Suspect in custody after couple severely burned in 'horrific double homicide' in NYC: Police
A man who allegedly murdered, robbed and set on fire an elderly Queens couple after they let him in their home under the guise of charging his phone is now in custody, the New York Police Department said.
The suspect, 42-year-old Jamel McGriff, was taken into custody Wednesday evening near Times Square, according to the NYPD.
Frank Olton, 76, was found on Monday tied to a pole in his basement suffering from multiple stab wounds, and his wife Maureen Olton, 77, was found on the house's first floor, severely burned, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The Oltons' son, a New York City Fire Department paramedic, was alerted to the fire by an alarm system and he responded to the house, police said.
There's no known connection between the victims and the suspect, Tisch said.
Police had tracked McGriff's credit card, which he had used on Wednesday.
NYPD had been keeping officers up to date through a critical messaging app that sent his latest whereabouts and photos in real time before officers spotted him in Times Square.
Detectives believe the suspect spent five hours in the victims' house, according to sources, likely searching for property to steal before setting it ablaze. Surveillance video showed the suspect leaving the home around 3 p.m., police said.
Witnesses reported a man knocking on a neighbor's door on Monday morning, asking to charge his phone, Tisch said, and that neighbor turned the suspect away. Surveillance video showed the suspect going to the victims' house and Frank Olton letting him in, according to the commissioner.
Tisch called the crime a "horrific double homicide, robbery and arson."
She said police are asking for the public's help to find McGriff, warning that he should be considered armed and dangerous.
McGriff, who is out on parole for first-degree robbery, "has a lengthy violent criminal history stretching back 30 years," Tisch said. He failed to register as a sex offender in November 2024, "which should have violated his parole," she said, and he is also wanted for two robberies in Manhattan this summer.
"This suspect's MO is to go door-to-door asking for some kind of assistance until he can gain entry -- so do not allow anyone you don't know or who you are not expecting into your home," she stressed.
