A mother in New York City was found stabbed to death near her Queens home, and her husband reportedly says that he received threatening messages over the weekend.
“Your whole family is next,” said one message, according to WPIX.
Orsolya Gaal, 51, was discovered stuffed in a duffel bag Saturday morning. Surveillance footage shows an individual pulling a duffel bag down 75th Avenue, according police sources cited by NBC New York. Gaal might have been in that bag, the source said.
NYPD spokesperson Officer Cannon, who declined to give her first name, told Law&Crime that officers responded to a 911 call of a suspicious bag just after 8 a.m. on April 16. Authorities found the 51-year-old victim unconscious and unresponsive at the corner of Metropolitan Avenue and Jackie Robinson Parkway. EMS declared her dead at the scene.
Officers followed a blood trail to her home at 72-24 Juno Street, where the actual homicide took place, Cannon said.
Police announced no arrests.
Gaal’s husband told cops he got threatening text messages over the weekend, “sources close to the case” said, according to CBS News. High-ranking authorities reportedly have not seen those texts for themselves.
Cannon told Law&Crime that she cannot confirm the texts. That is part of the ongoing investigation, she said.
Gaal’s husband was reportedly out of town with one of their sons visiting colleges. The man, Howard Klein, spoke to The New York Post on Saturday over the phone. He said he was at an airport going to fly back to New York. He was “in middle of a terrible experience.” He said his sons were safe, but he said that his family’s “lives are at stake.”
“There are concerns about our safety,” he said. “Our lives are at risk.”
Another threatening text reportedly said the following: “Your wife sent me to jail some years ago when you were living near Austin Street in Forest Hills. I’m back, don’t call the police or I will kill your family.”
Gaal’s 13-year-old son was home at the home of the killing but police ruled him out as a suspect, according to CBS.
Gaal was stabbed about 58 times in the neck, torso, and left arm, said law enforcement sources in an NBC New York article. She reportedly had wounds on her hands, likely defensive injuries from trying to fight off the killer. A man who knew her and had access to the home is a person of interest, multiple law enforcement sources reportedly said.
Cannon told Law&Crime on Tuesday that there is no person of interest.
Gaal saw a show at Lincoln Center in Manhattan with friends on Friday night, sources close to the case said, according to CBS. She sat at a bar alone for 40 minutes, looking like she was waiting for someone. She went home. The killer entered her home through the back door, sources said.
Sources for WPIX gave a different account about Gaal’s whereabouts Friday night. In the words fo the outlet, she “apparently” told her youngest son she was heading out to watch a show. Instead, she met with another man. Sources said that man killed Gaal in the basement of her home.
[Screenshot via CBS New York]