A note on Orsolya Gaal’s refrigerator led investigators to the man accused of killing her, a handyman with whom she was allegedly having an affair.
The note said “GET A NEW HANDMAN” and was found by detectives who were investigating Gaal’s murder last weekend, a senior New York Police Department supervisor told The Daily Beast. The previous handyman was 44-year-old David Bonola, who was arrested for the killing. Police told the Beast that Bonola confessed to stabbing Gaal nearly 60 times before putting her body in a duffle bag and dragging it down the street to a park.
Bonola reportedly came to police attention early in the investigation, though it is unclear exactly why. Bonola’s home was placed under surveillance and his garbage was intercepted by police, finding a bloody pair of work boots and other blood-stained items. An earlier search of Forest Park, near where the body was found, revealed bloody rags police believe the killer used to bandage his hands and an orange bloody jacket stuffed into a hollow tree.
A senior NYPD supervisor told the Beast that Bonola told detectives he had seen them around and asked if they were looking for him. The detective said they would eventually want to talk to them and Bonola said he was busy with work, so they asked to speak with him at that time. Bonola reportedly went to the police station and was questioned, but allegedly tried to implicate others in the crime. Police asked him about his left hand, which appeared injured, and he said he had hurt it recently at work, before the murder. Police then showed him a picture of his injured hand that said it occurred the day after the murder.
Bonola then told police that he had an on-again, off-again relationship with Gaal, a 51-year-old mother of two, for two years, but claimed he had seen she was texting with another man and went over to her home the night of the murder to confront her about it. He reportedly told police that they argued and moved into the basement so they wouldn’t wake Gaal’s 13-year-old son. The NYPD source told the Beast that Bonola said he grabbed a knife and stabbed Gaal before placing her in one of her son’s hockey bags and dragging her to the park.
Bonola was arrested and charged with the murder, The Daily Wire reported on Friday. NYPD sources told the New York Post that Bonola had been in the U.S. illegally for the past 21 years.
“[L]aw-enforcement sources revealed Friday that he was living in New York in violation of immigration law when busted Wednesday for Gaal’s horrific slaying,” the Post reported.
The Daily Wire previously reported that Gaal’s husband, Howard Klein, and their 17-year-old son were reportedly in Portland, Oregon, touring colleges at the time she was murdered. A source told PIX11 that Klein allegedly received a threatening text message after his wife was murdered that said, “Your whole family is next.”