Orsolya Gaal let accused killer into her home before repeatedly asking him leave: prosecutors
Queens mom Orsolya Gaal willingly let her ex-handyman lover into her home early Saturday morning before he allegedly knifed her to death following a heated dispute where he ignored multiple requests to leave, prosecutors alleged at the suspect’s arraignment Thursday night.
It was also revealed late Thursday that accused killer David Bonola, 44, allegedly slashed Gaal’s throat in an unthinkable outburst that left the married mother-of-two with nearly 60 stab wounds, according to a press release from the Queens District Attorney.
“The defendant and victim were known to each other. The defendant went to the victim’s residence between 12 a.m. and 4 a.m. … to engage her in a verbal dispute,” Assistant District Attorney Josh Garland told the court at Bonola’s arraignment.
“Because she knew him, she let him into the house. He then engaged her in a verbal dispute and unfortunately she had to ask him to leave multiple times.”
But Bonola “refused to leave and the incident [escalated] with the unfortunate stabbing of the victim over 50 times,” Garland said, before detailing how Bonola allegedly then dragged her body to the park in her son’s hockey bag.
Bonola was charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence.
He was remanded without bail at the court hearing.
The alleged killer wore his hair in a tight ponytail along with black jeans, a blue button down shirt and black sneakers with no laces. He had a Spanish interpreter and did not utter a word during the court proceeding.
Judge Anthony Battisiti ordered Bonola held behind bars citing his confessions and “destruction of evidence.” He was given medical attention and put on suicide watch.
“The accused lays out in detail what happened, how it happened and what he did following the events given rise to this case,” Battisiti said.
Bonola allegedly twice confessed Thursday to killing Gaal and stashing her body in Forest Park after a dispute about their on-and-off again relationship became contentious, police and prosecutors said.
Bonola first gave a “matter-of-fact” confession to cops – then gave a second one on video for prosecutors, police sources told The Post Thursday.
The 44-year-old handyman readily spoke to detectives at the 112th Precinct after he was picked up Wednesday evening, the sources said.
“[The confession was] matter of fact, very thorough, he answered every question they had,” a police source said, adding that the curly-haired suspect didn’t request a lawyer.
Once Bonola was done allegedly spilling his guts to cops, he scarfed down a bagel with cream cheese as his statements were being processed, the sources said.
Investigators had earlier recovered a bloody jacket belonging to Bonola and blood-stained tissues at the park, prosecutors said. Blood-soaked boots, a T-shirt and bandages were also found at the murder scene, police have said.
Gaal also appeared to have tipped off investigators to her accused killer – by posting a note on her refrigerator that read “GET A NEW HANDYMAN” before she was brutally stabbed to death, law enforcement sources said.
The handwritten memo was found by detectives last weekend at Gaal’s Forest Hills home, early on in their investigation into the shocking slaying of Gaal.
The note, first reported by The Daily Beast, was an apparent reference to Bonola — Gaal’s family’s heating and air conditioning repairman.
Police later obtained surveillance video that shows Bonola returning home the morning of the murder with what appears to be crude bandages on one hand.
He was seen walking down 114th Street near his Richmond Hill apartment around 6:05 a.m. Saturday morning — just hours after cops say he slaughtered Gaal.
In the clips obtained by The Post, Bonola has what appears to be a white bandage wrapped around his left hand. He is seen making his way down the street in pants, a shirt and no jacket, and wearing a black mask halfway down his face.
Bonola’s public defender, David Strachan, said Thursday night that his client would apply for bail at a later date.
Bonola was scheduled to return to court on April 26. He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
The Post has now learned that Gaal’s handyman paramour used to leave “creepy” love notes for baristas at his local Starbucks.
Here are the latest developments in the Orsolya Gaal case:
- Gaal welcomed her ex-lover handyman into her home early Saturday morning
- David Bonola slashed Gaal’s throat in addition to stabbing her 60 times
- A note on the fridge that read “get a handyman” helped lead cops to Bonola
- Bonola did not have a premeditated plan, according to sources familiar with his confession
- Everything we know about alleged killer David Bonola
The handyman paramour charged Thursday in the brutal stabbing death of Queens mom Orsolya Gaal is a married dad of two — who used to leave “creepy” love notes for baristas at his local Starbucks.
Bonola was a regular at the Austin Street coffee shop in Forest Hills and left female staffers so startled by his advances, they called the cops on him numerous times, a former worker claimed.
“He would come up to us and ask for coffees and tell us that we looked pretty and make comments about how we look,” former barista Oliwia Pikulinski, 21, told The Post by phone Thursday.
“He was creepy, he stalked people… It was known. Everyone knew he was a weird individual, especially in the Starbucks on Austin Street,” said Pikulinski, who worked at the location for three years before quitting five months ago.
Bonola — whose estranged wife and children also live in Queens, according to police sources — would also “drop in the tip jar love notes and songs that he would make about us,” said Pikulinski.
“He even went as far as proposing to two of us, which is super unsettling because of how weird the interactions were,” she said.
He was at the coffee shop multiple times a week and always ordered the same items – a dark roast pour over and a lemon loaf or banana nut loaf, the former worker noted.
In between his cups of Joe, the 44-year-old would frequently proposition female workers, handing them a note and a piece of jewelry as he asked them to be with him, according to Pikulinski.
Bonola came to the US from Mexico about 21 years ago and appears to have been an aspiring filmmaker who studied at the New York School of Interior Design, according to police and his Facebook profile.
In the spring of 2020, he commented several times on photos posted to Gaal’s Facebook page, calling her the “most beautiful woman” and “loving” numerous of her posts.
