Navy vet’s murder solved after suspect who gave DNA dies by suicide

A U.S. Navy veteran’s murder has been solved nearly four decades after his body was discovered in a cemetery in Arizona, authorities said. The man identified as the murder suspect had provided a DNA sample to investigators just days before dying by suicide in June, according to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

Orison James “Jim” Chafin was found dead in Glendale, a city outside of Phoenix, on Aug. 8, 1987. Chafin, 54, had served in the Navy during the Korean War and lived alone in a trailer park in the area. A group driving through the cemetery saw his body on the ground that day. His throat was cut, and he was only wearing socks. 

The witnesses said they’d spotted a sedan stopped in one part of the cemetery with its headlights on, and it drove away when they approached it. Later, detectives produced three male DNA profiles from evidence collected at the scene, including some pulled from beer bottles and cigarette butts, but none were ever matched to anyone until recently.

Chafin’s cold case was reopened in 2025. At that point, the investigation led to Gary Wayne Billups, the eventual suspect, who had never been interviewed by police during the original probe into Chafin’s killing. 

Billups initially declined to meet with investigators after they reached out in March, said Mayes. In June, he was located in West Valley, in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and voluntarily participated in an interview with them. 

During that interview, Billups denied knowing Chafin and living in Glendale in 1987, despite arrest records placing him there that year, according to the attorney general. Investigators also previously found that Chafin, Billups and two other people had spent the afternoon before Chafin’s killing at a bar in the city. 

Billups gave a DNA sample before being released by the police department, which later matched DNA recovered from the scene of the murder. He died by suicide several days after that, so no criminal charges could be filed even though the case has now been solved.

“For over 39 years, Jim Chafin’s murder went unsolved,” Mayes said in a statement, noting how Chafin was “a veteran who served his country.”

“For a long time, it seemed the person responsible would never be named. Today we can say who was involved in his death,” he added. “That is possible because Glendale detectives preserved the evidence in 1987 and because our investigators refused to let this case stay cold. No victim in Arizona should be forgotten, no matter how long it takes to find answers.”