Santa Rosa County Jail
A U.S. Coast Guard veteran and grownup performer accused of executing a father of two with a single bullet to the again of the pinnacle claimed he had beforehand sexually assaulted her, vowing shortly earlier than the killing that he would “get his,” in response to a court docket transcript obtained by The Every day Beast.
Chelsea Perkins, 31, fatally shot aspiring musician and Virginia transplant Matthew John Dunmire, additionally 31, on March 6, 2021, prosecutors allege. The 2 had spent the earlier night time collectively at an Airbnb, and the subsequent morning headed to a butterfly sanctuary in Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley Nationwide Park. Dunmire’s physique was discovered 4 days later close to a cemetery inside the park.
FBI brokers say they subsequently unearthed a draft of a suicide notice on Perkins’ cellphone, which she tried, unsuccessfully, to delete, suggesting Perkins deliberate to cowl up the crime by making it seem Dunmire had killed himself, states the transcript, which won't be launched in full till Might.
The doc lays out gorgeous new particulars divulged in a Feb. 1 detention listening to, throughout which it emerged that Perkins had 5 years in the past accused Dunmire of raping her. No motive has beforehand been revealed by investigators.
Within the listening to, FBI Particular Agent Gregory Craig mentioned Perkins and Dunmire first met in Virginia, with out providing additional particulars about their actual relationship. In March 2017, Perkins filed a grievance with Virginia Seaside police alleging that Dunmire had raped her the earlier week, Craig testified.
“[T]he investigators there, throughout their subsequent investigation, didn't really feel that there have been—they may go ahead with a prosecution, so Matthew was not prosecuted for the alleged rape of Chelsea,” he mentioned.
(The Every day Beast usually doesn't title victims of sexual assault wiithout their permission, however Perkins was beforehand and extensively named as a suspect in Dunmire’s homicide earlier than her rape allegation grew to become public.)
After Dunmire’s loss of life, however earlier than Perkins was arrested, the FBI received a search warrant for Perkins’ cellphone and social media accounts. In a collection of personal Instagram messages between Perkins and a consumer with the deal with “Metallic Gary Strong” roughly every week earlier than Dunmire was killed, Perkins appeared disturbed that the social community’s algorithm had steered Dunmire as a “pal.”
“That man is a strolling turd,” Metallic Gary Strong responded, in response to the transcript.
“LMFAO,” Perkins replied. “I don’t understand how folks nonetheless fuck with him.”
“Me neither,” Metallic Gary Strong wrote again. “Like, how the fuck does he reside with himself?”
After some extra back-and-forth, Perkins mentioned, “He'll get his sometime…”
“Sure he'll,” Metallic Gary Strong wrote. “Karma is an evil bitch.”
4 days later, Perkins re-established contact with Dunmire by way of Fb Messenger, utilizing her stage title, Selena Savage, Craig mentioned in court docket.
On March 3, 2021, Dunmire despatched Perkins a pal request on Fb, which she accepted, in response to Craig’s testimony. That very same day, Perkins posted to her Fb web page, “Useless males inform no tail [sic.]”
Two days later, Perkins set off on an “hours-long highway journey” to Cleveland, prosecutors say, “armed with a 9mm firearm.”
That night, Dunmire and a few pals from the screen-printing store the place he labored went out to a bar referred to as the Tiki Underground. There, he advised his colleagues that a girl was coming in from out of city to see him, and that she was staying the night time in Cleveland, in response to a December 2021 legal grievance charging Perkins with homicide.
“I take into consideration every week previous to all of this, Matthew was so excited as a result of he was attempting to cease consuming,” considered one of Dunmire’s co-workers advised The Every day Beast shortly after Perkins was arrested. “He was actually happy with himself, he was turning his life round. I keep in mind he made a remark about having his entire life forward of him—after which this occurred.”
At round 6 p.m., a white Good automotive with Virginia plates pulled up and Dunmire received in. The automobile had a Coast Guard sticker on the again window, in addition to a Bauhaus sticker and a 3rd studying, “Virginia is for Lovers.” The 2 headed for an Airbnb Perkins booked utilizing a bank card in her personal title, stopping alongside the best way for cigarettes and a bottle of water. Later, Perkins messaged a tattoo artist in Detroit saying she’d be there the subsequent day after “making a cease first,” the grievance states.
After spending the night time collectively, Perkins and Dunmire went to the character protect. Earlier than they left the Airbnb, Dunmire tried to easy issues over along with his girlfriend, saying that he hadn’t slept with Perkins.
“Effectively I pissed this chick off anyway so I hope yer completely satisfied,” he wrote.
Upon arriving on the park, Perkins “walked with [Dunmire] deep into the woods,” states a submitting by prosecutors arguing in opposition to releasing Perkins on bond. “As soon as they had been far sufficient away from witnesses, [Perkins] positioned the muzzle of the pistol in opposition to the again of [Dunmire’s] head and pulled the set off. [Perkins] then left him within the woods, walked again to her automotive and drove to Detroit to get a tattoo.”
On the best way, Perkins, who has two youngsters, aged 7 and 9, “deleted the content material of any Fb messages with [Dunmire], eliminated him from her pals record, and deactivated her Fb account totally,” the movement continues. Perkins allegedly “later drafted and deleted what seems to be a draft of a suicide notice, which acknowledged: ‘In case you are studying this, it's too late. I’m sorry I beat you, and I raped a few chicks years in the past. I'm a shitty individual and paid for my sins with blood. I’ve determined to go away this merciless world. Sorry I didn’t warn you first.’”
FBI brokers searched Perkins’ dwelling in late March 2021, seizing clothes, digital gadgets, and weapons from her dwelling, protection attorneys argued in attempting to win Perkins’ launch pending trial. Perkins was conscious that she was below investigation, however didn't flee or commit any additional crimes earlier than she was arrested on Dec. 21, her attorneys mentioned within the submitting.
Investigators caught up along with her after piecing collectively EZ-Cross knowledge, surveillance video, on-line data, witness statements, DNA and ballistics proof, and motorized vehicle data, which confirmed the white Good automotive Perkins drove to Cleveland was registered to her husband, John.
John Perkins, a Coast Guardsman quickly stationed in Florida for coaching, is prepared to “welcome her again into his dwelling even below this cloud,” which the protection claimed “speaks volumes not simply to her traits, but additionally to her character.” In its place that might maintain her in Ohio, Perkins’ attorneys mentioned a cousin volunteered to take her in till her trial begins—a proposal later rescinded, when the relative discovered exactly what the costs in opposition to Perkins entailed.
Concurring with prosecutors, who mentioned Perkins stays a critical flight threat, U.S. District Court docket Choose Solomon Oliver, Jr. ordered Perkins to stay jailed.
Dunmire’s former co-worker advised The Every day Beast again in December that Dunmire had moved to Ohio from Virginia “to raised his life.”
“He all the time appeared so completely satisfied, and it simply made my day,” she mentioned. “I’m fairly choosy concerning the individuals who I turn into pals with, and he was one of many folks I felt like I may actually join with. The night time that it occurred, my coworkers and he had been on the Tiki lounge… I’m kicking myself, [because] I ended up not going. I want I used to be there, it might’ve been the final time I may have hung out with him.”
If convicted, Perkins faces a most sentence of life in jail. Her court-appointed attorneys, Stephen C. Newman, Catherine Adinaro Shusky, and Alvaro L. DeCola, didn't instantly reply to a request for remark.