Chelsea Perkins, Matthew Dunmire, and the 300-Mile Journey That Ended in Murder

In March 2021, Chelsea Perkins drove more than 300 miles from Virginia to Ohio to meet Matthew Dunmire, a 31-year-old man she had known for years.

They spent a night at a rented property. The following morning, Perkins drove Dunmire to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. They walked beyond a cemetery, crossed deep ravines and continued off the marked trail into a secluded woodland area.

There, Perkins shot Dunmire once in the back of the head.

She left his body in the woods, drove to Michigan and obtained a tattoo of a noose on her forearm before returning to Virginia.

Hikers discovered Dunmire’s body several days later.

Investigators subsequently found Perkins’ DNA on a firearm recovered from her home. They also discovered a deleted note on her phone that appeared to be a fabricated suicide message written in Dunmire’s name.

More than four years after the killing, Perkins pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a federal firearm offense. On September 9, 2025, she was sentenced to 270 months—22½ years—in federal prison.

The case became even more controversial because Perkins had accused Dunmire of raping her approximately four years before the murder. No criminal charges were filed against him concerning that allegation.

That history is relevant, but it requires careful wording. The absence of charges does not prove that the alleged assault did not happen. Conversely, an accusation that was never adjudicated cannot be reported as an established criminal conviction.

What is legally established is that Perkins deliberately took Dunmire into an isolated part of a federal park and killed him.

The Fact-Check Verdict

Verdict: The viral claim is substantially true.

The woman shown is Chelsea Perkins, a former U.S. Coast Guard member who also worked as an adult performer and online model. The man is Matthew Dunmire.

Perkins did travel from Virginia to Ohio to meet him. She drove him to a secluded woodland area inside Cuyahoga Valley National Park and shot him in the back of the head.

She had previously accused Dunmire of raping her. Reports state that the allegation did not result in criminal charges.

The viral post rounds her punishment down to 22 years. The precise federal sentence was 270 months, or 22 years and six months, followed by five years of supervised release.

Perkins pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and using, carrying and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence on federal property.

Who Were Chelsea Perkins and Matthew Dunmire?

Chelsea Perkins and Matthew Dunmire were not strangers meeting for the first time.

Reporting indicates that they had known each other since their school years in Virginia. By 2021, Dunmire was living in Ohio, while Perkins lived in the Alexandria, Virginia, area.

Dunmire was an aspiring musician and a father. He was 31 when he died.

Perkins had served in the U.S. Coast Guard and later worked as an adult performer and subscription-content creator. She was married at the time of the killing and used her husband’s small white Smart car to travel to Ohio.

Descriptions such as “OnlyFans model” appeared frequently in headlines, but that occupation was not what made the killing criminally significant. The central facts concern planning, interstate travel, the firearm, the secluded federal location and the efforts made after the shooting.

Using Perkins’ adult-industry work mainly as a sensational label risks distracting from the evidence.

The Earlier Rape Allegation

Approximately four years before Dunmire’s death, Perkins reported that he had raped her.

Some reports date the allegation to 2017 and say it was reported to police in Virginia Beach. Dunmire was not criminally charged.

This detail is frequently reduced online to one of two opposing conclusions.

Some readers assume the lack of charges means Perkins must have fabricated the allegation. Others assume the allegation itself proves Dunmire committed rape and that the later killing was understandable revenge.