Police are said to be looking for a man who Orsolya Gaal was having an affair with recently
The NYPD are looking to question a former handyman who is believed to have been the lover of 51-year-old Queens mother-of-two Orsolya Gaal, who was murdered in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Although police have not yet released a name of the suspect they’re seeking, the workman is believed to have had knowledge of Gaal’s home, including where she kept a spare key.
The handyman is also thought to have had a romantic relationship with Gaal before the affair took a turn for the worse.
The romance apparently ended – but it’s unclear who broke it off.
Although details surrounding the relationship are still vague, the New York Post cites police sources who said that the man would have known exactly where the spare key for Gaal’s Forest Hills Tudor house was kept and would have been able to enter without breaking in.
There was no sign of forced entry at the property when police visited on Saturday morning.
Gaal was murdered at around 12:41 a.m. on Saturday after returning from a night out. She was alone in the home with her 13-year-old son Leo when she was stabbed up to 60 times in the basement.
Police found her body in a duffel bag at 8:11 a.m. on Saturday less than half a mile from the property. They followed a trail of blood back to the house.
Police believe the mother’s body was taken out of the home through this side door on Saturday in the early hours of the morning
Orsolya’s body was taken out of the home through the side door, according to the police. It was in a hockey-style duffel bag. Shown above, the family’s back yard
‘[Detectives] don’t think it was a planned murder,’ a law-enforcement source said. ‘He left a blood trail for five blocks from the house. It was like a trail of bread crumbs.
‘If you want to kill somebody, you try to make it a little cleaner, be a little more prepared. He didn’t go with something to move her body. He took something from the house,’ the source continued.
‘I’m sure with that kind of blood, there’s lots of DNA there. The killer’s DNA has gotta be in that blood. It’s not a clean scene.’
No suspects have been named and the NYPD is refusing to answer questions about the ongoing investigation into her death.
But sources cited by the Post on Tuesday said detectives were focusing on a man who Gaal had an affair with recently.
The backyard of the home belonging to Orsolya Gaal, where neighbors saw her hours before she died. The house remains a crime scene
Gaal and her husband Howard Klein had been married for more than 20 years. He was out of town with their oldest son when she was killed
Gaal is pictured with her husband, Howard Klein, and two sons Leo, 13, and Jamie, 17, in December. Her husband and oldest son were out of town when she was killed. Her youngest son was in the home and was questioned but was released
She was stabbed nearly 60 times in the neck, torso and arm, and had defensive wounds on her palms and fingers.
The NYPD is offering a $3,500 reward for information that may lead to Orsolya Gaal’s killer
Gaal’s body is believed to have been taken out of the home through a side door. It was then dragged in a duffel bag and dumped on a sidewalk next to a busy road.
Gaal’s husband Howard Klein and their oldest son, Jamie, were out of town visiting colleges when she was brutally killed. Police questioned her younger son, Leo, but he was released on Saturday.
The Post also previously reported that Gaal was spotted at a bar near her home alone before she returned for the night on Friday.
She had been in Manhattan earlier that night attending a show at the Lincoln Center.
Sources say she told her son she was going with friends but might have been on a date.
The NYPD put up posters around the neighborhood offering a $3,500 reward for information that could lead to her killer’s whereabouts.
‘UP TO $3,500 REWARD FOR INFORMATION REGARDING A HOMICIDE,’ the poster states in upper case lettering.
‘On Saturday, April 16th, 2022, at approximately 12:40am… An unknown perpetrator stabbed a 51-year-old Orsolya Gaal multiple times causing her death. The victim was found inside a duffel bag along Metropolitan Avenue in Queens,’ the poster reads.
‘I’m very startled,’ said Arrunja Jack, 30, o the Post on Tuesday.
Jack was often at the home carrying out electrical work, power-washing and painting.
‘I know her very well. Her husband’s very nice. Her two sons… are very nice as well. … It’s very sad.
‘She’s a very happy, jolly person all the time. … I see her all the time jogging,’ Jack said. ‘They’re a very beautiful, quiet family. Very happy all the time,’ he said.
A local cafe owner was also shocked by the news.
‘Her house is a 10-minute walk. … She comes here, y’know, she’s been here before. She used to come with some Russian ladies,’ Samson Cornejo told The Post.
‘I saw the bag, where they found it, after I left that night. I drove by it after leaving here. I couldn’t believe when I heard. It smacked me when I saw her picture!’
The family has also not yet issued a comment on Gaal’s brutal killing.
Neighbors say she was a kind and loving mother who dedicated her life to her family.
Social media photos show how Gaal enjoyed traveling, particularly to Guatemala, and going to concerts in New York with her friends.
It remains unclear if her family in Budapest are on their way to the US.
The suspected killer wheeling the body in a bag down 75th Avenue in Forrest Hills, Queens , on Saturday
This is believed to be Orsolya Gaal’s killer, dragging her body along the sidewalk after stabbing her nearly 60 times in her basement in Queens on Saturday