THIS is the elderly couple who were tortured and killed in their own home in New York after trying to do a good deed.
Suspected killer Jamel McGriff who was arrested in Times Square on Wednesday, allegedly knocked on their door to get help charging his phone before carrying out the brutal killings.
Frank and Maureen Olton were tortured and killed inside their Queens home on Monday[/caption]
Jamel McGriff, 42, faces 18 charges related to the couple’s murders[/caption]
Frank Olton, 76, and his wife Maureen, 77, were both found dead in their home in Bellerose on Monday.
Their bodies had been badly burned in numerous fires set at their property after suffering hours of torture at the hands of McGriff, according to the Assistant District Attorney John Esposito.
The 42-year-old career criminal admitted his heinous actions to cops during his arrest, prosecutors said at his arraignment on Thursday.
“I’ll admit it. I killed them. I don’t give a f***. I burned them n*****,” he allegedly told police.
The ADA gave “horrifying and shocking” details of the murders, claiming McGriff “tied Mr Olton to a pole in the basement…stabbed him in the chest and neck multiple times killing him.”
He then allegedly set fire to Olton’s chest before setting another blaze in the upstairs of the property which sparked an “inferno”.
Meanwhile, Maureen was so badly burned she was “unrecognizable” as the ADA shared how she was alive when the fire started.
Prosecutors revealed that there was “soot in her trachea” and that she had suffered thermal burns as well as a fractured larynx which could indicate strangulation.
Her official cause of death has not yet been determined.
Cops say he spent around five hours at their property and had been stalking the area, knocking on doors, and asking to charge his phone before the Oltons obliged him.
It was initially believed that the couple had willingly let him into their home, but after reviewing surveillance footage, detectives believe Mr Olton said he would charge the phone while McGriff waited outside.
However, it appears that McGriff eventually pushed his way into the property.
One piece of footage with attached audio appears to show Mr Olton telling the suspect to “get the f*** out of here”, cops have revealed.
Despite the heinous nature of the crimes at the Queens home, just hours after allegedly carrying out the violent murders, McGriff was tracked going on a sick spending spree.
The ADA claimed that three hours after the killings, at around 6pm on Monday, he visited a Macy’s store to buy $500 worth of clothing where he also “incredulously created a Macy’s account in his name.”
McGriff was cuffed 48 hours after the killings when cops tracked his sick spending spree[/caption]
A day later, he went to an ATM in the Bronx where he took two phones belonging to Mr Olton and exchanged them for cash, according to authorities.
He was finally cuffed on Wednesday in Times Square after he allegedly used the couple’s credit card to buy movie tickets.
McGriff was captured on video “reclining in a movie seat” at the Regal movie theatre in Union Square to watch Light of the World.
Officials revealed his lengthy rap sheet spanning three decades, including four violent felony convictions.
The level 3 sex offender had been given a 20-year sentence and was let out on parole in 2023.
McGriff is being held without bail on almost 20 charges relating to the couple’s deaths.
These include robbery, burglary, kidnapping, arson, identity theft and first-degree murder.
He is next scheduled to appear in court on September 16.
The couple’s family shared their picture on Thursday and asked for privacy.
McGriff allegedly admitted to the heinous crimes during his arrest in Times Square[/caption]
A memorial with candles and flowers has been left outside the property as the killings rock the neighborhood[/caption]
