An Internet Impostor And A $9M Murder Pact

For an expected $9 million payoff, a teen in Alaska made a murderous pact with an internet impostor, killing her best friend and capturing it on a social media video so he could watch the crime from thousands of miles away, according to federal prosecutors in Anchorage, Alaska.

Authorities said the twisted cross-country case should be a terrifying warning to parents who don't know what their kids are doing on the internet and social media.

The impostor — a man claiming to be a Kansas millionaire named “Tyler” — targeted 18-year-old Denali Brehmer in a scheme known as “catfishing,” U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder of the District of Alaska said at a news conference this week.

In one of multiple online scams that can make the internet a dangerous place, the “catfish” creates a fictitious online identity and seeks out relationships. These rackets often involve romance, but this one was especially nefarious, involving murder and sexual assault, prosecutors said.

“For all of the good the internet can do, it can be a dark place and parents would be wise to monitor the activity of their children online,” Schroder said.

In reality, "Tyler" is 21-year-old Darin Schilmiller of New Salisbury, Indiana, who admitted to Indiana State Police investigators on June 9 that he masterminded the plot, according to court documents. He didn't know 19-year-old Cynthia “CeeCee” Hoffman, who was shot and killed on June 2 on a hiking trail about 30 miles north of Anchorage.

Instead, investigators said, Hoffman was hand-picked by Brehmer after she took the bait from Schilmiller. Hoffman, a teen with learning disabilities who struggled in school, craved acceptance and was easy prey, Timothy Hoffman Sr., her father, told the Anchorage Daily News. His daughter considered Brehmer her best friend.

“Her friend was cool,” Hoffman told the newspaper. “Cynthia wanted to be cool.”

Investigators said Brehmer and Schilmiller plotted the murder together for three weeks, and Schilmiller admitted he planned to kill another person and then blackmail Brehmer into raping people.

Brehmer confessed to the crime and, with what turned out to be a bogus promise of millions of dollars in blood money, offered four friends large sums of money — $500,000 for at least one of her co-defendants — to bring Hoffman to Thunderbird Falls Trail under the pretense they were going hiking, according to investigators.

There, her head and hands were bound with duct tape, she was shot in the back of the head with a 9mm handgun belonging to Brehmer, and her body was thrown into the Eklutna River, investigators said.

Schilmiller, Brehmer and her four accused accomplices have all been charged with first-degree murder, which in Alaska carries a sentence of 99 years in prison upon conviction, and other charges. Schimiller, who is expected to be extradited to Alaska next week, also is charged with production of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and attempted receipt of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct

The four others charged in Alaska include 16-year-old Kayden McIntosh, who is accused of shooting Hoffman; 19-year-old Caleb Leyland, who prosecutors said provided the pickup used to lure Hoffman to the hiking trail; and two juveniles, a boy and a girl, who were not named because of their ages.

'Get Her High ... So She Doesn't Fight'

Evidence collected in the case included mobile phone records showing Brehmer and Schilmiller “discussing a plan to rape and murder someone in Alaska.” There was no evidence that Hoffman was raped, Schroder said.

Prosecutors say that Brehmer used the Snapchat social app to send video and photos to Schilmiller “at his directive,” and that he also blackmailed Brehmer into sexually assaulting two minors and sending him videos of that.

Among the chilling text-message exchanges between Schilmiller and Brehmer was this one, according to court documents reviewed by news station KTVA:

Schilmiller, posing as “Tyler”: “So are you going to [do] the [victim]?”
Brehmer: “Hehehe. Yeah I’m going to her [right now] ….Ok found a place to do it at … Gonna go buy weed first. I wanna get her high for it so she doesn’t fight me … I love you”
Schilmiller: “Force her tie her up if you have too”
Brehmer: “Okay”
Schilmiller: “Do the video”
Brehmer: “Ok”

Investigators said that in another message from Schilmiller to Brehmer, he said: “I wish I never made a deal with you in the first place … we can meet but once I see a cop, I’m telling him or her that I made you rape people and killed cece. I don’t even deserve you. ...”

Dad Knew Something Was Wrong

When she didn’t come home June 2, it was out of character, the grieving father told Anchorage news station KTUU. The large blended family is close, and all had cellphones.

"In this family, you all have phones. When dad calls, you answer. I don't care if you're at church and the holy pastor is preaching. I don't care if you're at school taking the high school diploma test. If dad calls, you answer," Hoffman told the news outlet.

“When she didn't come home the first day, I knew something was wrong. When she didn't come home the second day, I knew something was wrong. And then all I could think about was the knock on the door,” he said.

That knock came on Tuesday, June 4, and Hoffman opened the door to several police officers.

“I just looked at them and said, 'She's dead, isn't she?' And they said 'Yes,' " Hoffman told KTUU.

Hoffman said that in the days before, Brehmer feigned concern, even texting and asking Hoffman if his daughter was OK, saying that she hoped her “best friend” made it home safely and professing her love for the teen.

And, perhaps most cruel of all was this message: "I know she will come home safe."

Before his daughter’s body was discovered, Hoffman established a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to buy a newspaper ad to help find her. That has now turned into a fund to pay for her funeral.

When Brehmer was arraigned, she admitted she "did something wrong" and "could have probably done something different if I was able to," but that she doesn't "see herself" as a killer, according to KTUU.

But those are empty words for Hoffman.

“I hope you rot in hell Brehmer,” he said in a Facebook post Sunday.

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