The maniac who allegedly slaughtered and burned an aged Queens couple inside their house snatched a memento New York Yankees baseball whereas fleeing the carnage, in keeping with prosecutors and sources.
Jamel McGriff, 42, was hit with a 50-count indictment Tuesday for allegedly torturing Frank Olton, 76, and his 77-year-old spouse, Maureen, inside their Bellerose house earlier than occurring a purchasing spree on their dime, Queens District Lawyer Melinda Katz introduced in an announcement.
McGriff snatched the baseball belonging to Olton — who he allegedly stabbed a number of instances whereas tied to a pole within the basement — after forcing his approach into the couple’s house on Sept. 8, the indictment mentioned.
The baseball was a 2001 New York Yankees ball that gave the impression to be stamped with an autograph on behalf of the staff and was on show inside the house, in keeping with regulation enforcement sources.
McGriff additionally allegedly stole the couple’s bank cards and telephones whereas fleeing the house he allegedly set ablaze, authorities mentioned.
He was noticed strolling with a duffel bag from the house, in keeping with prosecutors.
The alleged killer — who was inside the house for about 5 hours — is accused of going straight to Macy’s in Herald Sq. to buy $796.10 value of clothes on Olton’s card, whereas offering the cashier along with his private loyalty quantity for the transactions, prosecutors added.
McGriff additionally pawned off their two cellphones at a Bronx check-cashing retailer and and kicked up his toes on the Regal Union Sq. movie show to observe “Gentle of the World” — a 2-D animated story of Jesus — on the Oltons’ dime, in keeping with authorities and prosecutors.
He was nabbed on Sept. 10 after cops used surveillance footage from the theater to trace him down in Instances Sq..
Throughout his arraignment final month, prosecutors revealed that Maureen Olton was nonetheless alive when McGriff allegedly set hearth to the couple’s house.
She was present in the lounge with a fractured larynx and soot in her trachea and one lung, authorities mentioned.
The alleged killer has 11 prior convictions, together with 4 for violent felonies, prosecutors mentioned.
McGriff was on parole following his launch from jail in 2023 after serving 17 years of a 20-year sentence for armed theft and intercourse crimes.
He was out of jail for greater than a 12 months when the state Division of Corrections and Neighborhood Supervision obtained phrase from the NYPD that the profession legal did not register his deal with as required on the intercourse offender registry in 2024, a division spokesman mentioned.
He’s now charged with 50 counts, together with 13 counts of first-degree homicide, two counts of homicide within the second diploma, two counts of kidnapping within the first diploma, amongst a number of others expenses for the callous killings, courtroom data point out.
“In accordance with the fees, on a Monday morning in a quiet neighborhood, the defendant compelled his approach into the house of Frank and Maureen Olton, made a number of makes an attempt to switch cash from their checking account, murdered them, and set the home ablaze earlier than fleeing with their telephones and bank cards,” Queens District Lawyer Melinda Katz mentioned in an announcement.
“He used the bank cards earlier than the NYPD lastly caught up with him,” Katz mentioned.
McGriff faces a most of life in jail with out the potential of parole if convicted.
He’ll return to courtroom on Nov. 12.
