The reported scheme had already drawn family, friends, authorities and Adult Protective Services before the May 15 deaths.
BERMUDA DUNES, Calif. — Friends and relatives tried for months to pull 79-year-old Karen Whitaker away from a reported celebrity impersonation scam before she and her husband were found dead May 15.
The deaths of Karen Whitaker and Donald Whitaker, 80, are being investigated by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, which said the couple was found with traumatic injuries during a welfare check at their Bermuda Dunes home. The agency said evidence suggests murder-suicide, but homicide investigators are still reviewing the case. The same update said Karen Whitaker had been a victim of financial elder abuse and that there was no evidence the unknown financial-abuse suspect or suspects were directly involved in the couple’s deaths.
Joy Miedecke, a longtime friend of the couple, said the first warnings came after Karen Whitaker began talking with someone who claimed to be actor Tom Selleck. The contact began, Miedecke said, after Karen wrote online about a friend who had died. The person used that grief as a point of entry, saying he had known the same woman. The messages became frequent, and Karen came to believe the relationship was real. Miedecke said friends noticed the constant texting and began asking questions as the exchanges appeared to take over part of Karen’s daily life.
The requests for money started small, according to Miedecke. She said the person asked for $80 connected to an event, then later asked for larger sums. Karen sent gift cards, Miedecke said, and the payments later reached thousands of dollars. Friends told her the person was not Selleck. One person with a connection to someone who worked around the actor also spoke with Karen and told her the real actor was not contacting her. Miedecke said the message still did not change Karen’s belief. “It didn’t matter,” Miedecke said. “She couldn’t stop believing it.”
As the losses grew, the circle around the Whitakers widened the response. Friends and family contacted the sheriff’s office and Adult Protective Services. Miedecke said workers visited the couple’s home and spoke with Donald and Karen Whitaker. She said that was when Donald first learned the scale of what had happened. Afterward, Donald and the couple’s adult children restricted Karen’s access to financial accounts and cut up credit cards, Miedecke said. The move did not end the payments. Karen still found ways to send money to the person contacting her, according to Miedecke.
The final total remains unknown. Miedecke has estimated that Karen sent at least $30,000. Other reports described repeated gift-card transactions and requests that began in the hundreds of dollars before growing. Sheriff’s officials have not released a dollar figure, the number of transactions or the payment methods tied to their financial-abuse investigation. The agency has also not identified the person or people suspected in the scam. What officials have confirmed is narrower: Karen Whitaker had fallen victim to financial elder abuse before the deaths, and that part of the case remains separate from any direct finding about who caused the fatal injuries.
The May 15 welfare check brought the private crisis into the public record. Deputies from the Thermal Sheriff’s Station were sent to the home in the 79000 block of Montego Bay Drive shortly before noon. They found the couple inside, both suffering from traumatic injuries, and both were pronounced dead at the scene. The Central Homicide Unit responded and assumed the case. The sheriff’s office said no arrests had been made, no further information would be released at that time and investigators were working to identify anyone involved in the incident.
Miedecke said Donald Whitaker had been distraught before his death. She said he was embarrassed by the scam, upset by the money lost and unable to convince his wife that the online contact was false. She also said Karen may have had early-stage dementia, though authorities have not publicly confirmed a medical condition. The sheriff’s office has not released a full account of the couple’s final days. It has said only that evidence suggests murder-suicide and that homicide investigators will complete a thorough investigation before releasing a final disposition.
The couple’s deaths have placed a focus on the people who tried to intervene and the limits of what they could do before the case turned fatal. Friends saw a change, family members acted, authorities took a financial elder-abuse report, and protective-services workers became involved. Still, Karen’s belief in the impersonator continued, according to Miedecke. “We were trying to discourage her, telling her it was a scam, talking to her, doing everything in our power,” she said. “But she would not believe it.”
Riverside County investigators have not announced arrests in the deaths or the reported scam. The homicide case remains active, and officials have not released the cause of death or final investigative finding. The next public milestone is expected to be the sheriff’s final disposition, which has not been scheduled.
Author note: Last updated June 20, 2026.