Police Arrest Suspect in Death of Queens Couple in Burning House

New York|Police Arrest Suspect in Death of Queens Couple in Burning House

The New York Police Department on Wednesday evening arrested a man wanted in connection with robbing and killing a couple in their 70s and setting their Queens home ablaze, ending a two-day search.

The man, Jamel McGriff, 42, was taken into custody shortly before 6 p.m., after officers tracked him to Midtown Manhattan, the police said. The charges against him were not immediately released.

In a social media post announcing the arrest, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch commended the officers and detectives who had found Mr. McGriff and made the arrest.

“He was spotted in Midtown Manhattan by eagle-eyed cops who didn’t hesitate before jumping into action,” she wrote. “Thank you to the best detectives and the best cops in the world.”

The crime burst into view on Monday afternoon when the couple, Frank and Maureen Olton, 76 and 77, were discovered, one of them tied to a pole, inside the burned remains of their home. They were pronounced dead by emergency medical workers.

Mr. McGriff arrived in the Bellerose section of Queens, a tree-lined residential neighborhood near the border of Nassau County, around 10 a.m. Monday and began knocking on doors asking to come inside, according to the police.

He first tried to enter another house, asking if he could come inside to charge his phone, but was turned away. Mr. McGriff then walked to Mr. and Mrs. Olton’s home, a gray two-story house set back on the corner of 254th Street and 87th Drive, and tried again. This time, Mr. McGriff was met by Mr. Olton. Surveillance video shows the two men interacting and eventually entering the house together, the police said.

It was not immediately clear what exactly transpired inside the house, but, according to the police, Mr. McGriff set it on fire before leaving.

He was seen on surveillance video exiting the house five hours after he had entered, carrying two bags. Fifteen minutes later, just before 3:30 p.m., firefighters and police officers responded to a 911 call about a fire. The couple’s son, an emergency medical technician who was off duty at the time, had been alerted to the blaze by the house’s alarm system and had called for help, the police said.

When the fire was extinguished, firefighters entered the home and discovered a chilling scene: Mr. Olton was found tied to a pole in the basement with wounds on his body and Mrs. Olton was found badly burned on the home’s first floor.

They were pronounced dead soon after.

The killing and the subsequent manhunt prompted horror and outrage in Bellerose and beyond, as residents grappled with the attack and the escape of man who the police say has a lengthy and violent criminal history.

According to the police, Mr. McGriff had been out on parole after serving more than 16 years for a first-degree robbery he committed in 2006. In November, Mr. McGriff, a sex offender, was charged with failing to register a change to his address. He is also wanted in connection with robberies at a GameStop and a Verizon store in Manhattan in July and August, and he was seen on surveillance video the day after the fire pawning two mobile phones in the Bronx, the police said.

The Police Department tracked Mr. McGriff through Queens and the Bronx this week before ultimately apprehending him in the heart of Manhattan, officials said.

The department monitored Mr. McGriff’s credit card use to follow his movements. On Wednesday, the police used that information to track him to Midtown, where officers identified him from a photo and took him into custody.

Mr. McGriff was then taken to the 107th Precinct in Queens, where he was being processed on Wednesday evening, the police said.