Denali Brehmer is a teen killer from Alaska who would murder Cynthia Hoffman after getting duped online
According to court documents Denali Brehmer would begin an online relationship with a man she knew as Tyler, whose real name is Darin Schilmiller, and he had convinced her that he was a multi millionaire. Somehow Darin Schilmiller was able to convicted Denali Brehmer that if she killed someone he would pay her $9 million dollars
Well Denali Brehmer decided the perfect victim was her best friend Cynthia Hoffman. Brehmer would convince Kayden McIntosh, Caleb Leyland and two unnamed juveniles to help pull off the murder. Cynthia Hoffman was brought to a trailhead where she would be fatally shot in the head. The group would snap photos of the murder scene to send to Darin Schilmiller to prove that they had carried out the murder
Denali Brehmer would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison
Denali Brehmer Videos
Denali Brehmer Case
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 had 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 had been sexually assaulted.
Alaska Department of Law said Wednesday that Brehmer “admitted the facts contained in the complaint initially filed in the case.” The Anchorage Police Department, FBI and other agencies assisted in investigating Hoffman’s death.
Brehmer was arrested in 2019 and indicted on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree solicitation of murder and tampering with physical evidence and two charges of second-degree murder.
Following her plea of guilty to first-degree murder, the other charges were dismissed, the Alaska Department of Law said. She is scheduled to be sentenced in August and faces 30 to 99 years in prison. Her attorney did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday.
Schilmiller was arrested and indicted on five murder counts, online court records show.
McIntosh and Leyland were indicted on four murder counts, according to court records. McIntosh was also indicted on tampering with evidence. All three have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. Their attorneys could not immediately be reached.
Hoffman’s family previously said that they believe she was targeted because she had a learning disability that “put her at a younger developmental age than her 19 years,” according to The Anchorage Daily News
Denali Brehmer News
Today, 22-year-old Denali Brehmer pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree. Anchorage Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson accepted Brehmer’s guilty plea.
The charges stem from the June 2, 2019, murder of 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman near Thunderbird Falls in Chugiak, Alaska. Brehmer admitted the facts contained in the complaint initially filed in the case. The case was investigated by the Anchorage Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of multiple other State and federal law enforcement agencies.
The murder of Hoffman involved a group of three young adults who are accused of being “catfished” by an Indiana resident to commit the crime for money.
The court will determine Brehmer’s sentence at a hearing. There is no agreement between the parties regarding a specific term of imprisonment. Judge Peterson may sentence Brehmer to a term of imprisonment of no less than 30 years and no more than 99 years.
Sentencing is scheduled to begin Aug. 22, in front of Judge Peterson in Anchorage and is anticipated to last three days.
The charges of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, solicitation of murder in the first degree, tampering with physical evidence and two charges of murder in the second degree were dismissed.
https://law.alaska.gov/press/releases/2023/DAO/021523-Brehmer.html
Denali Brehmer Sentencing
A judge sentenced a 23-year-old woman to almost 100 years in prison for her role in the murder-for-hire plot of a teenager who was fatally shot and dumped in a river.
The Alaska Department of Law announced Monday, Feb. 12, that Denali Brehmer was ordered to spend 99 years behind bars with no time suspended for the murder-for-hire killing of 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman. Brehmer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in February 2023. As part of the deal, prosecutors dismissed charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of second-degree murder.
Judge Andrew Peterson called Hoffman’s killing “senseless,” and said Brehmer’s actions were “cold, calculated, and carried out to a ‘T.'”
Three other people were charged in connection with the case.
The Department of Law said one of Brehmer’s co-conspirators, Darin Schilmiller, solicited Brehmer to kill Hoffman. He and Brehmer also “conspired to coerce a minor victim to produce sexually explicit images,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska. They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce child pornography in 2023.
Schilmiller reportedly “catfished” Denali Brehmer and said he would pay her $9 million to kill Hoffman and send him videos of it. Brehmer then recruited Caleb Leyland and Kayden McIntosh to help carry out the murder. Schilmiller pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit first-degree murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison as well.
According to the criminal complaint, Hoffman was reported missing to Anchorage Police on June 3, 2019, after she failed to come home the night before. Detectives spoke with Brehmer, who said she smoked weed with McIntosh and Hoffman the night of June 2, 2019, then they went to the woods near Thunderbird Falls. The three of them reportedly “agreed to duct tape each other and take photographs.”
McIntosh and Brehmer taped Hoffman’s wrists, ankles, and mouth, but they eventually removed the tape from her mouth. Hoffman threatened to call police and say they kidnapped and sexually assaulted her. Brehmer was holding a gun, but McIntosh allegedly grabbed the gun and shot Hoffman in the back of the head. Then, they pushed her in the water.
Hoffman’s body was found in the creek June 4, 2019.
The other co-conspirator, Leyland, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November 2023. The Anchorage Daily News reports Leyland let Brehmer and McIntosh drive his car to kill Hoffman in exchange for $500,000. He faces a maximum sentence of 75 years with 25 years suspended. McIntosh is awaiting trial.
Denali Brehmer’s sentencing hearing lasted three days. Anchorage Assistant District Attorney Patrick McKay Jr. said while arguing for the maximum sentence, “The Court should find that Miss Brehmer engaged in one of the most serious crimes that we have in Alaska. She executed Cynthia Hoffman in a murder-for-hire plot. She conspired with numerous other individuals in and outside of Alaska, including juveniles, forever altering everybody’s life.”
McKay added, “She may not have pulled the trigger, but this never would have happened it if it weren’t for Denali Brehmer.”
