Orsolya Gaal

Case background and investigation

Orsolya Gaal was a 51-year-old mother of two who lived in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, New York, with her husband and sons. According to the Queens District Attorney's Office, she returned to her home at about 12:30 a.m. on April 16, 2022. Shortly afterwards David Bonola, a handyman who had done work at the house, entered the residence. Prosecutors said the two argued and that the argument turned violent in the basement, where Bonola cut her throat and stabbed her more than 50 times with a knife.

Security video recorded a man wheeling a duffel bag along the sidewalk at about 4:15 a.m., the District Attorney's Office said. At about 8 a.m. the bag, a hockey bag that NBC New York reported belonged to one of Gaal's sons, was found on Metropolitan Avenue near Union Turnpike, close to Forest Park, with her body inside. A trail of blood led investigators from the bag back to her home. Prosecutors said a knife was later recovered hidden in the house and that a jacket belonging to the defendant was found in Forest Park.

WABC-TV reported that Gaal's younger son was upstairs in the house during the attack and was unaware of it, and that her husband, who was away, received a threatening text message sent from her phone after the killing. Police announced Bonola's arrest on April 21, 2022. NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at the time that she had been stabbed in excess of 55 times, and Lt. Timothy Thompson of Queens North Homicide said investigators believed Bonola and Gaal had been in an intimate relationship. Police described it as an on-and-off affair lasting about two years. According to WABC-TV, Bonola had approached officers voluntarily the night before his arrest and made incriminating statements.

Bonola, then 44 and a resident of South Richmond Hill, Queens, was initially charged with second-degree murder, criminal tampering and criminal possession of a weapon. On May 10, 2022 he was arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise on a 13-count indictment that, according to the District Attorney's Office, included second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with physical evidence and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He faced a possible sentence of 25 years to life if convicted at trial.

The case did not go to trial. On November 2, 2022 Bonola pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. On November 16, 2022 Justice Aloise sentenced him to 25 years in prison, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision. In announcing the sentence, the District Attorney's Office noted that the killing had left two boys without their mother.