Woman accused of killing man in Cuyahoga Valley National Park rejects plea deal

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The wife of a U.S. Coast Guardsman accused of shooting and killing a local man in Cuyahoga Valley National Park faced a federal judge Tuesday.

Prosecutors said she traveled from out of state to meet the victim, before killing him and trying to cover up her tracks.

Chelsea Perkins rejected a plea deal that could have spared her life in prison if she were to be found guilty on a first-degree murder charge.

The deal offered 27 to 31 years behind bars, meaning she would be nearly 65 years old when she would get out of prison.

Now the case will likely head to trial and will be in the hands of a jury.

The murder happened in a normally peaceful area of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, near the Terra Vista Cemetery.

Hikers discovered a man’s body one March day back in 2021.

The victim, Matthew John Dunmire, died of a gunshot wound to the back of his head.

According to federal court documents, Dunmire told his coworkers just days before his murder that he was planning to meet a woman coming in from out of town over the weekend.

They were out at a bar together when coworkers saw a woman with brown hair pick him up in a white smart car.

And that was the last time they saw him.

19 News spoke with Andrew Murphy, Dunmire’s best friend, back in 2021.

“He was such a nice person, he was giving, supportive, he was like our cheerleader. He always put other people first other than himself, he was a very selfless person,” he said.

Months after his death, FBI agents arrested Chelsea Perkins, 31 years old at the time, in Florida.

Documents show they tracked the white smart car that picked up the victim back to a U.S. Coast Guardsman who used to live in northern Virginia with his wife Chelsea Perkins and their two young children.

Agents discovered she had reserved an Airbnb in Cleveland and GPS data from Dunmire’s phone showed he had been there.

According to court documents, witnesses later told investigators they saw a woman who matched Chelsea Perkins’ description on the park trail on the day of the murder.

They said she looked suspicious because she was wearing all-black clothing and knee-high boots instead of hiking clothes.

Turnpike records revealed Perkins drove from Ohio to Michigan that same day to get a tattoo.

According to prosecutors, she left an evidence trail behind.

They said her DNA matched samples taken from Dunmire.

Inside the federal courthouse Tuesday, Perkins wore an orange jail jumpsuit while sitting with her defense attorneys and listening to the three federal charges against her-- first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and a firearms charge.

Perkins stuck with her “not guilty” plea.

The death penalty was off the table.

Perkins still has 30 days with this plea deal on the table.

After that, she will be back in court over the summer before heading to trial set for September.