A couple in New York City in the 70s were killed on Monday in what the Police Commissioner said was a “terrible double murder, robbery and arson” – the man tied to a rod and stabbed, the woman’s body burned seriously when their home went up in flames.
Frank Olton, 76, and Maureen Olton, 77, were found dead around 2 p.m. 3.30pm Monday, about 20 minutes after surveillance video showed suspected that Jamel McGrif went near their Queens home. The couple’s son, a fire department EMT, called 911 after being warned to the fire of the couple’s alarm monitoring service. A fire scars stated that the fire was intentionally set.
McGriff, 42, remained largely from Tuesday afternoon, said Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. He was last viewed on video earlier Tuesday, where he resorted to two cell phones in Bronx and “should be considered armed and dangerous,” she said.
McGrif’s parole officer identified him as a suspect from surveillance video images obtained near home, Tisch said.
Tisch said that McGriff, a serial robbery suspected of probation after a previous conviction, went door-to-door in the Bellerose neighborhood of the district and asked if he could come in and charge his cellphone.
After a homeowner rejected him, Tisch said, video showed that McGrif was approaching Olton’s home around 2 p.m. 10:18 and talked to Frank Olton. He was allowed into the parets backyard and eventually went into the home with Olton through a back door.
McGriff remained in the home for almost five hours and was then watched on surveillance video that left around 1 p.m. 15:08, Tisch said. He wore a paper bag and a duffel bag and wore a black hat, black jacket, black sneakers and dark blue jeans, she said.
After getting the fire under control, firefighters went into the home and found Frank Olton’s body in the basement, tied to a rod with several stinging wounds, and Maureen Olton’s body on the first floor with severe burns, Tisch said. Their exact causes of death are still under investigation, she said.
“At this point there is no known connection between Mr. McGrif, our suspects and our victims beyond this chance meeting,” Tisch said at a news conference on Tuesday.
McGriff has a “long, violent” criminal story that spans for decades and is on triallessness after soning 16 years in prison for a conviction in a 2006 robbery, Tisch said. He is also in demand by the police for two recent robberies -one in a Harlem Gamestop store in July and another in one Manhattan Verizon store where the clerk noticed he had a fake gun and fought for him, new chief of detectives Joseph Kenny said.
McGriff also failed last year to register as a sex offender, said Tisch, who should have violated his triallessness. NYPD and a regional refugee task force combining local, state and federal officers work to catch McGriff, the Commissioner said.
“For the public, the message is clear: The suspected MO is to go door to a door and ask for some kind of help until he can access, so don’t let anyone you don’t know or someone you don’t expect in your home,” Tisch said.