DNA links Arizona man who died by suicide to 1987 cemetery murder of Navy veteran

The DNA of an Arizona man who died by suicide earlier this year has connected him to the unsolved slaying of a Navy veteran whose body was dumped in a cemetery four decades ago, prosecutors said.

Orison James “Jim” Chafin was 54 when he was killed on Aug. 7, 1987, and investigators now believe the homicide was committed by Gary Wayne Billups, according to a statement issued Tuesday by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

Billups was 68 when he died by suicide on June 24, days after he submitted DNA to investigators, authorities said.

Chafin’s body was found at Resthaven Cemetery in Glendale, his throat cut and wearing only socks, officials said.

In the early morning hours of Aug. 8, 1987, witnesses driving through the cemetery spotted a parked midsize sedan, which then “fled across the dirt and sidewalk,” according to the AG’s statement. Chafin’s body was found near where the car had been parked.

Chafin had spent the afternoon and evening of Aug. 7 drinking at Critters Lounge, about 2 miles from where his body was found, prosecutors said. Detectives collected beer bottles and cigarette butts from the bar, and testing produced three male DNA profiles, which were entered into the national CODIS database, the AG said.

The case remained unsolved for decades until cold case investigators from the AG’s office and Glendale police took a fresh look at Chafin’s murder last year, Mayes said.

New interviews with surviving witnesses led investigators to Billups, who had lived in Glendale in 1987 but was never interviewed by police at the time, according to Mayes.

A witness placed the victim and suspect together at the since-shuttered Critters Lounge, telling investigators she remembered that “victim James also got into a fight with Gary over James verbally attacking a subject named Mark who was not there to defend himself,” the AG said.

Billups voluntarily spoke to police on June 19, denying he knew Chafin and denying he had lived in Glendale in 1987 — despite arrest records placing him in the city in 1986 and 1987, the AG said. He provided a DNA sample, walked free that day, and died by suicide five days later, before DNA results confirming the match were returned on Aug. 6, state prosecutors said.

“Two other individuals investigated in connection with the case have also since died and could not be contacted further,” according to the AG’s statement. “The Attorney General’s Office and the Glendale Police Department both consider this case closed.”

If you or someone you know is struggling or in emotional distress, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For additional resources, visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.