An Alaska woman was sentenced to 99 years in prison for killing her 19-year-old “best friend” in 2019 after allegedly being catfished by a man who offered her $9 million to commit murder.
Denali Brehmer, now 24, pleaded guilty to murder in 2023, admitting to her involvement in killing Cynthia Hoffman, the Alaska Department of Law said.
In June 2019, Hoffman went missing while on a hike with Brehmer and another friend at Thunderbird Falls in Chugiak, Alaska. Two days later, her body was found on the banks of the Eklutna River, bound with duct tape and with a gunshot wound to the back of her head.
Authorities said Hoffman has been in an online relationship with a man she believed to be named “Tyler,” who claimed to be a millionaire from Kansas, and who offered her $9 million to kill someone and send him pictures and videos of the crime, according to charging documents.
Brehmer and another friend, Kayden McIntosh, who were 18 and 16 at the time, respectively, drove Hoffman to Thunderbird Falls, authorities allege. McIntosh is accused of shooting Hoffman after the pair duct taped the victim and took photos of her, authorities claim.
Prosecutors argued that even though she didn’t fire the shot that killed Hoffman, Brehmer was responsible for the murder.
“She may not have pulled the trigger, but this never would have happened if it weren’t for Denali Brehmer,” prosecutor Patrick McKay said.
McIntosh, who is charged with murder, is still awaiting trial, the Department of Law said.
Another man connected to the case, Caleb Leyland, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November, and is awaiting sentencing.
Two other teens were prosecuted in juvenile court for their alleged involvement in the case, reported the Anchorage Daily News.
It was eventually revealed that Darin Schilmiller, of Indiana, had catfished the teen and solicited child pornography from Brehmer, the Department of Law said. Schilmiller also pleaded guilty to soliciting a murder and was sentenced to 99 in prison in January.
Brehmer’s 99-year sentence came after a judge called her conduct “cold, calculated, and carried out to a T,” according to a press release.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that Hoffman’s father, Timothy, said his daughter had developmental disabilities and considered Brehmer to be her best friend.
“My daughter just wanted friends, and now I have to bury her,” Timothy Hoffman said in court in 2019, KTVA reported.
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