David Bonola in court for hearing in Orsolya Gaal murder case
NEW YORK - Orsolya Gaal's alleged killer David Bonola briefly appeared in a New York City courtroom on Tuesday.
Bonola was in the court for less than a minute for his lawyer to announce that he would not testify in front of a grand jury investigating the murder case.
Wearing a red prisoner suit and a face mask, Bonola did not say anything at the hearing and was quickly escorted back out of court with his arms handcuffed behind his back.
Bonola's was arraigned in the case last week.
Prosecutors say that Gaal let her ex-handyman lover into her Forest Hills home around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, April 16, after a night out with her friends.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz says that the pair got into an argument and Bonola, 44, slashed her throat and stabbed her more than 50 times. The attack came after she asked him to leave multiple times.
Who is David Bonola? Suspect in Orsolya Gaal murder
Bonola was charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the case.
Prosecutors say that Bonola was a handyman and had done work at Gaal’s home on and off for the last two years used a hockey duffel bag that belonged to one of the victim’s sons and stuffed the woman’s bloody body inside.
He was allegedly seen on video surveillance from a nearby home rolling the duffel bag through the neighborhood.
Orsolya Gaal murder case: Handyman-lover charged with murder
The duffel bag was discovered near Forest Park at Metropolitan Avenue and Union Turnpike around 8 a.m., Saturday. Gaal's remains were found inside the bag.
Police followed a trail of blood from the bag to the crime scene to Gaal's Juno Street home.
District Attorney Katz said, "Two boys are left without a mother and a young teenager faces the added trauma of being home when this heinous murder took place. As alleged, the defendant stabbed the victim over 50 times and then attempted to dispose of the body by stuffing it into a duffel bag and dragging it across a quiet residential neighborhood – leaving a trail of blood and a terrified community."