CASUAL ‘KILLER’
Friendly visit to eatery day before bust
It was like he didn’t have a care in the world.
Just hours before he was arrested for allegedly knifing a Queens mother more than 60 times and shoving her body into a duffel bag, accused killer David Bonola was at one of his usual Forest Hills haunts, a worker told The Post.
Bonola, 44, casually visited the Chipotle on Austin Street on Wednesday, where an employee said he was as “friendly” as ever.
“He was right here,” the worker said of Bonola, gesturing towards the register. “I think he wanted the bathroom code and a water cup.
“I was like, ‘Hey, where have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.’ He was like, ‘I’ve been here and there,’ and whatever. He wanted the bathroom code and a water cup and he left. He was no different than when I saw him [the last time].”
The worker said Bonola had been a regular for the past three years and usually ordered tacos.
The employee, who did not give his name, said Bonola dropped by Chipotle at around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. That night, the NYPD arrested the Mexico City native on murder charges in the April 16 killing of his alleged on-again, off-again lover, Orsolya Gaal, 51, a married mother of two.
Unlike a barista at a nearby Starbucks, who told The Post a few days ago that Bonola came in often and flirted inappropriately with them, the Chipotle worker said Bonola was well-liked at the establishment.
“He was extremely friendly,” he said. “He was a superstar to all of us. He would talk about his personal life, like his mom,” the manager said. “He gave my friend his personal guitar pick. He would write his music. He was a regular. It’s pretty unexpected that it would happen.” Bonola — who allegedly dragged the duffel bag with Gaal’s remains down the street and dumped it near Forest Park, leaving a blood trail — is also charged with criminal tampering and criminal possession of a weapon. He has apparently been in the country illegally for about 20 years, sources said. Jimmy Han, 37, a worker at food truck Jubao Express, said he saw Bonola all the time before the killing, at Paris Baguette on 71st Avenue.
“Oh f--k! I see him here in the window eating a sandwich and a salad and breakfast. I see him every time . . . I see him in [the] window eating all the time,” Han said.
Bonola, who cops said has no prior arrests, was “a handyman who was employed by Mrs. Gaal” for about two years — and during that time they had “an intimate affair,” according to authorities.
They had re-sparked their affair earlier this month, just to break up again — and Bonola “came back . . . to speak about the relationship again,” said Chief Julie Morrill.
Police sources said the former lovers did not have plans that evening, but Bonola showed up at Gaal’s home at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday — not long after Gaal had returned from an evening out with friends to see a show at Lincoln Center and then a drink alone at a local bar, cops said.