An Alaska woman pleaded guilty to killing her “best friend” after a man she met online said he would pay her $9 million if she sent him photos and videos of her committing murder.
Denali Brehmer, 22, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the June 2019 death of Cynthia Hoffman, the Alaska Department of Law said.
Hoffman, 19, died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Her body was dumped in the Eklutna River, about 27 miles northeast of Anchorage, court documents state.
The Anchorage District Attorney’s Office previously said that Brehmer, who was 18 at the time of the crime, started planning the murder after a man she met online told her that he would give her money in exchange for evidence of her killing someone.
Brehmer knew the man as “Tyler” and had begun a relationship with him, but authorities said he had catfished her and created a fake persona as a millionaire from Kansas. His real name is Darin Schilmiller from Indiana, authorities said.
Court documents state that Brehmer and Schilmiller started planning several crimes in exchange for money, including the “rape and murder of someone in Alaska.”
Brehmer chose Hoffman as the victim and recruited four friends —Kayden McIntosh, Caleb Leyland, and two other unnamed juveniles — to help her, according to authorities. Brehmer told them they would get “substantial shares of money” for helping her kill Hoffman.
Authorities said that Brehmer and two of the teens tricked Hoffman into coming to Thunderbird Falls under the guise of a hiking trip. They bound her hands, feet and mouth with duct tape, shot her in the back of the head, and dumped her body in the river, court documents state.
As the crime was being committed, Brehmer sent photos and videos to Schilmiller, authorities said.
After killing Hoffman, the group destroyed some of her personal belongings and texted her parents that they had dropped her off at a park. Police said there was no evidence Hoffman was sexually assaulted.
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