NYPD detectives say the the 44-year-old David Bonola turned himself in and has confessed to the murder of Orsolya Gaal.
Mr Bonola, 44, was arrested at 12.51am Thursday morning and charged with murder, criminal tampering and criminal possession of a weapon, an NYPD spokesperson told The Independent.
The pair had been in an intimate relationship for about two years which had ended sometime before the killing, Lieutenant Timmy Thomson told a press conference on Thursday morning .
The NYPD said Mr Bonola had made incriminating statements, and they were confident noone else was involved in the crime.
Mr Bonola had carried out odd jobs around the property, police said.
Mr Bonola turned up at her home late on Friday night and the pair had an heated argument, NYPD police said at the press conference.
Ms Gaal, 51, attended an event at the Lincoln Center on Friday night before heading to the Station House bar in Forest Hills alone.
Bar staff said she ordered a Moscow mule and stayed for around 45 minutes before leaving on her own after midnight.
Some time after returning home, she was attacked and stabbed 58 times in her Queens home, as her 13-year-old son was upstairs.
Police sources believe Ms Gaal was attacked on the first floor of the home before being taken into the basement.
The killer then placed her body in a duffle bag and was spotted on surveillance footage at 4.30am dragging her remains down a nearby street. Her body was discovered in a nearby park early Saturday morning.
Police followed a trail of blood from the bag that led them about half a mile to Ms Gaal’s family home in an upscale community in Forest Hills.
Ms Gaal’s husband Howard Klein and eldest son Jamie, 17, were out of state at the time of the murder. Her youngest son was questioned by police before being released.
Police sources said they did not believe the murder was premeditated given how “sloppy” the crime scene was.
There was no sign of forced entry at the family’s home.
Detectives recovered a pair of blood-soaked boots from a trash can outside the family home.
Mr Bonola moved to the United States from Mexico about 21 years ago, police said at a press conference on Thursday.
Police said Mr Bonola admitted to sending text messages from the victim’s cellphone to Ms Gaal’s husband claiming the killing was revenge there had been a crime in the past.
Police believe the text messages to be “completely false”.
“We don’t believe there was any danger to the family,” an NYPD spokeswoman said.
Police believe Ms Gaal’s body was placed in a duffel bag and removed from the home so that it was not discovered by the family.
