California country club double homicide may be linked to Tom Selleck imposter

Deputies responded to a welfare check at a residence in Bermuda Dunes, a gated country club community near Palm Springs. Donald Whitaker, 80, and Karen Whitaker, 79, were found inside the home with traumatic injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit reported the case as ongoing and provided no further details, including cause of death, injury nature, or whether a suspect is at large. Neighbors and friends said the couple lived at the club full time for about two decades after relocating from Newport Beach. Karen allegedly spent months sending money to a scammer who posed as Tom Selleck after a Facebook tribute led someone to obtain her phone number and send a text claiming Selleck had known the person she was mourning.

"Deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff's Office responded to a welfare check at a residence on the 79000 block of Montego Bay Drive in Bermuda Dunes, a country club community roughly 20 miles southeast of Palm Springs. Upon arrival, deputies found Donald Whitaker, 80, and his wife Karen Whitaker, 79, inside the home, both "suffering from traumatic injuries," the sheriff's office said. Authorities pronounced them dead at the scene."

"In a statement issued the following day, the Riverside County Sheriff's Central Homicide Unit said only that the case was "ongoing" and that "no further information will be released at this time." No arrests have been made, and investigators have not disclosed the cause of death, the nature of the couple's injuries or whether a suspect is at large."

"Joy Miedecke, who knew the Whitakers through the East Valley Republican Women Patriots, told the outlet that Karen Whitaker had spent months sending money to a scammer who claimed to be "Magnum, P.I." star Tom Selleck. According to Miedecke, the contact began after Karen posted a tribute to a deceased school friend on Facebook. Someone found her phone number and sent a text claiming to be Selleck, saying he had known and dated the woman Karen was mourning."

""That started the whole thing," Miedecke told KESQ-TV. Karen Whitaker allegedly sent thousands of dollars to the fraudster posing as Hollywood actor Tom Selleck, according to the report. Investigators are probing whether the deaths of the retired couple are connected to the elaborate online scam."

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