An Alaska woman was sentenced to 99 years in prison Monday over her role in a murder plot carried out at the request of a catfisher who convinced her he was a millionaire who would pay $9 million for photos and videos of the killing.
Denali Brehmer, of Anchorage, had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last year in connection with the horrific death of 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman. Hoffman, who had a developmental disability, had believed Brehmer was her “best friend,” Hoffman’s father testified in the case.
Brehmer, now 23, was 18 at the time of Hoffman’s death in 2019. Prosecutors say Brehmer convinced four other teenagers to carry out the killing at the behest of someone she believed to be a multimillionaire from Kansas named “Tyler,” with whom she had an online romance. In reality, “Tyler” was Darin Schilmiller, a now 25-year-old Indiana resident who was also sentenced to 99 years in prison last month.
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On June 2, 2019, Brehemer and her group lured Hoffman out to the Thunderbird Falls on the false pretenses of going on a hike. Once there, Hoffman was bound with duct-tape and shot in the head, prosecutors said, before her body was dumped in a river. Brehmer allegedly sent photos and videos to Schilmiller as the horrific ordeal was unfolding, authorities said.
“She may not have pulled the trigger, but this never would have happened it if it weren’t for Denali Brehmer,” Anchorage Assistant District Attorney Patrick McKay said.
As part of Brehmer’s sentencing, Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson had watched one video showing a bound Hoffman on the ground in the moments before her death, Alaska Public Media reports. He said it was “one of the most difficult pieces of evidence I’ve had to watch in this position.” He also described Hoffman’s killing as “tragic and senseless” and “cold, calculated.”
The case of Kayden McIntosh—who court documents alleged pulled the trigger—is pending. Caleb Leyland, who told police that he thought he would get $500,000 for letting Brehmer use his vehicle as part of the killing, pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree in November as part of a plea agreement. His sentencing is scheduled to begin in June. Two other adolescents charged in connection with the case were prosecuted in the juvenile justice system and, as such, the outcome of those proceedings remains confidential.
Prosecutors said at Schilmiller’s sentencing hearing that he’d asked Brehmer to kill and rape someone for fetishistic reasons. As well as pleading guilty to solicitation to commit murder, Schilmiller also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce child pornography in a separate case. Prosecutors say he directed Brehmer to sexually abuse two victims between the ages of 8 and 15 in the days after Hoffman’s death, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
An affidavit said investigators found explicit videos of one of the victims Schilmiller received from Brehmer. Brehmer also pleaded guilty in that case.
