of murdering his on-off lover Orsolya Gaal has said he killed her after discovering she had been texting another man, according to a police source.
An unnamed senior NYPD supervisor told The Daily Beast that David Bonola said he had been having an affair with the married mother-of-two on and off for the past two years.
Mr Bonola, 44, claimed he had seen text messages between Ms Gaal, and another man and so he went to her home in Forest Hills in the early hours of Saturday morning to confront her when she returned home from an event.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Handyman lover allegedly killed Orsolya Gaal after finding texts
David Bonola was Orsolya Gaal’s handyman and on-off lover for the last two years, police said
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