An Alexandria woman has admitted to murder at an Ohio national park after driving hundreds of miles to meet her victim.
Chelsea Perkins, 35, from Alexandria, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and using a firearm during a violent crime on federal property. She entered her plea on May 27 in a federal court in Cleveland, Ohio.
According to prosecutors, Perkins traveled from Alexandria to Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio on March 6, 2021. She met Matthew Dunmire, someone she knew previously, and while hiking off-trail in a wooded area, shot him in the back of the head with a gun she brought from Virginia.
Investigators pieced together the crime using GPS data, DNA evidence, social media and phone records, and ballistics analysis. A search of Perkins’ home in Virginia turned up three 9mm pistols, with one found in a purse containing her ID.
If the court accepts the plea deal, Perkins is facing 20 to 25 years in prison. Her sentencing is set for September 9.
The case involved a joint effort from several agencies, including the FBI Cleveland Division, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the National Park Service. Federal prosecutors Scott Zarzycki, Margaret A. Kane, and Adam J. Joines are handling the case.
