Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced May 10 that 44-year-old David Bonola has been indicted by a grand jury and arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on murder and other charges for the killing of 51-year-old Orsolya Gaal. Gaal’s body was discovered in a hockey sports bag on Metropolitan Avenue near Union Turnpike on April 16.
Bonola and Gaal had allegedly been having an on-and-off romantic affair for two years while he worked as a handyman for her family before Gaal attempted to end it, according to authorities.
“This heinous murder left two teenagers without a mother and terrified an entire community,” Katz said. “This defendant brutally stabbed the victim over 50 times before stuffing her body into a duffel bag — which he then dragged for several blocks in an attempt to dispose of the victim’s remains.”
Bonola was arraigned on a 13-count indictment before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise charging him with two counts of murder in the second degree, two counts of burglary in the first degree, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. If convicted, Bonola faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
The duffle bag with Gaal’s body was later discovered near Forest Park at Metropolitan Avenue and Union Turnpike around 8 a.m. that day. Police followed a trail of blood from the bag to the crime scene — the Juno Street home of Gaal.
During the investigation, police recovered a knife — the alleged murder weapon — which was hidden in the victim’s home, as well as the defendant’s jacket inside Forest Park. Days later, Bonola offered to speak to police and during questioning allegedly made incriminating statements. He revealed that sometime on April 16, he went to a New York City hospital for a cut on his hand. He also stated in sum and substance that he and the victim argued and he allegedly confessed to stabbing her and moving her body.
Justice Aloise ordered Bonola to return to court on July 7.
