An Alaska woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing her best friend in 2019, after a man she met online promised her millions of dollars for photos of the murder.
Denali Brehmer, 22, and two accomplices killed Cynthia Hoffman, 19, after Darin Schilmiller from New Salisbury, Indiana told them that he would give them $9 million if they sent him evidence of the murder, Alaska Public Media reported. (RELATED: FedEx Driver Who Murdered Texas Girl May Get Death Penalty)
An Indiana man, posing as a millionaire online, allegedly promised Alaskan teen Denali Brehmer “$9 million” if she killed her “best friend” & sent pictures of the crime.
Cynthia Hoffman was shot in the head and dumped into a river, prosecutors say. @wnct9 pic.twitter.com/lBpqVIqjv1
— Dillon Huffman (@DillonHuffmanTV) June 20, 2019
Anchorage Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson accepted Brehmer’s guilty plea, the Alaska Department of Law noted in a press release. Charges against the accomplices — Caleb Leyland, 23, and Kayden McIntosh, 19 — are pending.
Schilmiller, who was 21 at the time, posed as a multimillionaire named “Tyler” and asked the then-teens to “rape and murder” someone in Alaska, court documents state.
Brehmer was 18 when she murdered Hoffman on June 2, 2019, while hiking near Thunderbird Falls in Chugiak, Alaska. The teens duct-taped Hoffman’s hands, feet, and mouth and bound her before shooting her with a 9mm handgun.
Authorities said the teens sent Snapchat videos and pictures to Schilmiller “at his directive throughout the duration of the event” and then pushed her body into the Eklutna River.
Brehmer faces between 30 and 99 years in prison.