Overview

• On May 27, Perkins admitted to second-degree murder and using a firearm on federal property for the killing of 31-year-old Matthew Dunmire in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
• Prosecutors say she lured Dunmire from a Cleveland Airbnb to the park’s Terra Vista Nature Study Area on March 6, 2021, then shot him in the back of the head.
• Investigators tied her to the crime through GPS data, DNA under Dunmire’s fingernails, phone and social media records, surveillance footage, and ballistic matches to a 9 mm pistol recovered at her home.
• The plea deal drops a first-degree murder charge that carried a mandatory life sentence plus 10 years, with federal Judge Solomon Oliver set to sentence her on September 9, 2025.
• In the aftermath, Dunmire’s mother mistakenly shot an innocent woman in D.C. before taking her own life, and his father pleaded guilty to accessory charges in that attack.