An Alaska woman admitted she killed her “best friend” in 2019 after her phony Internet boyfriend offered her millions of dollars to murder someone.
22-year-old Denali Brehmer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Wednesday for shooting 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman in the back of the head in 2019, according to Alaska’s Department of Law.
Hoffman’s body was dumped in the Eklutna River in Chugiak on June 2, 2019, after Brehmer made a promise to her boyfriend – but it turned out she fell for a catfishing scheme, according to prosecutors.
Brehmer was 18 at the time of the murder and carried out the crime after meeting a man online who went by the name of “Tyler,” the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office previously said. Investigators found that “Tyler” and Brehmer began a relationship and planned various crimes, including the “rape and murder of someone in Alaska,” NBC News reported.
The man, however, was catfishing Brehmer, according to investigators. He pretended to be a millionaire from Kansas and offered Brehmer $9 million to record the killing of a person in Alaska, but he was actually a then-21-year-old Indiana man named Darin Schilmiller.
Investigators say Brehmer recruited four friends, including Kayden McIntosh, Caleb Leyland and two juveniles, to help her carry out Hoffman’s murder. Court documents state that Brehmer and Hoffman were “best friends,” Fox 59 reported.
The four suspects reportedly lured Hoffman into thinking she was meeting up for a hiking trip at Thunderbird Falls trail but instead was bound by duct tape, shot and dumped in a river.
Brehmer documented the killing, according to investigators, and sent photos and video to Schilmiller.
Brehmer’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 22 and is anticipated to last three days, according to Alaska’s Department of Law. She could receive anywhere from 30 to 99 years in prison, according to Fox 59.
McIntosh and Leyland have also been indicted, pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
Schilmiller was extradited to Alaska, where he is in police custody and awaiting trial related to murder charges in the case, according to Alaska Public Radio.
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