NEW YORK — A handyman accused of having an affair with a married Queens mom and stabbing her to death in her home will not testify before the grand jury considering charges against him, his lawyer said Tuesday.
David Bonola is charged with murder in the grisly stabbing death of Orsolya Gaal, 51, whose body was dragged from her Forest Hills home in her son’s hockey bag and left on the side of a road.
Bonola, 44, of South Richmond Hill, was arrested on charges of murder, criminal tampering and possession of a weapon in Gaal’s death after surrendering to authorities after a four-day hunt for a suspect.
Gaal, a mother of two, was found in the bag on the corner of Metropolitan Avenue and Jackie Robinson Parkway in Forest Hills shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday, the NYPD said.
Bonola had worked at Gaal’s home for two years as a handyman, police said.
Cops said the victim and the suspect had been in “an intimate relationship” on and off for much of that time.
According to authorities, Gaal had attended a show Friday night at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center, then took the train back to Forest Hills. Gaal stopped at a local bar about 11:20 p.m. before returning home an hour later, cops said.
Bonola arrived at the residence shortly after 12:30 a.m. He was either “let in voluntarily” or used a key he had knowledge about hidden in a barbecue, Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
“We went down to the basement to talk, and it turned into an argument,” Bonola explained later to detectives, according to a law enforcement source.
As the pair argued in the basement about their relationship Bonola grabbed a knife from the home, authorities say. Gaal suffered nearly 60 stab wounds to her neck, torso, arm and hand.
Her husband and their older son were in Oregon on a tour of potential colleges. Her younger son, 13, was asleep upstairs in the house.
Doorbell camera video captured the bag being wheeled along the street, where it left a trail of blood.
Surveillance video shows Bonola arriving at his home at 6:05 a.m. Saturday, two hours before the victim’s mutilated body was discovered by a dog walker on Metropolitan Avenue where it runs through densely wooded Forest Park.
Federal immigration officials also revealed after his arrest that Bonola, a native of Mexico, was living illegally in the city for the past two decades and faces deportation if cleared of the killing.
Bonella allegedly confessed to the killing after his arrest.
———
