Orsolya Gaal: Ex-handyman lover who knew of spare key sought in Queens mom's slaying
QUEENS, NEW YORK: Orsolya Gaal, the mom-of-two from Forest Hills whose body was found in a blood-soaked duffel bag, spent her final hours in her yard after enjoying a night out. The NYPD said on April 17 that surveillance footage from the area captured “an unknown individual” dragging a wheeled duffel bag from the direction of Gaal’s home.
In the latest development in the case, police want to question a former handyman lover of Gaal who had close knowledge of her home. The man, who has not been formally identified as a suspect or a person of interest, even knew where the family kept a spare key. The two are believed to have been in a relationship that eventually did not work out. It is unclear when the relationship began or ended.
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Sources claimed that the man was aware of where a spare key was kept in the home and would have been able to access the house without having to break in. Gaal was stabbed nearly 60 times before her body was disposed of in a duffel bag. She was murdered in the basement of her house while her son, 13, was upstairs. The killer then took her phone and sent a bone-chilling text to Gaal's husband, saying, "Your whole family is next." The murder seemed to have been driven by anger.
Law enforcement sources have now claimed that the murder may not have been pre-meditated. “[Detectives] don’t think it was a planned murder,” New York Post quoted a source as saying. He left a blood trail for five blocks from the house. It was like a trail of bread crumbs. If you want to kill somebody, you try to make it a little cleaner, be a little more prepared. He didn’t go with something to move her body. He took something from the house." “I’m sure with that kind of blood, there’s lots of DNA there,” the source added. “The killer’s DNA has gotta be in that blood. It’s not a clean scene." Cops will also be speaking to a number of men Gaal had been texting before she was butchered. At the time of her murder, Gaal's husband, Howard Klein, was traveling out of state with the couple's eldest son, 17.
Orsolya Gaal's murder
The body of Orsolya Gaal, 51, a mom-of-two, was discovered near a popular walking path in the Queens neighborhood, triggering fear among residents. The horrifying scene of Gaal's remains was discovered by Glenn Van Nostrand, 51, while he was walking his two dogs through nearby Forest Park. He initially thought the bag had simply been discarded but decided to take a look after his dogs, two Rhodesian ridgebacks, Philip and Iris, began to get agitated. “They are scent hounds,” Van said. “They see the world through their noses.”
When he opened the bag, he saw a foot and a hip, still attached. “But to me it looked like a mannequin,” he said. “It didn’t look very fleshy. It was more like a crash test dummy. I thought it was maybe some equipment being used for something. I didn’t think anything of it.” Van then noticed black, ankle-length jeans, a belt and a woman’s waist. The body was reportedly in a fetal position inside the bag with wheels. However, Van eventually noticed blood on the other side of the bag after he opened it. “I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness,’ and called police at 8:05 a.m. and said there’s a body in this bag,’” he said. The duffel bag had reportedly been leaking blood, and authorities were investigating a blood trail that led to the Juno Street home.