https://nypost.com/2025/09/09/us-news/nypd-issues-warning-as-manhunt-launched-for-armed-career-criminal-accused-of-torching-killing-elderly-nyc-couple/
https://archive.is/Chmvs
NYPD issues dire warning as manhunt launched for ‘armed’ career criminal accused of torching, killing elderly NYC couple
Police launched a massive manhunt Tuesday for a violent sex offender and career criminal sought in the horrific Queens fire that killed the elderly parents of an FDNY paramedic.
Jamel McGriff, 42, an ex-con on parole with a string of career busts, has been identified as a suspect in the vicious deaths of 78-year-old Maureen Olton and her husband, Frank Thomas Olton, 76, who was found bound to a pole in the basement with multiple stab wounds after their Bellerose home was torched Monday, police and law enforcement sources said.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said McGriff is “armed and dangerous” and has a 30-year-long criminal record.
“The suspect’s MO is to go door to door, asking for some kind of assistance until he can gain entry,” Tisch told reporters Tuesday.
“Investigators for the NYPD and our partners on the Regional Fugitive Task Force are working around the clock to locate and to apprehend Mr. McGriff,” she said. “We appreciate the public’s and the media’s assistance here.”
Tisch said the suspected killer entered the 254th Street home through a backdoor around 10:15 a.m. Monday – and was caught on surveillance footage leaving after terrorizing the elderly victims for nearly five hours.
Frank Olton had been doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire, while both victims were stabbed multiple times, sources said.
Just 14 minutes later, fire alarms went off and firefighters responded to the blaze.
Maureen Olton’s body was found on the first floor, and her husband in the basement, where he had been chained and lifeless before the fire was set, the sources said.
Tragically, police said their first responder son was alerted to the blaze at his parents’ home.
