NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Bronx man was held without bail following his arraignment on Thursday in the gruesome killings of a husband and wife during a Queens home invasion this week.
Jamel McGriff, 42, of the Bronx, faces a laundry list of charges—including 12 counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping, arson and more—in the brutal deaths of Maureen Olton, 77, and her husband Frank Olton, 76, on Monday afternoon at their home in Bellerose.
When McGriff was spotted in Times Square by police on Wednesday evening, he can allegedly be heard saying on a body-worn camera, “I’ll admit it. I killed them, I don’t give a f***. I burnt [them]. I molested them.”
“This is a horrific double murder that has shocked our entire city,” Queens D.A. Melinda Katz said in a statement. “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. The defendant is now charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and faces life in prison if convicted.”
According to prosecutors, McGriff had been going door to door Monday asking residents if he could charge his phone. He eventually arrived at the Oltons at 87-86 254th St. and forced his way into the home, where he allegedly brutalized the couple and torched the house.
In a criminal complaint, the prosecution said evidence suggests McGriff stabbed Frank Olton multiple times and started a fire on his chest and that he strangled and burned Maureen Olton to death. Frank Olton was found bound to a pole in the basement, while his wife was discovered on the first floor.
McGriff was spotted three hours after the killings at Macy's flagship store in Herald Square, buying $500 of luxury clothing and using Frank Olton’s credit card to purchase the items. However at checkout, he allegedly used his own personal Macy’s points number instead of Olton’s.
He was aksi caught on camera lounging at the movies, and the very next day, pawning the cellphones in the Bronx that he’d allegedly stolen from the Oltons.
Prosecutors said McGriff is a major flight risk with a history of violent behavior and that he hasn’t stopped a life of crime since he was a teen. At the time of the killings, he was out on parole following a 16-year prison stint for a first-degree robbery in 2006. He’d been arrested in November for failing to register as a sex offender, and he was currently wanted for two robberies in Manhattan in July and August, officials said.
He's due back in court on Sept. 16.