The maniac who allegedly slaughtered and burned an elderly Queens couple inside their home snatched a souvenir New York Yankees baseball while fleeing the carnage, according to 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 wife, Maureen, inside their Bellerose home before going on a shopping spree on their dime, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced in a statement.
McGriff snatched the baseball belonging to Olton — who he allegedly stabbed several times while tied to a pole in the basement — after forcing his way into the couple’s home on Sept. 8, the indictment said.
The baseball was a 2001 New York Yankees ball that appeared to be stamped with an autograph on behalf of the team and was on display inside the home, according to law enforcement sources.
McGriff also allegedly stole the couple’s credit cards and phones while fleeing the home he allegedly set ablaze, authorities said.
He was spotted walking with a duffel bag from the home, according to prosecutors.
The alleged killer — who was inside the home for about five hours — is accused of going straight to Macy’s in Herald Square to purchase $796.10 worth of clothing on Olton’s card, while providing the cashier with his personal loyalty number for the transactions, prosecutors added.
McGriff also pawned off their two cellphones at a Bronx check-cashing store and and kicked up his feet at the Regal Union Square movie theater to watch “Light of the World” — a 2-D animated story of Jesus — on the Oltons’ dime, according to authorities and prosecutors.
He was nabbed on Sept. 10 after cops used surveillance footage from the theater to track him down in Times Square.
During his arraignment last month, prosecutors revealed that Maureen Olton was still alive when McGriff allegedly set fire to the couple’s home.
She was found in the living room with a fractured larynx and soot in her trachea and one lung, authorities said.
The alleged killer has 11 prior convictions, including four for violent felonies, prosecutors said.
McGriff was on parole following his release from prison in 2023 after serving 17 years of a 20-year sentence for armed robbery and sex crimes.
He was out of prison for more than a year when the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision received word from the NYPD that the career criminal failed to register his address as required on the sex offender registry in 2024, a department spokesman said.
He is now charged with 50 counts, including 13 counts of first-degree murder, two counts of murder in the second degree, two counts of kidnapping in the first degree, among several others charges for the callous killings, court records indicate.
“According to the charges, on a Monday morning in a quiet neighborhood, the defendant forced his way into the home of Frank and Maureen Olton, made multiple attempts to transfer money from their bank account, murdered them, and set the house ablaze before fleeing with their phones and credit cards,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
“He used the credit cards before the NYPD finally caught up with him,” Katz said.
McGriff faces a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
He will return to court on Nov. 12.
The post Maniac who allegedly killed, burned elderly NYC couple snatched Yankees ball from inside their home appeared first on New York Post.
