An elderly couple died in an apparent murder-suicide in Bermuda Dunes, sheriff’s investigators said.
Donald Whitaker, 80, and Karen Whitaker, 79, were found dead when someone called asked that deputies check on their welfare, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release Thursday, May 21. The discovery of the bodies came six days earlier, about noon on May 15.
The sheriff’s department said both had “traumatic injuries” but did not specify the nature of the injuries and did not say which one of the couple investigators believe killed the other inside a home in the 79-000 block of Montego Bay Drive.
In the Thursday press release, the sheriff’s department said: “The evidence available suggests this was a murder-suicide. Homicide investigators are still actively investigating the incident and will complete a thorough investigation before releasing a final disposition.”
The early investigation found that Karen Whitaker had been a victim of financial elder abuse, the sheriff’s department said. KESQ earlier reported she had been messaging with and sending money to a scammer posing as actor Tom Selleck, according to a friend of the Whitakers.
But the sheriff’s department said there was no evidence the perpetrator of that scam is “directly involved” in the couple’s deaths. No suspects have been identified in the scam, the sheriff’s department said.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Elderly couple in Bermuda Dunes died in apparent murder-suicide
Reporting by Ani Gasparyan, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
