Suspect in killing of elderly NYC couple also tried to drain their bank accounts, prosecutors say

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City man charged with killing an elderly couple and then setting their house on fire during a horrific home invasion last month had also attempted to drain their bank accounts before using their credit cards to go on a shopping spree, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Jamel McGriff, a serial robbery suspect on parole, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to multiple counts of murder, kidnapping and arson, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s office.

The 42-year-old Bronx resident is charged in the Sept. 8 killings of Frank Olton, 76, and Maureen Olton, 77, in their home in the New York City borough of Queens.

Prosecutors say McGriff had been going door-to-door asking residents if he could come in to charge his cellphone. They say he spoke with Frank Olton, who had offered to help, before McGriff forced his way into the couple’s home, where he remained for nearly five hours.

Firefighters responding to a report of a house fire found Frank Olton’s body in the basement tied to a pole and with multiple stab wounds to his neck and chest. Maureen Olton’s badly burned body was found in the living room.

Prosecutors in court Tuesday said McGriff had set the house on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence of the killings, the Daily News reports. They said Maureen Olton appears to have been tied to a chair and strangled to death.

Prosecutors said McGriff also unsuccessfully attempted to transfer more than $10,000 from the couple’s accounts to his own.

He took the couple’s credit cards as well, spending nearly $800 on clothes at a Macy’s in midtown Manhattan just hours after the killings, they said. McGriff was caught the following day after going to a movie in Times Square, prosecutors said in court Tuesday, the Daily News reports.

The convicted felon, who was on parole after serving 16 years in prison, was ordered held until his next court date on Nov. 12. If convicted, McGriff faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Legal Aid Society, which is representing McGriff, said in a statement Tuesday that it is in the early stages of investigating the case and urged the public “not to draw any conclusions until all the facts are known.”