(NEW YORK) — Wholesale prices unexpectedly dropped in August, clocking in lower than economists expected and defying concerns about a tariff-induced spike in costs suffered by suppliers.
Producer prices fell 0.1% in August, rolling back some of a sharp increase in wholesale prices that took hold in the previous month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday.
Since President Donald Trump began escalating tariffs earlier this year, the monthly wholesale-price measure has drawn close attention as an indicator of a potential pass through to consumer prices.
In July, producer prices rose 0.9%, exceeding economists’ expectations and stoking fear of an eventual hike in prices paid by shoppers. The downshift in wholesale prices last month could ease some of those worries, though analysts will gain further clarity from consumer price data scheduled to be released on Thursday.
The wholesale price data on Wednesday held some cause for concern, however. A measure of core producer prices – which strips out volatile prices for food and energy – jumped 0.3% in August, which marked the fourth consecutive month of increases for that measure.
Overall, wholesale prices climbed 2.8% over a year ending in August, which marked the largest one-year jump in the index since March.
The fresh data arrives at a challenging time for the nation’s economy. In recent months, inflation has picked up while hiring has slowed, posing a risk of an economic double-whammy known as “stagflation.”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell recently hinted at the possibility of an interest rate cut, appearing to indicate greater concern for flagging employment growth than for rising prices. Investors widely expect a quarter-point interest rate cut when Fed policymakers meet later this month.
Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was arrested on Aug. 22 for stabbing a 23-year-old woman on Charlotte’s light rail, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is demanding the suspect who was charged for fatally stabbing a 23-year-old Ukrainian woman on a Charlotte light rail be “awarded THE DEATH PENALTY.”
“The ANIMAL who so violently killed the beautiful young lady from Ukraine, who came to America searching for peace and safety, should be given a ‘Quick’ (there is no doubt!) Trial, and only awarded THE DEATH PENALTY. There can be no other option!!!” Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday.
Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, who was arrested on Aug. 22 after he fatally stabbed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of North Carolina with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system, which could make him eligible for the death penalty, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.
“This brutal attack on an innocent woman simply trying to get to her destination is an attack on the American way of life. Of course, crimes like this affect the victim the most — Iryna deserves justice, and we will bring justice to her and her family,” U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said in a statement on Tuesday.
There was no apparent interaction between Brown and Zarutska before the unprovoked stabbing, officials said.
Ferguson described the incident Tuesday as a “terroristic act” and said he and North Carolina FBI Special Agent James Barnacle Jr. spoke to Zarutska’s mother and uncle to alert them of the federal charges. Ferguson said the family is “suffering like any of us would be.”
Zarutska’s family said in a statement on Tuesday they are “heartbroken beyond words” and are “calling attention to a broader crisis in public safety and systemic failure.”
“Iryna came here to find peace and safety, and instead her life was stolen from her in the most horrific way. No family should have to go through this,” the family said.
(NEW YORK) — The sun was getting ready to rise over a rural lake in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, when a sheriff’s deputy shined his flashlight inside Ryan Borgwardt’s minivan parked just yards away from the water’s edge.
There was no one inside the car.
As the deputy took out his binoculars and gazed over the pier to see if he could spot anyone in the distance that morning in August 2024, he almost certainly could not have imagined that not only would Borgwardt not be found stuck in the lake, but would end up being traced across the world to the country of Georgia.
“I guess everything kind of hinged on me dying in the lake,” Borgwardt told investigators in a December 2024 interview obtained by ABC News this week.
A husband and father of three, Borgwardt gained national attention last year after disappearing following an apparent trip to the lake to kayak and resurfacing months later in a video recorded in an undisclosed location where he maintained he was safe.
Borgwardt, who could not be reached for comment for this report, pleaded no contest last month to obstructing an officer and was sentenced to 89 days in jail. He also agreed to pay $30,000 in restitution to law enforcement to cover what was spent searching for him and apologized for his actions at his sentencing.
According to law enforcement, Borgwardt texted his wife of 22 years on the day he went kayaking that he was getting ready to head back to shore.
He never made it home that night. A team of first responders eventually found Borgwardt’s kayak, but he was nowhere to be found.
Now, hundreds of records released by the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office are shedding light on how Borgwardt made it from that Wisconsin lake all the way to Georgia, where he sought to build a life with a woman he met on the internet, according to prosecutors.
Officials previously declined to release these records to ABC News while the case against Borgwardt was pending.
The newly released documents range from receipts for Borgwardt’s bus tickets –from Madison, Wisconsin, to Canada’s Toronto Pearson International Airport — to footage of Borgwardt crossing the border into Canada, and communications between American law enforcement and the woman he was in contact with while he was overseas.
“It is extremely important to explain why we want to speak with you,” Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Matthew Vande Kolk wrote to the woman, who had written in Russian that Ryan had become a good friend of hers over the previous year when she had been going through problems in her life.
“When is the last time that you spoke with Ryan,” Vande Kolk asked in one email. “We need to know he is ok.”
The communications show that Vande Kolk was ultimately able to get in touch with Borgwardt over email and Telegram, a messaging app.
“I realize I created this mess and now everyone is trying to put the pieces together,” Borgwardt wrote in one email to Vande Kolk. “I am really sorry about that. It would have just been much easier if no one looked for me.”
In another email, Borgwardt explained how, back in Wisconsin, he made it from the edge of the lake all the way to the bus station in Madison.
“I kayaked out there with my small fishing net,” he wrote. “I tossed the phone. I inflated a small child inflatable raft good for about 250 lbs. After flipping the kayak, I spent the next 1 – 2 hours trying to paddle back to shore. (seemed like forever) But the winds, waves and the short “toy” paddles didn’t work well that night, but worked enough. I got to shore somewhere across from the area that I parked.”
Borgwardt wrote that he then rode an electric bike he had left in the brush for 66 miles.
“No one will truly ever forgot [sic] what I did, even if they somehow forgive me,” Borgwardt wrote to Vande Kolk. “I can possibly come back to try and clean up as much as possible.”
Borgwardt ultimately made the choice to fly from Batumi, Georgia, back to the United States, where he was ultimately brought in for questioning by the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
“I think the only thing I was keeping secret was where I was at,” Borgwardt told investigators, according to a video of the interview. “I was adamant not to lie … so I really don’t think there’s anything that was a lie. I think I just didn’t say too much.”
Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2025
(NEW YORK) — Don’t be fooled by the lack of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Basin.
The peak of hurricane season is here, and activity could soon ramp up, despite the relative quiet currently occurring in the tropics, according to meteorologists.
The climatological peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is Sept. 10, with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October, on average, according to the National Hurricane Center. Historically speaking, about two-thirds of all Atlantic hurricane season activity occurs between Aug. 20 and Oct. 10.
But the Atlantic Basin remains quiet with no tropical development expected over the next week.
“For the next seven days, things look pretty quiet,” David Zierden, the Florida state climatologist and head of the Florida Climate Center at Florida State University, told ABC News.
However, forecasters anticipate an increase in activity during the second half of the month as conditions become more favorable for tropical cyclone development.
The remainder of September and October will likely be active, Zierden said.
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center long-range Global Tropical Hazards Outlook shows a rising probability of tropical development over the central Atlantic Ocean in the latter part of September, as large-scale environmental conditions gradually become more favorable for tropical cyclone activity.
Tropical weather experts at Colorado State University echo these predictions, saying overall atmospheric conditions, including wind patterns, will shift in a manner that supports a notable increase in activity.
In mid-September, the upper atmosphere and wind shear should become more favorable for the formation and strengthening of storms, Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told ABC News.
Last month, NOAA predicted above-normal activity for the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane season.
The agency forecasted 13 to 18 total named storms with winds of 39 mph or greater, including five to nine storms predicted to become hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or greater and two to five storms expected to become major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph or higher.
The average number of named storms in the Atlantic Basin during one season is 14, with seven of them becoming hurricanes.
So far this season, there have been six named storms. Only one storm has formed into a major hurricane.
Hurricane Erin formed on Aug. 11 and intensified into a Category 5 storm less than a week later. While the hurricane brought a prolonged period of rough surf and dangerous rip currents to the northeastern Caribbean and the East Coast of the U.S., it remained offshore.
Separately, Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall in South Carolina in early July.
The next named storm will be called Gabrielle.
The Atlantic hurricane season has been relatively quiet so far due to hostile atmospheric conditions that discourage the formation of tropical cyclones as well as the dust blowing from the Sahara Desert, Francis said.
September and October often see some of the busiest activity for hurricanes because sea surface temperatures can be at their highest, Zierden said. Higher temperatures provide “ample fuel” for the formation and intensification of tropical cyclones, he added.
Currently, waters in the Gulf and Caribbean are “very warm,” Francis said.
“So when a disturbance does come along, it’ll have plenty of fuel,” Francis said.
During the two busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record — 2020 and 2005 — both years saw about half of the total number of named storms for the season occur after Sept. 3.
Hurricane activity in 2024 demonstrated how active late September and early October can be for tropical development.
Hurricane Helene, which caused devastating flooding in North Carolina, formed on Sept. 24, 2024, while Hurricane Milton, which caused widespread destruction in Florida, formed on Oct. 5, 2024.
During this time of year, tropical activity tends to develop in the Caribbean or Gulf, rather than near Africa, which also complicates response efforts, Francis said.
“That gives people less time to prepare,” she said.
(NEW YORK and LONDON) — Polish airspace was violated by at least 19 Russian drones overnight, the country’s prime minister said, in a torrent of activity that triggered a response from the NATO country’s air force, which scrambled and downed several of the drones.
“Those drones that posed a direct threat were shot down,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said early on Wednesday on social media. “I am in constant communication with the Secretary-General of NATO and our allies.”
Polish and allied aircraft — including Dutch F-35 fighter jets — were airborne overnight to “help ensure safety in Polish skies,” the military said. Those operations ended early on Wednesday, Warsaw said, adding that the search continued for downed drones and potential impact sites.
The country’s military command described the violations as “unprecedented,” saying they amounted to “an act of aggression that posed a real threat to the safety of our citizens.”
Polish authorities did not report any casualties related to the drone incursion.
Tusk said this marked the first time in history that Russian drones had been shot down on NATO territory, which he said “changes the political situation.”
Tusk told parliament on Wednesday that Warsaw had requested the invocation of NATO Article 4. The clause allows a NATO member to convene a meeting of allies to consult on an issue that could threaten its security.
“Today we must say very loudly and clearly to the entire Western world and all our allies — Article 4 is only the beginning of deeper cooperation for the security of our skies and our border, which is NATO’s border, and words alone are by no means enough,” Tusk said.
“This is not just a war for Ukrainians,” he added. “This is a confrontation that Russia has declared against the entire free world.”
Tusk said that at least 19 Russian drones entered the country’s airspace late Tuesday and into early Wednesday, some of which crossed over from Belarus, and at least three were subsequently shot down by Polish and NATO forces.
Poland previously invoked Article 4 on Feb. 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which triggered urgent NATO consultations at the time.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was “consulting closely with Poland,” Allison Hart, a spokesperson for the bloc, said on social media. She confirmed “numerous” drones had entered Poland and said that NATO defenses had been activated.
NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe said in a statement to social media that German Patriot surface-to-air missile systems based in Poland were placed on alert and that an Italian airborne early warning aircraft was deployed. A NATO aerial refueling aircraft was also launched.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday referred journalists’ questions to Russia’s Defense Ministry.
“This is not within our competence, it is the prerogative of the Russian Ministry of Defense,” Peskov told reporters.
Asked to comment on accusations by Europe and NATO that the incident was a Russian provocation, Peskov replied, “The EU and NATO leadership accuse Russia of provocation on a daily basis, most often without even attempting to present any arguments.”
Peskov added that Russia had not received any requests for contact from Poland’s leadership.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the incident as “simply unacceptable.” He in a post to X, “I call on Russia to put an end to this reckless escalation. I reiterate to the Polish people and their government our full solidarity.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in post to X, “Europe is in a fight. A fight for our liberty and our ability to determine our destiny for ourselves.”
“Today, we have seen a reckless and unprecedented violation of Poland and Europe’s [airspace] by more than 10 Russian Shahed drones,” von der Leyen added. “Europe stands in full solidarity with Poland.”
European Union foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas described the incident as “the most serious European airspace violation by Russia since the war began,” adding that “and indications suggest it was intentional, not accidental.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy early on Wednesday described the violation as “another escalation step.”
“An extremely dangerous precedent for Europe,” he said in Ukrainian on the messaging app Telegram.
It was not immediately clear whether Russia had intended to send the drones into NATO airspace. Russian and Ukrainian drones have been known to go off course during long-range strikes due to electronic warfare measures employed by the combatants.
The incursions occurred during a major Russian strike on Ukraine, which the air force in Kyiv said consisted of 415 drones and 35 missiles. Of those, 386 drones and 27 missiles were intercepted or suppressed, the air force said.
The Kremlin did not immediately issue a statement but Zelenskyy positioned the violation as anything but an accident — saying it might have been considered one if it had been just one drone that crossed the border.
Zelenskyy called for consequences for Russia, saying Moscow “must feel that the war cannot be expanded and must be ended.”
Military officials in Poland earlier said the country’s airspace was “repeatedly violated by drone-type objects” in the overnight hours amid Russian strikes on targets in Ukraine.
“An operation is underway aimed at identifying and neutralizing the objects,” the Polish military said in one of its initial statements, each of which urged people to stay at home.
The most threatened areas had been Podlaskie, Mazowieckie and Lubelskie, Poland said. Polish security services said they sent an SMS message to cellphones in the area — sending the type of alert that’s become a nightly occurrence in neighboring Ukraine.
Earlier, the Polish military said it had scrambled jets and was taking “preventative” action during the “massive attack” carried out by Russia on facilities in Ukraine.
“Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness,” the military said in the earlier statement.
Tusk, the Polish prime minister, convened an extraordinary government meeting early on Wednesday, bringing together the country’s emergency and military officials.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who also serves as foreign affairs minister, met prior to that meeting with Andrii Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign affairs minister, according to Poland. Jacek Najder, Poland’s representative to NATO, was also present, the country’s Foreign Ministry said.
“The security of Polish women and men is the greatest priority,” the ministry said prior to the meeting.
Tusk in the emergency cabinet meeting said the there was “no reason to panic,” according to the Chancellery.
“The procedures were implemented correctly, the decision-making process was flawless, and the threat was effectively eliminated thanks to the resolute actions of commanders, soldiers, and our allies,” Tusk said during the meeting, according to his office. “I am deeply grateful.”
The Defense Ministry in Belarus — which is aligned with Russia and has assisted its invasion of Ukraine — said in a statement that its forces also downed drones that went off course “as a result of the impact of the parties’ electronic warfare assets.”
Minsk said it shared information with neighboring Poland and Lithuania regarding the incoming drones. “This allowed the Polish side to respond promptly to the actions of the drones by scrambling their forces on duty,” the ministry said.
The ministry added that Polish forces had also notified Belarusian forces of incoming unidentified aircraft from Ukrainian territory.
A Lithuanian Defense Ministry official told ABC News that there were no violations of Lithuanian airspace overnight.
In Romania — which borders Ukraine to its southwest — the Defense Ministry said two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled in response to a “group of aerial drones in the area of the Ukrainian town of Valcov, on the border with Romania.”
No drones entered Romanian airspace, the ministry said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — A decomposing female body was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to the singer D4vd, two days after it had been towed from a Los Angeles street, police sources said.
Police responded to an impound lot in Hollywood midday Monday “for a foul odor coming from a vehicle,” Los Angeles police said.
Authorities located a body in the front trunk of the Tesla that was in a state of decomposition, LAPD sources said.
A death investigation is underway, police said.
The Tesla is registered to 20-year-old David Anthony Burke, known professionally as D4vd, according to a senior LAPD source. It is one of several vehicles owned by the musician, with many different people using any of the vehicles at any given time, the source added.
ABC News has reached out to his representative for comment but has not yet received a response.
Investigators will be relying heavily on the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner to identify the victim and to figure out the cause of death, police sources said.
The medical examiner confirmed it was a female’s body but was unable to determine her age, race or ethnicity due to the body being “severely decomposed.”
The victim was about 5-foot-1 with wavy black hair and was wearing a tube top, black leggings, a yellow metal bracelet and metal stud earrings. She also had a tattoo on her right index finger that said “Shhh…”, according to the medical examiner.
The victim appears to have been dead for some time, adding to the complexity of the investigation, which is in its very early stages, the sources said.
Investigators are treating this as a homicide for now, as it will take several days for the coroner to make a determination on the manner of death, according to the senior LAPD source.
The Tesla had been at the impound lot for two days after being found abandoned on a Hollywood street, investigators said.
Investigators intend to talk to the registered owner of the vehicle, as well as anyone else who may be connected to the case, sources said.
D4vd, who first went viral on TikTok, released his debut album in April. The singer, known for his indie, R&B and alt-pop sound, is currently on tour. He is set to perform next on Tuesday in Minneapolis, with a stop in Los Angeles on Sept. 20.
(NEW YORK) — A California woman is facing six years in prison for allegedly registering her dog to vote and casting mail-in ballots in two elections, one of which was counted, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Laura Lee Yourex, 62, of Costa Mesa, was charged with five felonies, including perjury, procuring or offering a false or forged document to be filed, casting a ballot when not entitled to vote and registering a non-existent person to vote.
The dog’s vote was successfully counted in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election but was rejected in the 2022 primary, according to officials.
In 2024, Yourex told the Orange County Registrar of Voters’ Office that she had registered her dog, Maya Jean Yourex, to vote, and the registrar of voters then contacted the District Attorney’s Office.
On her social media, according to the district attorney, Yourex posted a picture of her dog wearing an “I voted” sticker and posing with her ballot in January 2022.
Another post from October 2024 showed a photograph of Maya’s dog tag and a vote-by-mail ballot with the caption, “maya is still getting her ballot” even though the dog had previously passed away, the district attorney’s office said.
Her arraignment was scheduled for Sept. 9 but postponed until Dec. 10, according to ABC Los Angeles station, KABC.
(NEW YORK) — The United States death rate decreased by 3.8% in 2024 as COVID fell out of the top 10 leading causes of death for the first time in four years, new provisional federal data shows.
The overall rate declined from 750.5 per 100,000 people in 2023 to 722 per 100,000, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
This marks the lowest death rate recorded since 2020, during the first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and follows declines that began in 2022.
The report also found that overall deaths fell from 3.09 million in 2023 to 3.07 million in 2024.
Additionally, the report showed the three leading causes of death stayed the same from 2023 to 2024, with heart disease as the leading cause, followed by cancer and unintentional injury, respectively.
Suicide replaced COVID-19 as the 10th leading underlying cause of death, knocking the disease off the top 10 list for the first time since 2020.
“‘It’s pretty noteworthy that COVID-19 fell off the top 10 and suicide, which had been had fallen off in recent years, is … ranked again,” Farida Ahmad, corresponding author of the report and health scientist at NCHS, told ABC News. “I think that’s a pretty interesting finding given where we spent the last five years.”
Ahmad said fewer deaths from COVID in 2024 compared to 2023 may be a reason behind the 3.8% decline.
“Ever since it came onto the scene in 2020, COVID was one of the top 10 leading causes of death,” Ahmad said. “It started off as a third-leading cause and, in 2024, we see that it’s not ranked at all, actually. So, it’s still among the 15 leading causes, but not in the top 10.”
Dr. Sharonne Hayes, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, agreed that fewer cases of COVID-19 are likely driving the reduction in mortality.
“I think there’s a little less COVID, right? I mean, that’s part of it,” she told ABC News. “I think that the pandemic was such a time of both COVID-related deaths, but also just rising risk factors, particularly around cardiovascular disease, people’s lifestyles were less healthy. And maybe we are coming back to more of where we are before.”
Ahmad said another driver for the drop in deaths could be the decline in drug overdose deaths.
A CDC report published in May found that U.S. drug overdose deaths fell by nearly 27% in 2024 to the lowest levels seen in five years.
Dr. Katie Schmitz, a visiting professor of medicine in the department of medicine and cancer epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh, told ABC News that leading causes of death continue to be cardiac disease and cancer-related deaths due to an aging population, as well as underlying factors such as obesity.
Schmitz noted that we have an increase in proportion of the population with these co-morbidities and it’s important to highlight that access to health care can be limited, particularly for rural populations.
Other leading causes of death in the report included stroke, chronic lower respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.
The report also found that death rates decreased from 2023 to 2024 among all racial/ethnic groups. Rates in 2024 were lowest for multiracial people at 332.3 per 100,000 and highest for the Black population at 884 per 100,000.
Death rates decreased from 2023 to 2024 for all age groups except infants younger than one year old, according to the report. Death rates in 2024 were lowest for children between ages 5 and 14 at 14.4 per 100,000 and highest for people age 85 and older at 13,835.5 per 100,000.
Schmitz said investments should be made that focus on prevention — such as addressing rising obesity rates — and early screenings, which can vary with socioeconomic status and geography.
Hayes said making lifestyle changes is hard, but it is one of the best ways to lower the risk of some of the leading causes of death, including heart disease and cancer.
“Whether it’s eating more vegetables, [decreasing] saturated fat, maintaining a healthy weight is going to help stroke, cancer, and heart disease risk as well as liver disease, kidney disease, and diabetes,” she said. “Aside from unintentional injury and suicide, virtually every other thing of that list would be impacted by lifestyle.”
(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — A decomposing body was found in the trunk of a Tesla two days after it had been towed from a Los Angeles street, police sources said.
Police responded to an impound lot in Hollywood midday Monday “for a foul odor coming from a vehicle,” Los Angeles police said.
Authorities located a body in the front trunk of the Tesla that was in a state of decomposition, LAPD sources said.
A death investigation is underway, police said.
Investigators will be relying heavily on the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner to identify the victim and to figure out the cause of death, sources said.
The victim appears to have been dead for some time, adding to the complexity of the investigation, which is in its very early stages, sources said.
Investigators are treating this as a homicide for now, as it will take several days for the coroner to make a determination on the manner of death, according to a senior LAPD source.
Investigators intend to talk to the registered owner of the vehicle, as well as anyone else who may be connected to the case, sources said.
Police have not released the name of the Tesla’s owner.
The Tesla had been at the impound lot for two days after being found abandoned on a Hollywood street, investigators said.
(NEW YORK) — New York City police are searching for a man on parole who allegedly broke into a Queens home, killed a couple and set their house on fire, authorities said.
Frank Olton, 76, was found on Monday tied to a pole in his basement suffering from multiple stab wounds, and his wife Maureen Olton, 77, was found on the house’s first floor, severely burned, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The Oltons’ son, a New York City Fire Department paramedic, was alerted to the fire by an alarm system and he responded to the house, police said.
There’s no known connection between the victims and the suspect, identified as 42-year-old Jamel McGriff, Tisch said.
Detectives believe the suspect spent five hours in the victims’ house, according to sources, likely searching for property to steal before setting it ablaze. Surveillance video showed the suspect leaving the home around 3 p.m., police said.
Witnesses reported a man knocking on a neighbor’s door on Monday morning, asking to charge his phone, Tisch said, and that neighbor turned the suspect away. Surveillance video showed the suspect going to the victims’ house and Frank Olton letting him in, according to the commissioner.
Tisch called the crime a “horrific double homicide, robbery and arson.”
She said police are asking for the public’s help to find McGriff, warning that he should be considered armed and dangerous.
McGriff, who is out on parole for first-degree robbery, “has a lengthy violent criminal history stretching back 30 years,” Tisch said. He failed to register as a sex offender in November 2024 “which should have violated his parole,” she said, and he is also wanted for two robberies in Manhattan this summer.
“This suspect’s MO is to go door-to-door asking for some kind of assistance until he can gain entry — so do not allow anyone you don’t know or who you are not expecting into your home,” she stressed.
