Orsolya Gaal's last moments: Chilling footage shows killer drag body in duffel bag near NYC home
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.
“It’s a mystery,” an NYPD official told New York Post. “Now it’s a question of piecing together everything she did that night.” Gaal reportedly went out with friends in the final hours before her death. She returned home before midnight. “We’re pulling video and receipts from those places,” the official said.
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“[Then] around 4:30 a.m. [Saturday], you see somebody rolling this [duffel bag] down the sidewalk from multiple cameras,’’ the NYPD source said, adding that cops traced the blood trail backward from the scene to the house. Gaal's body was found inside a blood-soaked duffel back early on Saturday, April 16, in Forest Hills, near a popular walking path in the Queens neighborhood, triggering fear among residents. Police are considering the possibility that she may have been killed by a male relative. No arrests have been made in the case.
“She knew the people she was out with,’’ the NYPD source said. “We’re talking to them. We also have to figure out, did she meet some mysterious stranger along the way?” Detectives found no signs of forced entry, and believe that she was killed inside by someone she knew. The murder seemed to have been driven by anger considering the number of stab wounds on her body.
“I saw her [Friday] in her backyard,” said John Blankson, who lives next to Gaal's home. “We share a common backyard with [her] dog." “[Saturday] morning, we were like, ‘Why can’t we hear the dog this morning?’ It’s super shocking,” Blankson added. “They were a normal family." While Gaal's husband and son were reportedly being hunted by cops in her murder, it is now said that they are no longer being considered persons of interest. Police reportedly took Gaal's 13-year-old son in for questioning, but he has since been released.
The hockey bag containing Orsolya Gaal's corpse had a trail of blood cops followed to the side door of her home. Officers found her 13-year-old son on the top floor of the home. The boy was taken into custody and later released. The bag came from their house. 👀 #NYC pic.twitter.com/XP9TlZAkIm
— Joseph Morris (@JosephMorrisYT) April 17, 2022
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.
A motive for this attack remains unclear. Sources added police have yet to identify a male suspect in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers.