Handyman arrested in murder of NYC mom stabbed more than 55 times, stuffed in duffel bag
David Bonola arrested after approaching NYPD officers: 'I hear you are looking for me'
NEW YORK -- A man is under arrest in the gruesome murder of a mother whose body was found in a duffel bag in Queens
David Bonola, 44, arrived at the 112th NYPD precinct where he was interviewed in connection with the death of 51-year-old Orsolya Gaal and then taken into custody.
He's now facing charges of murder, criminal tampering, and possession of a weapon.
Detectives made the decision to pick him up and were in his neighborhood at around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday when he walked up to the officers and said, "I hear you are looking for me."
He then apparently proceeded to make a full confession.
Bonola had known Gaal from doing work on her house and knew where to find the key, allegedly enabling him to stab her to death while her 13-year-old son was upstairs, unaware of what was happening to his mother.
On Thursday morning, police held a press conference revealing that Bonola had been having an intimate affair with Gaal for approximately two years.
"We believe that the relationship that Mr. Bonola had with our victim was an intimate type relationship. And this is stemmed to be a domestic type of dispute that they were having over their intimate relationship. They started to get into just regular domestic issues that seem to occur between them," said Lieutenant Timothy Thompson of Queens North Homicide, NYPD.
Gaal was at a bar Friday night, the night of her murder, around 11:45 to 12:30 a.m.
About ten minutes later police said Bonola showed up to speak to her about their relationship, police said. He was either let in or used a key hidden inside a barbecue. They had a heated argument in the basement of the home.
A knife was brandished and NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig says Gaal was stabbed "ruthlessly and brutally in excess of 55 times."
Gaal was dragged through the neighborhood in a large duffel bag, leaving what Essig described as" a bloody trail through the streets of Forest Hills." The bag containing her body was abandoned alongside the Jackie Robinson Parkway.
A surveillance image is said to be crucial to the case. It shows a man, believed to be the Bonola, dragging the bag just before daybreak.
After disposing of the body, police say Bonola fled through the park, where investigators discovered his jacket. They also found bloody bandages during the investigation and learned Bonola had received treatment for wounds to both hands at a local hospital, Essig said.
Gaal's husband was out of town with their elder son and their younger son was in an upstairs bedroom at the time of the murder.
Police believe Bonola sent a text message to Gaal's husband from her phone after the murder that referenced a previous crime and indicated the rest of the family was in danger.
Police said there was no past crime and no danger to Gaal's husband and two children.
Police say Bonola arrived in the United States 21 years ago from Mexico.
