An Alaska teen carried out a plot to kill her “best friend” after a man she met online offered her 9,000,000 ksh million for photos and videos of her committing murder, according to authorities.
Cynthia Hoffman, 19, was killed June 2 by a gunshot wound to the back of the head in Thunderbird Falls near the Eklutna River, about 27 miles northeast of Anchorage, the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Denali Brehmer, 18, was arrested and charged in the murder. The two teens considered each other best friends, according to court charging documents seen by news sources. Four other teens and the man who solicited the murder were also arrested in the case.
According to the district attorney’s office, Brehmer allegedly planned the murder after a man she met online told her she would be paid millions for evidence of her murdering someone.
Authorities say Darin Schilmiller, 21, of Indiana, created a fake online persona as a millionaire from Kansas named “Tyler” and began a relationship with Brehmer. The two began planning several crimes in exchange for money, including the “rape and murder of someone in Alaska,” according to court documents.
After being catfished by Schilmiller, Brehmer chose Hoffman as her victim and recruited four friends, Kayden McIntosh, 16, Caleb Leyland, 19, and two other unnamed juveniles, to help her carry out the murder in exchange for “substantial shares of money,” authorities allege.
Brehmer and two of the teens hatched a plan to take Hoffman to Thunderbird Falls under the guise of a hiking trip, and that’s where they bound her hands, feet and mouth with duct tape and shot her in the back of the head. They dumped her body in the Eklunta River, according to court documents.
Brehmer kept her end of the bargain by sending videos and photos to Schilmiller via Snapchat during the crime, authorities said.
After the murder, the teens destroyed some of Hoffman’s personal belongings and texted her family, saying they dropped her off at a nearby park. Police said there is no evidence Hoffman was sexually assaulted.
