A South Richmond Hill handyman pleaded guilty to manslaughter Wednesday in the brutal killing of a Forest Hills mother of two, whose dismembered body was found stuffed in a hockey bag near Forest Park in April.
David Bonola, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise in the slaying of Orsolya Gaal, with whom he had been having an on-and-off romantic affair for two years while he worked at her family’s Juno Street home before Gaal attempted to end it, investigators said.
Justice Aloise said he would sentence Bonola to 25 years in prison, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
According to the charges, Bonola, of 114th Street in South Richmond Hill went to the victim’s home at approximately 12:30 am on Saturday, April 16. Gaal, 51, had just returned to her Juno Street home from an evening out. Bonolla entered the home and began to argue with the victim when he slashed Gaal’s throat and stabbed her more than 50 times.
Hours later, at approximately 4:15 a.m., Bonola was captured on a nearby home’s security video surveillance footage wheeling a hockey duffel bag that belonged to one of the victim’s two sons. The bag, containing Gaal’s dismembered body, was found blocks away at about 8 a.m. on Metropolitan Avenue, near Union Turnpike, in the vicinity of Forest Park.
Police were able to follow the trail of blood from the bag to the crime scene – the Juno Street home where the victim lived with her husband and sons.
During the subsequent investigation, police recovered the murder weapon hidden in the victim’s home and the defendant’s jacket inside Forest Park.
Days later, Bonola, offered to speak to police and during questioning made incriminating statements. He revealed that sometime later that day he went to a New York City hospital for a cut on his hand. He also stated in sum and substance that he and the victim argued and confessed to stabbing her and moving her body.
“This heinous killing devastated an entire family, left two boys without a mother, and horrified the surrounding community,” Katz said. “I want to thank my prosecutors for their exhaustive efforts in securing this plea. In pleading guilty, the defendant has accepted responsibility and is being held fully accountable for his criminal actions.”
Justice Aloise said he would sentence Bonola to 25 years in prison to be followed by five years post-release supervision on Nov. 16.
“We express our sincerest condolences to the victim’s family and hope that today’s plea will allow them to begin to heal,” Katz said.
