BERMUDA DUNES — Donald Whitaker, 80, and his wife, Karen Whitaker, 79, were found dead May 15 in their Bermuda Dunes home after someone requested a welfare check, and the Riverside County Sheriff's Office said officials believe the couple died in a murder-suicide. Both had traumatic injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities responded to the couple's home at Bermuda Dunes Country Club shortly before noon that Friday. The sheriff's office said Karen Whitaker had been a victim of financial elder abuse. Investigators have not revealed how the couple was killed, and no arrests have been made. There is no evidence that the unknown scammer or scammers were involved in the deaths, and the incident remains under investigation.

Donald Whitaker was a retired dentist. Karen Whitaker worked in his dental practice before they relocated from Newport Beach to Bermuda Dunes Country Club roughly 20 years ago.

Joy Miedecke, 81, who had known the couple for more than a decade and met Karen Whitaker through the East Valley Republican Women Patriots club, said the alleged scam began about a year earlier after Karen Whitaker posted memories of a high school friend who had died. Days later, someone messaged her saying they also knew the deceased friend, and she shared her phone number believing they had something in common.

"Somebody got a hold of her on Facebook and said they were Tom Selleck, and that they had dated this girl years ago," Miedecke said. In November, the person first asked Karen Whitaker to buy an $80 ticket to an event in the area and to send the money via a gift card. "He told her how to send it, and she immediately did," he said.

The scammer later told Karen Whitaker the event had been canceled, then offered to hold it again and told her she could buy a whole table for $800, which she immediately sent. The requests continued to increase. When she told her friends about the messages, they became concerned.

Miedecke contacted the Riverside County Sheriff's Office, and deputies spoke to Karen Whitaker and provided proof that it was a scam. "No, that's not Tom Selleck. This is a scam," he said. He later asked the sheriff's office to involve adult protective services, and Adult Protective Services visited the Whitakers' home multiple times.

Donald Whitaker first learned about the scam when Adult Protective Services workers visited the home in January. He and the couple's adult children cut up Karen Whitaker's credit cards and closed her financial accounts, but she still found ways to send money and continued texting the scammer day and night. The day before their deaths, she asked her friends for money.

People aged 60 and older lost nearly $8 billion to cyber and phone scams in 2025. The Federal Trade Commission warns that scammers often instruct victims to buy a gift card and share the numbers on the back.