CLEVELAND, Ohio— A Coast Guard veteran who later became an actress in adult films admitted Tuesday to killing a man in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in a revenge plot.
Chelsea Perkins, 35, shot Matthew Dunmire once in the back of the head in the Terra Vista Nature Study Area in Valley View in March 2021, about four years after she had accused Dunmire of rape.
She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and using a gun in a violent crime. The agreement calls for U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver to sentence Perkins to between 20 and 25 years, if he approves the plea.
Oliver set sentencing for Sept. 9.
During the hearing, Perkins mostly answered yes or no to questions about whether she understood the agreement and the rights she gave up by pleading guilty. She softly said “yes” to questions from Oliver if she killed Dunmire and used the gun.
The plea happened less than a week before she was scheduled for trial, where she faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison plus 10 years if convicted on charges that included first-degree murder. Prosecutors dropped the first-degree murder charge as part of the plea agreement.
Perkins had previously rejected a plea offer from prosecutors that called for between 27 years and six months in prison and 31 years and two months.
Federal Public Defender Stephen Newman and prosecutors declined comment after the hearing.
Dunmire, 31, was an aspiring musician who grew up in Virginia and moved to Cleveland.
Perkins in 2017 reported to Virginia Beach police that Dunmire had raped her. Police later told the FBI that they didn’t have enough evidence to file charges against Dunmire, according to court records.
Perkins is married to a U.S. Coast Guard member. After Perkins left the Coast Guard, she became an adult film actress and started an OnlyFans account under the name Selena Savage, according to court records.
In March 2021, Perkins messaged Dunmire on Facebook, drove to Cleveland and spent the night with Dunmire at an AirBnb rental.
The next morning, on March 6, 2021, she drove Dunmire to the national park and the two walked deep into the woods, where she shot him once in the back of the head, prosecutors said.
Hikers found Dunmire’s body three days later. The FBI investigated the case because the shooting happened on federal property.
Agents linked her to the shooting with DNA found on and near Dunmire’s body, traffic cameras and license plate readers, surveillance video and a gun found in Perkins’ backpack during a search of her home that matched the bullet fired at Dunmire.
Perkins denied knowing about the slaying during a March 2021 search of her home, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Zarzycki said during Tuesday’s hearing.
It took the FBI nearly nine months to arrest Perkins.
While waiting for an arrest in her son’s death, Tommie Lynn Dunmire, 54, launched her own investigation to try to find the killer.
She botched it, and on Nov. 5, 2021, she disguised herself as a UPS driver and shot a 30-year-old woman in Washington, D.C., who she mistakenly believed killed her son. The woman survived.
Tommie Lynn Dunmire took her own life after police stopped her car shortly after the shooting. Her longtime partner and Matthew Dunmire’s father, John McQuillen, drove her to the shooting.
He was later sentenced to three years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact to an assault with the intent to kill. He was released from prison in March.
The FBI arrested Perkins on Dec. 9, 2021.
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