CRIME HUNTER: Why did OnlyFans model lure man to his murder?

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Cops say Chelsea Perkins had revenge and rage in her heart.

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And like the old Sicilian saying, sometimes that bitter blue plate special is best served cold.

Perkins had concluded a stellar career in the United States Coast Guard. After her service, her life took a different direction, and she entered the porn business before moving to OnlyFans as a model named Selena Savage.

But life is full of twists and turns, and the 35-year-old beauty was determined to settle an old score. The object of her hatred was a 31-year-old man named Matthew Dunmire.

Perkins would claim to anyone who would listen that Dunmire had raped her years before when the pair were in high school in Virginia. The brunette beauty went to the cops in 2017, but they blew her off.

Last week, Perkins confessed to second-degree murder in the execution-style slaying of Dunmire.

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In 2017, cops in Virginia Beach told the FBI they didn’t have enough evidence to charge Dunmire, court records cited by the Cleveland Plain Dealer said. Perkins wasn’t ready to let the matter drop.

The Coast Guard vet confessed to travelling nearly 500 km from Virginia to Ohio to meet Dunmire. They were not strangers and had known each other for years before the slaying.

In March 2021, Perkins messaged Dunmire on Facebook, drove to Cleveland and spent the night with him at an Airbnb rental.

According to cops, on March 6, 2021, he sent a text to his girlfriend that he planned to donate plasma and then return home. When he didn’t show, authorities tracked his phone to the Terra Vista Natural Study Area of the park.

Perkins had lured the aspiring musician to a popular trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Once on the trail, Perkins parked a bullet in Dunmire’s brain.

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“While hiking off-trail into a wooded area of the park, Perkins used a loaded firearm she brought with her to shoot the victim in the back of the head, killing him,” a U.S. Department of Justice press release read.

Dunmire’s body wasn’t discovered until three days later when hikers came upon the macabre scene. But putting the handcuffs on Perkins, who is married to another Coast Guardsman, was no easy task.

It took the FBI nine months to find her using GPS data, DNA, social media records, tracking her phone and ballistics testing on shell casings discovered at the crime scene.

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Cops zeroed in on Perkins when one of Dunmire’s co-workers revealed that four days before his murder, the musician said he was “meeting a girl” who was staying in the Cleveland area. The co-worker added that a dark-haired woman had picked up Dunmire in a tiny white Smart car.

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The vehicle was traced back to Perkins’ husband, whom she had met in the service.

Witnesses told investigators they had seen a woman who matched Perkins’ description in the area on the day of the murder. They added that they heard a gunshot in the late morning.

At Perkins’ home in Alexandria, Virginia, the feds found three 9mm pistols. One had bullets that matched the slug they dug out of Dunmire’s skull.

Now, Perkins faces 25 years in prison for her plea. She will be sentenced on Sept. 9.

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But there was yet another sour twist in the bizarre slaying. Months after Dunmire was murdered, his grieving parents also took up guns to settle the score with Perkins.

At the time, the porn star was still on the run. In November 2021, Tommie Lynn Dunmire and John Nelson McQuillen drove to Washington, DC, to kill their son’s alleged killer.

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Tommie Lynn disguised herself as a UPS driver and rapped on the door of an apartment unit where she believed Perkins was hiding. A woman answered the door and was shot twice in the stomach.

It was not Chelsea Perkins, the woman was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The innocent victim miraculously survived the gunshot wounds.

Dunmire’s parents fled the scene and were later tracked down by the feds in Florida. As cops closed in following a high-speed chase, the grieving mom shot herself dead.

John Nelson McQuillen pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and was jailed for three years.

SERIAL KILLER FOR CHRISTMAS

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No, this isn’t a Hallmark movie. Looking for a Christmas gift for the true crime buff in your life? I’ve written a new book slated for release just before the holiday season.

It’s called Inside the Mind of the Golden State Killer (Gemini Books) and is a deep dive into the decades-long reign of terror unleashed by Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. The book turns up little-known details about the serial killer, his life and the twisted desires that drove him to rape and kill. Pre-order here!

If Christmas is too long a wait, and you need a page-turner for the beach, you might want to order one or both of my earlier true crime books, Cold Blooded Murder: Shocking True Stories of Killers and Psychopaths, and Inside the Mind of John Wayne Gacy: The Real-Life Killer Clown.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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