Orsolya Gaal Suspect David Bonola Charged With Queens Mom's Murder

A man has been charged with the murder of Queens mother Orsolya Gaal, whose slain body was found abandoned in a duffel bag in New York last Saturday.

The arrested suspect is David Bonola, a 44-year-old handyman from Queens. He was taken into custody and charged early on Thursday with murder, criminal tampering and criminal possession of a weapon in connection to the killing of Gaal, as confirmed by NYPD reports according to the New York Post.

Sources mentioned by the newspaper claim the handyman had been a lover of the 51-year-old woman, who was married to husband Howard Klein and lived with her two teenage kids in the house where police suspect she was murdered before her killer transported her body half a mile away.

Sources told NBC that Bonola and Gaal had likely argued on Friday night before the woman was killed, after being stabbed at least 58 times according to police.

Bonola was arrested thanks to a pair of blood-soaked boots that had been left at the victim's house, according to the New York Post. He had no prior criminal record, police said, as reported by the newspaper.

According to sources mentioned by both NBC and the New York Post, Gaal went out on Friday night as her husband and her oldest son were out of town for a college visit. She reportedly told her youngest son she was going to see a show at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Gaal was reportedly later seen alone at a bar in Queens, where sources mentioned by the New York Post and NBC said she had a drink before leaving alone 45 minutes later.

The manager of the Forest Hills Station House, the gastropub where Gaal was last seen alive on Friday, April 15, told NBC he remembers seeing the victim sitting calmly at the bar.

"She was here on Friday, right in the center of the bar. Had a Moscow mule, had a bite to eat. Spoke to a few of my staff members that know her, joking around in conversation," Gabriel Veras told NBC. "She was a very, very sweet regular. She left alone and we were in shock the next day. Shock."

A chilling clip from surveillance cameras obtained by NBC shows a figure walking along a deserted 75th Avenue on Friday night while dragging the same duffel bag where the body of the 51-year-old mother was found.

According to unnamed sources mentioned by the New York Post, Gaal was later killed in the basement of her house while her youngest son was likely on the top floor.

Gaal's body was found on Saturday morning inside a duffel bag some nine blocks away from her home by a man walking his dogs, who called 911. Gaal was declared dead at the scene.

Newsweek has contacted the NYPD but has been told they cannot provide any extra information at the moment. The NYPD will hold a presser on the case at 11:30 a.m.

Update 4/21/22 9:50 a.m. ET. This article was updated to include more context.