This Clue Helped Cops Find Forest Hills Mom's Suspected Killer: Report

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — A note affixed to a refrigerator helped police track down the person who confessed to stabbing a Forest Hills mother to death, according to a new report citing the NYPD.

While searching Orsolya Gaal's home-turned-crime-scene in Forest Hills — where officials said Gaal was fatally stabbed upwards of 50 times as her teenage son slept upstairs — NYPD detectives found a note tacked on her fridge: "GET A NEW HANDYMAN," it read, The Daily Beast reported.

Police believe the handyman in question to be David Bonola, according to The Daily Beast, a 44-year-old who was arrested and hit with murder, criminal tampering and criminal weapons charges in connection to Gaal's brutal murder Thursday.

Bonola worked as a handyman at Gaal's Forest Hills home for about two years, during which time he was having an "intimate affair" with the 51-year-old mother, officials said.

Police sources told multiple outlets, including The Daily Beast, that Bonola confessed to stabbing Gaal to death and stuffing her lifeless body into her son's hockey bag, which he ditched at the edge of nearby Forest Park.

A series of clues led police to Bonola, including a bloody pair of work boots that detectives fished out of his garbage, according to The Daily Beast.

Detectives eventually tracked down the ex-lover in Forest Hills Wednesday night, at which point he said he'd seen them around and willingly went to the station for questioning, according to reports and officials.

Bonola tried to divert detectives' attention to other people — including other handymen — but eventually confessed the details of his on-and-off relationship with Gaal and admitted to killing her, according to The Daily Beast citing police detectives.

Conforming with statements from officials, Bonola reportedly said he went over to Gaal's house to talk with her shortly after midnight Saturday and ended up repeatedly stabbing her with a knife that was in her home.

Not wanting her family to find her bloodied, mutilated body, Bonola said he stuffed her in to the duffel bag and left it on the edge of the park, according to reports and officials.

The Daily Beast reported that the Saturday night talk was prompted by text messages that Bonola saw Gaal sending to another man.

Gaal's husband, Howard Klein, who was out of town looking at colleges with one of their son's at the time of the murder, later received threatening texts from Bonola, which officials said were unsubstantiated.

Officials declined to comment on whether or not Klein knew about his wife's affair with Bonola.

Read the full article from The Daily Beast here.

Patch Editor Nick Garber contributed to this report.

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