Coast Guard vet Chelsea Perkins charged with murder in national park wanted revenge for rape, prosecutors suggest

A US Coast Guard veteran and adult entertainer accused of executing a father-of-two with a single bullet to the back of the head claims he once sexually assaulted her, swearing shortly before the murder that he would “get his own”. according to a court transcript obtained by The Daily Beast.

Chelsea Perkins, 31, fatally shot aspiring musician and Virginia transplant recipient Matthew John Dunmire, also 31, on March 6, 2021, prosecutors say. The two had spent the previous night together at an Airbnb and the next morning they headed to a butterfly sanctuary in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio. Dunmire’s body was found four days later near a cemetery in the park.

FBI agents say they later discovered a draft of a suicide note on Perkins’ phone, which she tried, unsuccessfully, to delete, suggesting Perkins planned to cover up the crime by pretending that Dunmire had committed suicide, says the transcript, which won’t be released in its entirety until May.

The document lays out startling new details leaked at a February 1 detention hearing, during which it emerged that Perkins had accused Dunmire five years ago of raping her. No motive has so far been revealed by investigators.

During the hearing, FBI Special Agent Gregory Craig said Perkins and Dunmire first met in Virginia, without giving further details about their exact relationship. In March 2017, Perkins filed a complaint with Virginia Beach police alleging that Dunmire had raped her the previous week, Craig testified.

“[T]”Investigators there, during their subsequent investigation, did not feel there were any – they could press charges, so Matthew was not prosecuted for the alleged Chelsea rape,” said he declared.

(The Daily Beast doesn’t usually name sexual assault victims without their permission, but Perkins was once widely cited as a suspect in Dunmire’s murder before her rape allegation became public.)

After Dunmire’s death, but before Perkins’ arrest, the FBI obtained a search warrant for Perkins’ phone and social media accounts. In a series of private Instagram messages between Perkins and another user about a week before Dunmire’s death, Perkins appeared troubled that the social network’s algorithm had suggested Dunmire as a “friend”.

“This guy is a walking turd,” the Instagram user replied, according to the transcript.

“LMFAO,” Perkins replied. “I don’t know how people still fuck with him.”

“Me neither,” replied the other user. “Like, how the hell does he live with himself?”

After a few more back and forths, Perkins said, “He’ll have his one day…”

“Yes he will,” the other person wrote. “Karma is an evil bitch.”

Four days later, Perkins reestablished contact with Dunmire via Facebook Messenger, using her stage name, Selena Savage, Craig told the court.

On March 3, 2021, Dunmire sent Perkins a friend request on Facebook, which she accepted, according to Craig’s testimony. On the same day, Perkins posted on his Facebook page: “Dead men don’t tell [sic.]”

Two days later, Perkins embarked on a “one-hour road trip” to Cleveland, prosecutors said, “armed with a 9mm firearm.”

That evening, Dunmire and some friends from the screen printing studio where he worked went to a bar called the Tiki Underground. There he told his colleagues that a woman had come from out of town to see him and was spending the night in Cleveland, according to a December 2021 criminal complaint charging Perkins with murder.

“I think about a week before all of this, Matthew was so excited because he was trying to quit drinking,” one of Dunmire’s colleagues told The Daily Beast shortly after Perkins’ arrest. “He was really proud of himself, he was changing his life. I remember he made a comment about how he had his whole life ahead of him, and then it happened.

Around 6 p.m., a white Smart car with Virginia plates pulled up and Dunmire got in. The vehicle had a Coast Guard decal on the rear window, along with a Bauhaus decal and a third reading, “Virginia is for Lovers.” The two headed to an Airbnb Perkins booked with a credit card in his name, stopping along the way for cigarettes and a bottle of water. Later, Perkins messaged a Detroit tattoo artist saying she would be there the next day after “making a first stop,” the complaint states.

After spending the night together, Perkins and Dunmire went to the nature reserve. Before leaving Airbnb, Dunmire tried to work things out with his girlfriend, claiming he hadn’t slept with Perkins.

“Well I still pissed that chick off so I hope you’re happy,” he wrote.

Arriving at the park, Perkins “walked with [Dunmire] deep in the woods,” says a filing by prosecutors arguing against releasing Perkins on bail. “Once they were far enough away from the witnesses, [Perkins] placed the muzzle of the gun against the back of [Dunmire’s] head and pulled the trigger. [Perkins] then left him in the woods, returned to his car and drove to Detroit to get a tattoo.

Along the way, Perkins, who has two children, aged 7 and 9, “deleted the content of all Facebook posts with [Dunmire], removed him from his friends list and completely deactivated his Facebook account,” the motion continues. Perkins allegedly “later wrote and deleted what appears to be a draft of a suicide note, which stated, ‘If you’re reading this, it’s too late. I’m sorry I beat you up, and I raped a few girls years ago. I’m a shitty person and I paid for my sins with blood. I have decided to leave this cruel world. Sorry for not warning you before.'”

FBI agents searched Perkins’ home in late March 2021, seizing clothing, electronics and weapons from her home, defense attorneys argued in an attempt to secure Perkins’ release pending trial. Perkins knew she was under investigation, but did not flee or commit any other crimes before her Dec. 21 arrest, her lawyers said in the filing.

Investigators caught up with her after gathering EZ-Pass data, surveillance videos, online records, witness statements, DNA and ballistics evidence and motor vehicle records, which showed the white Smart car that Perkins drove in Cleveland was registered in the name of her husband, John.

John Perkins, a Coast Guardsman temporarily stationed in Florida for training, is ready to “welcome him back into his home even under this cloud,” which the defense says “says a lot not only about his characteristics , but also on his character”. As an alternative that would keep her in Ohio, Perkins’ lawyers said a cousin had volunteered to foster her until her trial began – an offer later rescinded when the relative found out precisely what that the charges against Perkins involved.

In agreement with prosecutors, who have said Perkins remains a serious flight risk, U.S. District Court Judge Solomon Oliver, Jr. ordered Perkins to remain in jail.

Dunmire’s former colleague told The Daily Beast in December that Dunmire moved from Virginia to Ohio “to improve his life.”

“He always seemed so happy and it made my day,” she said. “I’m pretty picky about who I befriend, and he was one of the people I felt I could really connect with. The night it happened he and my coworkers were at the Tiki lounge… I kick myself, [because] I ended up not going. I wish I was there, it would have been the last time I could have spent time with him.

If convicted, Perkins faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. His court-appointed attorneys, Stephen C. Newman, Catherine Adinaro Shusky and Alvaro L. DeCola, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.