Gary Wayne Billups kills himself to avoid charges in grim cold case

His slain corpse was discovered bloody and naked except for a pair of socks nearly four decades ago. Now, Orison James “Jim” Chafin can rest. 

A 39-year-old cold case murder of a Korean war veteran whose body was found in a Glendale cemetery is cold no more. Chafin’s body was dumped at Resthaven Park Cemetery in Glendale on August 8, 1987. The 54-year-old’s throat was slit and he was wearing only socks. His clothing was never recovered. 

At the time of the killing, investigators collected DNA evidence at the scene — beer bottles and cigarette butts — and identified three different male DNA profiles which were entered into the Combined DNA Index System, a national DNA database known as CODIS.  But they never found a match — until now. 

DNA evidence identified Chafin’s suspected killer as Gary Wayne Billups, a resident of Wittman, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and the Glendale Police Department announced on Monday. 

“For a long time, it seemed the person responsible would never be named,” said Mayes. “Today we can say who was involved in his death.”

The case against Billups, however, will never go to trial. Billups, 68, killed himself on June 24 — five days after investigators interviewed him at the station and collected a sample of his DNA. The sample confirmed him as a suspect a few weeks later on Aug. 6 — just shy of the 39 year anniversary of the discovery of Chafin’s body in the cemetery. 

The state attorney general’s cold case unit reopened Chafin’s case with the Glendale Police Department in 2025. They identified Billups, who was not interviewed previously, as a possible suspect by going through the files and reinterviewing surviving witnesses. 

Witnesses identified Billups as being at a local bar, Critters Lounge, with Chafin and two others the night before Chafin’s body was found. Investigators first tried to speak with him in March 2026 but he refused. On June 19, he agreed to an interview at the Surprise Police Department and voluntarily gave a sample of his DNA. In his interview he denied living in Glendale at the time of the murder or knowing Chafin. 

The Glendale Police Department said it was proud of the detectives who worked the case, now and 40 years ago. 

“This is a prime example,” the department said, “of the importance of preserving critical evidence.”  

The other two men investigated in connection with Chafin’s murder have also died, officials said, closing off any possibility of further inquiry.