‘Tragic and senseless’: Alaska woman gets 99 years’ jail for arranging best friend’s murder

ANCHORAGE - An Alaska woman who arranged to have her best friend killed in exchange for US$9 million (S$12 million) promised to her by a man she met online was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Judge Andrew Peterson from Anchorage Superior Court on Feb 12 sentenced Denali Brehmer, 23, who pleaded guilty in 2023 to one count of first-degree murder in the death of the friend, Ms Cynthia Hoffman, the Alaska Department of Law said in a statement.

Evidence presented at the sentencing showed that Ms Hoffman, 19, was fatally shot on June 2, 2019, on a bank of the Eklutna River near Thunderbird Falls and that her body was later thrown in the river, the statement added.

Prosecutors later learnt that Brehmer had been hired to kill Ms Hoffman in exchange for millions of dollars.

During the hearing, Judge Peterson described the murder of Ms Hoffman as “tragic and senseless”, the statement said.

Anchorage Assistant District Attorney Patrick McKay Jr in court on Feb 12 said Brehmer, who is from Anchorage, “engaged in one of the most serious crimes that we have in Alaska”.

Brehmer had asked for a sentence of 80 years with 20 years suspended, and prosecutors had requested a sentence of 99 years.

According to court documents, Brehmer met a man online who convinced her that his name was Tyler and that he was a millionaire from Kansas. The man offered Brehmer at least US$9 million to kill someone in Alaska and take pictures and videos of the murder.

But in reality, “Tyler” was Darin Schilmiller, 25, from New Salisbury, Indiana, and he was not a millionaire. Schilmiller was “catfishing” Brehmer – the act of deceiving someone online by making up a fake identity.

Brehmer agreed to commit a murder for Schilmiller, and she enlisted four friends to carry out the killing.

The indictment identified two of them as Caleb Leyland, 24, and Kayden McIntosh. Two minors who were not identified in the indictment were also involved, prosecutors said. The group selected Ms Hoffman as the target.

On June 2, 2019, Brehmer, McIntosh and Hoffman went to Thunderbird Falls for what was supposed to be a hike. Along the Eklutna River, Ms Hoffman’s hands and feet were bound with duct tape, and McIntosh shot her once in the back of the head before she was dumped in the river, court documents said.

McIntosh, who was 16 at the time of the murder, later confessed to shooting Ms Hoffman, prosecutors said.

Mr McKay on Feb 12 said Brehmer had “conspired with numerous other individuals in and outside of Alaska, including juveniles, forever altering everybody’s life”.

Mr McKay said: “She may not have pulled the trigger but this never would have happened if it weren’t for Denali Brehmer.”

Prosecutors said Schilmiller had also solicited Brehmer to try to obtain child pornography, which led to federal charges against her. She pleaded guilty in 2023 to conspiracy to produce child pornography, and sentencing in that case is scheduled for March 4. A lawyer for Brehmer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Schilmiller, who pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder, was sentenced in January to 99 years in prison for his role. He also faces federal child pornography charges. Leyland, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in November, is to be sentenced June 10. McIntosh awaits trial on murder charges.

Lawyers for Schilmiller, Leyland and McIntosh did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Feb 15. NYTIMES