A suspected AI romance scam involving a fake 'Tom Selleck' persona has been linked to the deaths of an elderly California couple, after authorities found Donald and Karen Whitaker dead in their Bermuda Dunes home on 15 May following a welfare check, with investigators treating the case as a murder-suicide.
Riverside County Sheriff's Office said both victims, aged 80 and 79, had suffered 'traumatic injuries,' though the circumstances leading to their deaths remain under investigation. What has emerged since, largely through accounts from those close to the couple, is a months-long entanglement with an alleged celebrity impersonation scam that appears to have placed severe financial and emotional strain on the household.
