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David Bonola: Handyman who butchered mom Orsolya Gaal and stuffed her body in hockey bag gets 25 years

Orsolya Gaal's body was knifed more than 50 times and stuffed in a hockey bag dumped less than a mile away from her home

BY JENNY ANNA MATHEW

UPDATED NOV 3, 2022

David Bonola, 44, allegedly knifed Orsolya Gaal, 51, more than 50 times in her Forest Hills home (Orsolya Gaal/Facebook/ @ABC7NY/Twitter)

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers' discretion advised

QUEENS, NEW YORK CITY: Illegal immigrant David Bonola has pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the killing of his former lover, married Queens mom Orsolya Gaal whose butchered body was found dismembered and stuffed in a hockey bag dumped less than a mile away from her home.

David Bonola, 44, allegedly knifed Orsolya Gaal, 51, more than 50 times in her Forest Hills home on April 16 after he claimed the mother of two had given him HIV during their torrid two-year affair. On Wednesday, November 2, Bonola pleaded guilty in a plea bargain with Queens prosecutors, who dropped the murder charge. Under the deal, he will be sentenced to 25 years in prison.

David Bonola: Orsolya Gaal's killer left 'creepy' love notes for women at coffee shop

The body of Orsolya Gaal, 51, a mom-of-two, was discovered near a popular walking path in the Queens neighborhood (Orsolya Gaal/Facebook) — Orsolya Gaal, 51, was stabbed more than 50 times in her Forest Hills home while her young son was upstairs (Orsolya Gaal/Facebook)

Bonola had worked as an air conditioning repairman for the family as he carried on an affair with the mother of two boys. On the night of the killing, Gaal had gone out with her friends in Manhattan and then stopped at a local bar before she got home at around 12.30 am followed by her killer. The pair got into a vicious brawl before Bonola slit Gaal’s throat, “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,” reported New York Post.

David Bonola voluntarily came back to the precinct, where he made incriminating statements (David Bonola/Facebook) — David Bonola voluntarily came back to the precinct, where he made incriminating statements
(David Bonola/Facebook)

Bonola, who illegally arrived in the United States 21 years ago from Mexico, allegedly stabbed her more than 50 times before dismembering her body and putting it inside her son's hockey boy. It is reported that Gaal's youngest son was upstairs at the time of the killing. Surveillance footage caught the killer wheeling Gaal’s body and disposing of it at Forest Park in Queens, "leaving a bloody trail through the streets of Forest Hills," the NYPD said.

The woman whose body was discovered stuffed in a blood-filled duffel bag in Queens early Saturday morning has been identified as married mother-of-two Orsolya Gaal, 51, police said. #NYC pic.twitter.com/cGSVnmUcKl
— Joseph Morris on YouTube 🇺🇸 (@JosephMorrisYT) April 17, 2022

“The heinous killing devastated an entire family, left two boys without a mother, and horrified the surrounding community,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. “In pleading guilty, the defendant has accepted responsibility and is being held fully accountable for his criminal actions,” Katz said. “We express our sincerest condolences to the victim’s family and hope that today’s plea will allow them to begin to heal.” David Bonola's sentencing is scheduled on November 16.