David Bonola allegedly thought Orsolya Gaal gave him HIV, records show
The handyman accused of fatally stabbing Queens mom Orsolya Gaal and stuffing her in a duffel bag claimed he killed her because he believed she’d given him HIV during their torrid two-year affair, according to court records unsealed in court Tuesday.
David Bonola, 44, who was arraigned on a murder indictment in the vicious April 16 slaying, also told detectives that Gaal — a married mom of two — “was cheating on me,” the Queens Supreme Court filing states.
“She gave me HIV,” Bonola allegedly told detectives at the 112th Precinct on April 20. “She lied to me, she used me. She told me that she loved me. She couldn’t be with one person.”
Bonola also claimed Gaal “took a phone call from another guy” and “said she was going to see him,” without specifying when, according to the court docs.
“That made me angry. I couldn’t accept it,” he allegedly said.
The married father of two from Richmond Hill, who entered the US illegally from Mexico 21 years ago, is charged with following Gaal home early on April 16 and getting into a violent argument — before stabbing her.
Police said Gaal, a 51-year-old mother of two boys, went to a show at Lincoln Center with friends on April 15, then stopped at a local bar alone and ordered “her usual Moscow mule,” a bartender there told The Post.
She got home around 12:30 a.m., followed by her killer.
“I knocked on her door,” Bonola, a heating and air conditioning repairman who had done work for Gaal’s family, allegedly told cops after being taken into custody.
“She opened the door and asked me what I was doing there,” he recalled. “I told her that I just wanted her to tell me the truth about why she gave me HIV. She said she didn’t have HIV.”
He said Gaal told him their affair was over, and “grabbed the knife and told him to leave her house or she would kill him.
“I grabbed the knife and cut her from the neck,” Bonola allegedly told police. “She kept fighting and we fall. She was moving and trying to grab me so I stabbed her in the neck to get her to stop attacking me.”
He allegedly said he cleaned up the house with towels and put her in her son’s hockey duffel bag, which was dumped less than a mile from the home.
“In the past, she told me that she had sent a man to jail so I sent a message to her husband pretending to be that guy because I was scared,” Bonola allegedly said. “I took her laptop because she had sex videos on the laptop. I threw her laptop in the Hudson River where I used to visit her.”
He was arrested on April 21 and charged with murder in the case and gave police a “matter-of-fact” confession to the slaying, the sources said.
In court last week, prosecutors said Gaal let Bonola into the Tudor-style home before the two got into a quarrel and Bonola allegedly killed her.
Bonola is being held in protective custody without bail. His lawyer didn’t return a message.
“This heinous murder left two teenagers without a mother and terrified an entire community,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
“As alleged, 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,” Katz said.
“The defendant has now been indicted and arraigned on very serious charges and faces a lengthy prison sentence if convicted,” she said.
