Friend remembers Bermuda Dunes couple found dead, warns others after learning wife was targeted by online scam

BERMUDA DUNES, Calif. (KESQ) A close friend of the elderly couple found dead inside their home at Bermuda Dunes Country Club last week says one of the victims had been sending thousands of dollars to an online scammer posing as actor Tom Selleck in the months before their deaths.

Donald Whitaker, 80, and his wife Karen, 79, were found with traumatic injuries inside their home on Montego Bay Drive on Friday, May 15, after deputies from the Thermal Sheriff's Station responded to a welfare check just before noon, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

The sheriff's Central Homicide Unit is leading the investigation. No arrests have been made and investigators have not said how the couple was killed.

Joy Miedecke, a friend of the Whitakers through the East Valley Republican Women Patriots, told News Channel 3 the scam started when someone texted Karen after she posted a tribute to a deceased school friend on Facebook.

"They found her phone number and they text messaged her and they said they were Tom Selleck," Miedecke said. "And that they knew this girl and had dated her. And now we have something in common. And that started the whole thing."

Miedecke said Karen began sending money through untraceable gift cards -- first $80, then $800, then more.

"She was living and breathing this part of her life, and they were constantly texting her every single day, text after text, and people around her started noticing," she said.

Miedecke said she called the sheriff's department herself and that Adult Protective Services visited the Whitakers' home multiple times. Karen's family eventually cut up her credit cards and removed her from accounts, but Miedecke said Karen found ways to keep sending money.

"We even had somebody who had a relationship with somebody that works for Tom Selleck go and talk to her and say, Tom Selleck does not do this," Miedecke said. "It didn't matter. She couldn't stop believing it."

Miedecke described Donald. who Joy said friends knew as Jim, as a retired dentist who had just finished hand-cutting tile and glass throughout their home. She said Karen worked in his dental practice and the couple moved from Newport Beach to Bermuda Dunes Country Club, where they had lived full-time for about 20 years.

"He was a great man. I mean, we just loved him," Miedecke said. "They had a great life in Newport Beach with their family growing up and his practice."

A neighbor who asked not to be identified confirmed the Whitakers had been permanent residents for roughly two decades.

Miedecke said she decided to speak publicly because she wants people to recognize the warning signs of online scams targeting the elderly.

"I want people to understand that this isn't just a scam and somebody lost all their money," she said.

The East Valley Republican Women Patriots, where Karen was an active member, told News Channel 3 the organization is giving the family privacy at this time.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department has not released details about the nature of the couple's injuries or whether a suspect is at large.

The case remains an active homicide investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Central Homicide Investigator Hood at (951) 955-2777 or Thermal Station Investigator Gutierrez at (760) 863-8990.