CLEVELAND, OH - A U.S. Coast Guard veteran was sentenced after admitting that she drove more than 300 miles across state lines to meet with a man whom she then shot and killed at a national park in Northern Ohio, and who now is refusing to pay restitution that would help offset costs for his fatherless children.
In September, 35-year-old Chelsea Perkins was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of Matthew Dunmire at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio.
Perkins pleaded guilty in May to murder in the second-degree and using or carrying and discharging a firearm during, and in relation to, a crime of violence on federal property. She was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release after incarceration.
In a filing, Perkins is objecting to paying nearly $600,000 in restitution, Law & Crime reported. Her lawyers said she agreed to pay for Dunmire's funeral expenses and for one of his family members to attend her sentencing hearing. But paying for his lost income is not something she is apparently willing to do.
The Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) requires convicted defendants to pay restitution for lost future wages. "Courts require that the restitution amount represent the victim's actual loss, not an estimate based on conjecture or speculation," Perkins' attorneys wrote.
Her attorneys argue that the government has not sufficiently shown what that actual loss would be. Dunmire made $15 per hour at a screen print and embroidery business and worked 40 hours per week, according to a letter his employer wrote to the court.
The government in its response to the filing argued that it used "conservative financial figures" in projecting the victim's lifetime earnings. "Importantly, the assumptions provide a basis to show [Dunmire's] capacity to work in the future," the government wrote. "Put differently, the Court's restitution order should reflect what [Dunmire] could have earned had his life not been cut short by defendant's choice to shoot him in the back of the head."
There was a closed-door hearing about the matter, but a judge has yet to issue a decision on the matter. Court documents show that in March 2021, Perkins drove her husband's Smart car from Virginia to Ohio to meet Dunmire, whom she knew. She picked him up, they spend the night at a vacation rental home and on the morning of March 6, Perkins drove Dunmire to the national park.
They hiked past a cemetery, across deep ravines, and off-trail to a wooded area. While on those federal park grounds, Perkins used a loaded firearm she brought with her and shot Dunmire in the back of the head, killing him. She then left the scene and drove to Michigan to get a tattoo of a noose on her forearm before driving back to Virginia.
During the investigation, evidence linked Perkins to the shooting. Federal agents executed a search warrant at her home and found three 9mm pistols, including one inside a woman's purse that also contained Perkins' photo ID. The firearm later tested positive for Perkins' DNA.
Investigators also found a deleted note on Perkins' cellphone that appeared to be a fake suicide note purportedly written by Dunmire that Perkins created around the time that Dunmire's body was found. His body was found by hikers several days after the shooting.
After her short stint in the Coast Guard, Perkins became an OnlyFans model under the name Sabrina Savage. Perkins claimed that Dunmire had raped her a few years earlier in Virginia, but there was not enough evidence to file charges.
In November 2021, Dunmire's parents were upset that Perkins remained free and tried to take matters into their own hands. Dunmire's mother, Tommie Lynn Dunmire, and stepfather, John Nelson McQuillen, drove to Washington, D.C., with plans to kill Perkins, according to a federal press release.
Tommie Lynn Dunmire dressed as a UPS driver and knocked on an apartment door. When a woman answered, she shot her twice in the abdomen.
The woman who answered the door was not Perkins; the mother shot a woman who had nothing to do with her son's murder. Tommie Lynn Dunmire and McQuillen changed license plates on their vehicle, but cops still tracked them down. She shot herself to death as officers were closing in. The woman she shot survived her injuries and federal agents arrested McQuillen.
He later pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to assault with the intent to kill. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
In September, 35-year-old Chelsea Perkins was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of Matthew Dunmire at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio.
Perkins pleaded guilty in May to murder in the second-degree and using or carrying and discharging a firearm during, and in relation to, a crime of violence on federal property. She was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release after incarceration.
In a filing, Perkins is objecting to paying nearly $600,000 in restitution, Law & Crime reported. Her lawyers said she agreed to pay for Dunmire's funeral expenses and for one of his family members to attend her sentencing hearing. But paying for his lost income is not something she is apparently willing to do.
The Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) requires convicted defendants to pay restitution for lost future wages. "Courts require that the restitution amount represent the victim's actual loss, not an estimate based on conjecture or speculation," Perkins' attorneys wrote.
Her attorneys argue that the government has not sufficiently shown what that actual loss would be. Dunmire made $15 per hour at a screen print and embroidery business and worked 40 hours per week, according to a letter his employer wrote to the court.
The government in its response to the filing argued that it used "conservative financial figures" in projecting the victim's lifetime earnings. "Importantly, the assumptions provide a basis to show [Dunmire's] capacity to work in the future," the government wrote. "Put differently, the Court's restitution order should reflect what [Dunmire] could have earned had his life not been cut short by defendant's choice to shoot him in the back of the head."
There was a closed-door hearing about the matter, but a judge has yet to issue a decision on the matter. Court documents show that in March 2021, Perkins drove her husband's Smart car from Virginia to Ohio to meet Dunmire, whom she knew. She picked him up, they spend the night at a vacation rental home and on the morning of March 6, Perkins drove Dunmire to the national park.
They hiked past a cemetery, across deep ravines, and off-trail to a wooded area. While on those federal park grounds, Perkins used a loaded firearm she brought with her and shot Dunmire in the back of the head, killing him. She then left the scene and drove to Michigan to get a tattoo of a noose on her forearm before driving back to Virginia.
During the investigation, evidence linked Perkins to the shooting. Federal agents executed a search warrant at her home and found three 9mm pistols, including one inside a woman's purse that also contained Perkins' photo ID. The firearm later tested positive for Perkins' DNA.
Investigators also found a deleted note on Perkins' cellphone that appeared to be a fake suicide note purportedly written by Dunmire that Perkins created around the time that Dunmire's body was found. His body was found by hikers several days after the shooting.
After her short stint in the Coast Guard, Perkins became an OnlyFans model under the name Sabrina Savage. Perkins claimed that Dunmire had raped her a few years earlier in Virginia, but there was not enough evidence to file charges.
In November 2021, Dunmire's parents were upset that Perkins remained free and tried to take matters into their own hands. Dunmire's mother, Tommie Lynn Dunmire, and stepfather, John Nelson McQuillen, drove to Washington, D.C., with plans to kill Perkins, according to a federal press release.
Tommie Lynn Dunmire dressed as a UPS driver and knocked on an apartment door. When a woman answered, she shot her twice in the abdomen.
The woman who answered the door was not Perkins; the mother shot a woman who had nothing to do with her son's murder. Tommie Lynn Dunmire and McQuillen changed license plates on their vehicle, but cops still tracked them down. She shot herself to death as officers were closing in. The woman she shot survived her injuries and federal agents arrested McQuillen.
He later pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to assault with the intent to kill. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
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