A New York couple in their 70s was killed in what officials described as a “horrific” double murder, as the man was tied to a pole and stabbed, while the woman’s body was severely burned.
Authorities identified the suspect as 42-year-old Jamel McGriff. He was arrested on Friday after a multi-day manhunt.
As alleged, in a brazen act of violence, the defendant forced himself into a Bellerose home, stabbed one of the elderly homeowners to death and then deliberately set the house on fire,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a news release.
This is a horrific double murder that has shocked our entire city. Frank and Maureen Olton were simply spending a Monday morning at home and their deaths have shattered the sense of safety and security in New York,” Katz added.
Frank Olton, 76, and Maureen Olton, 77, were found dead Monday afternoon. The couple’s son, a fire department EMT, called 911 after he was alerted to the fire by the couple’s alarm monitoring service.
Katz said the New York Fire Department responded to the home, where they got the fire under control. When they went inside, they found the Oltons dead.
Maureen Olton was in the living room with extensive burns to her body. She also sustained a fractured larynx and had soot in her trachea and one lung,” Katz said.
Frank Olton was discovered in the basement with his hands bound with a cord and tied to a pole. He was stabbed multiple times in the neck and chest, which caused his death. A fire had been set in the living room and a separate one in the basement,” she added.
A fire marshal later ruled that both fires were intentionally set.
After the murders, officials said McGriff was seen on surveillance video on Tuesday when he was pawning two cellphones in the Bronx. A day prior, he was spotted using two of Frank Olton’s credit cards to make clothing purchases totaling nearly at Macy’s in Herald Square in Manhattan.
McGriff allegedly provided his own Macy’s loyalty card number for the transactions, according to Katz.
Katz said McGriff was arraigned on 12 counts of first-degree murder, along with the following crimes:
- Two counts of second-degree murder
- Two counts of second-degree kidnapping
- Three counts of first-degree burglary
- Second-degree burglary
- Two counts of second-degree arson
- Three counts of first-degree robbery
- Third-degree criminal possession of a weapon
- Two counts of fourth-degree grand larceny
- Two counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property
- Two counts of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property
- Second-degree identity theft
- Two counts of third-degree identity theft
If convicted, McGriff faces up to life in prison, according to Katz.
McGriff has a “lengthy, violent” criminal history spanning several decades and is on parole after serving 16 years in prison for a conviction in a 2006 robbery, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said earlier this week during a news conference.
He is also wanted by police for two recent robberies — one at a Harlem GameStop store in July, and another at a Manhattan Verizon store, where the clerk noticed he had a fake gun and fought him off, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
In 2024, McGriff also failed to register as a sex offender, Tisch said, which should have violated his parole.
Tisch said “there is no known connection” between McGriff and the couple “beyond this chance encounter.”
For the public, the message is clear: the suspect’s MO is to go door-to-door asking for some kind of assistance until he can gain entrance, so do not allow someone you don’t know or someone you’re not expecting into your home,” Tisch said.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.