(RepublicanInformer.com)- The handyman arrested last week in the brutal stabbing death of a Queens married mother of two was in the country illegally.
According to the NYPD, Mexican national David Bonola, 44, entered the United States nearly 21 years ago and was living in New York in violation of immigration law. It wasn’t clear if Bonola had initially entered the country illegally, remained on an expired visa, or if he ever had any type of legal status in the US during his stay here.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement did confirm to the New York Post that it has lodged an ICE detainer with Queens Central Booking, where David Bonola is currently being held.
An ICE detainer is an official request to a jail or local law enforcement to hold a suspect for an additional 48 if the suspect gets a date of release. ICE uses that 48 hours to decide whether or not to take the suspect into federal custody pending deportation.
On Tuesday, Bonola was back in Queens Criminal Court for a brief hearing where his court-appointed attorney, David Strachan, told the court that his client would not be testifying before the grand jury.
Bonola had carried on an on-again/off-again affair with his victim, Orsolya Gaal, 51, for about two years before stabbing her nearly sixty times on April 16.
Gaal had spent the evening of April 15 attending a show at the Lincoln Center with friends, then stopped at a local bar for a drink before heading home around 12:30 am on April 16. Bonola followed her home where the victim allegedly let him inside. Bonola then stabbed Gaal to death, stuffed her into a hockey duffel bag, and dumped her less than a mile away from her home.
Bonola was arrested on April 21 and charged with murder. During questioning by police, he confessed to the grisly slaying.
David Bonola is being held without bail in protective custody and under suicide watch.