Murder suspect, 42-year-old Jamel McGriff, was slapped with a 50-count indictment on Tuesday for allegedly torturing 76-year-old Frank Olton, 76, and his wife, 77-year-old Maureen, inside their home in Long Island’s Bellerose village, according to a report by the New York Post.
McGriff is accused of forcing his way into the elderly couple’s home on September 8 and stabbing Olton several times while he was tied to a pole in his basement, according to the indictment.
Before fleeing the massacre, McGriff stole Olton’s 2001 souvenir New York Yankees baseball, as well as the couple’s credit cards and phones, and then set their residence ablaze, authorities said.
The Yankees baseball, which was on display inside the home, was apparently stamped with an autograph on behalf of the team, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.
McGriff was seen walking with a duffel bag from the couple’s residence after being inside the home for around five hours, prosecutors noted.
After leaving the house, McGriff headed straight to a Macy’s store, where he went on a shopping spree, racking up $796.10 worth of clothing on Olton’s credit card — a transaction for which he even gave the cashier his personal loyalty number — prosecutors added.
The suspect is also accused of pawning the couple’s cellphones in the Bronx, before swiping Olton’s credit card at Manhattan’s Regal Union Square movie theater, where he watched the 2D-animated film, Light of the World, which tells the story of Jesus Christ through the eyes of the Apostle John.
McGriff was later arrested on September 10 after police used surveillance footage from the cinema to track him down in Times Square, the New York Post reported.
Prosecutors revealed at McGriff’s arraignment that Maureen Olton was still alive when the suspect allegedly set fire to the home. The 77-year-old woman was found in the living room with a fractured larynx. Authorities added she also had soot in her trachea and in one lung.
McGriff — who was previously convicted eleven times, including four violent felonies — was reportedly on parole at the time of the deadly attack, after being released from prison in 2023 following a 17-year prison stint for a 20-year sentence for armed robbery and sex crimes.
A New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesman told the New York Post that McGriff had been out of prison for more than a year when the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision learned that he failed to add his address to the sex offender registry in 2024.
The suspect’s 50 charges include 13 counts of first-degree murder, two counts of murder in the second degree, two counts of kidnapping in the first degree, among several other charges involving the killings, court records reveal.
McGriff is now facing a maximum of life in prison without parole, and is set to return to court on November 12.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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