‘It’s just like the wolf leading the lamb to the slaughter’: The chilling murder of an Alaskan teenager by her so-called ‘best friend’

Denali Brehmer is serving a 99-year-old prison sentence for killing her “best friend” in 2019 after allegedly being catfished by a man who offered her $9m to commit the murder. She’s speaking out publicly for the first time. Andrea Cavallier reports

Denali Brehmer (left), who is serving a 99-year-old prison sentence for killing her “best friend” Cynthia Hoffman (bottom right) in 2019 after allegedly being catfished by a man who offered her $9 million to commit the murder, is speaking out to Court TV about what led to this point. (Court TV/Anchorage Police Department )

Tempted by the false promise of $9 million by a man she met online, Denali Dakota Skye Brehmer lured her so-called best friend into the Alaskan wilderness where the teenager was bound with duct tape and shot in the head as part of a brutal murder plot.

What began with a bizarre online catfishing scheme, ended in the death of Cynthia “CeeCee ” Hoffman, 19, who was developmentally disabled.

A man from Indiana, Darin Schilmiller, then 21, posed as a millionaire from Kansas called  “Tyler” on Snapchat.  He struck up a relationship with Brehmer, who was 18 years old at the time, and offered to send her millions of dollars via PayPal for the “rape and murder of someone in Alaska”.

Denali Dakota Skye Brehmer is serving 99 years behind bars for the murder of Cynthia Hoffman (Court TV)

Brehmer agreed. She enlisted other friends into the plot and then on June 2, 2019, they carried out the murder of CeeCee near Thunderbird Falls, a popular trail area just north of Anchorage. Her death was captured in photos and video that were sent back to “Tyler” on Snapchat as proof.

In February 2023, Brehmer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Her friends were also charged in the murder: 16-year-old Kayden McIntosh pulled the trigger, and 19-year-old Caleb Leyland, who provided the vehicle to carry out the plot.

Now, for the first time, Brehmer is speaking publicly about the murder in the third episode “Catfishing for Murder” of Court TV’s new limited series Interview With a Killer.

“I’ve already admitted guilt so now I’m ready to fully take responsibility for what I’ve done,” Brehmer says in the interview at the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.

But as she’s confronted about what happened that fateful day, her story begins to change.

Brehmer acknowledges that the murder was somewhat premeditated, but then blames it on panic when a bound and gagged CeeCee began “freaking out” about going to the cops which led to McIntosh grabbing the gun.

“I just went along with it,” Brehmer says calmly in the interview. “Because… problem solved, right?”

A catfish murder

On June 2, 2019, CeeCee – who thought of Brehmer as a best friend – was invited to Thunderbird Falls for what was supposed to be a hike. Brehmer later said in the interview that a “hike” meant they were going off to get high.

Brehmer and McIntosh, who were the last two people to ever see CeeCee alive, were hanging out with her in the woods when the “three of them agreed to duct tape each other and take photographs,” McIntosh told detectives, according to the criminal complaint. It’s unclear why they decided to do this.

But then CeeCee, whose wrists and feet were bound with duct tape, which also covered her mouth, “started panicking,” according to the complaint.

Hoffman, known as CeeCee, thought of Brehmer as her best friend, family members say (alaskacremation.com)

When they removed the duct tape from CeeCee’s mouth, she told them she was going to call the police and tell them that they had kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her, according to the complaint.

McIntosh then grabbed the 9mm gun that Brehmer had in her hand and shot CeeCee in the back of the head, he told police.

Brehmer told police at the time that she saw CeeCee twitching before McIntosh pushed her body into the river, according to the complaint.

But in the new interview with Court TV, Brehmer said the shooting happened very suddenly because they had panicked when CeeCee threatened to call the police, despite not having her phone with her because McIntosh had already taken it.

In a new interview with Court TV, Brehmer speaks publicly for the first time about the murder (Court TV)

Brehmer and McIntosh then tried to cover up CeeCee’s death by burning her clothing, purse and cell phone, along with the gun, according to the complaint.

McIntosh then instructed Brehmer to text CeeCee’s sister and tell them they had dropped her off at a local park. Brehmer told police that she did as she was told because she was scared of McIntosh.

CeeCee’s bound body was found in the river on June 4, a day after she was reported missing.

The fake millionaire who supposedly encouraged murder

Three weeks before CeeCee was killed, Brehmer and “Tyler,” who met on Snapchat, began talking on the app about their plans to rape and murder someone in Alaska.

The Anchorage Police Department later learned that “Tyler” was actually Darin Schilmiller of Indiana who had posed as the millionaire online with fake pictures as part of the catfishing scheme in which he offered to pay Brehmer “$9 million or more to commit the murder and send him videos and/or photographs of the murder,” according to a statement released at the time.

Brehmer asked some of her friends to help and offered them an unknown amount of the so-called prize money for their part in the planning of the murder, according to police.

Brehmer tells Court TV host David Scott about what happened that led up to the murder (Court TV)

Police said Schilmiller later admitted to targeting CeeCee after he learned that she and Brehmer had gotten into a fight over a boy.

“Initially, when we all came up with it, I agreed and said yeah because I was mad at her and she was mad at me and I was just over her s***,” Brehmer says in the interview about the fight they had over a boy named Zack. “I wanted to make amends, I did want to make amends but she needed payback for what she did with Zack.”

When asked in the documentary if she deserved payback with her life, a defeated Brehmer sighs  and says, “no,” adding “that’s on me.”

Brehmer was eventually arrested, and once she realized she had been catfished or tricked by Schilmiller, otherwise known as “Tyler,” she told authorities that she had been solicited by him.

She was given the maximum sentence for her role in the killing, according to the Alaska Department of Law.

Denali Brehmer at her arraignment in the Anchorage Correctional Center on June 9, 2019 (AP)

“She may not have pulled the trigger, but this never would have happened it if it weren’t for [her]” Patrick McKay, Anchorage assistant district attorney, said of Brehmer during sentencing.

“She executed Cynthia Hoffman in a murder-for-hire plot. She conspired with numerous other individuals in and outside of Alaska, including juveniles, forever altering everybody’s life.”

Schilmiller, who posed as “Tyler” online, was also sentenced to 99 years in prison for his role in the murder.

He admitted to federal agents and the Indiana State Police he chose CeeCee  as the victim after he heard about the fight and told Brehmer to kill her, court documents said.

Schilmiller was sentenced to 99 years in prison (Alaska Department of Law)

He said Brehmer communicated with him throughout the killing and sent Snapchat photos and videos of CeeCee while bound and after she was killed.

Prosecutors said that Schilmiller had also solicited Brehmer to try to obtain child pornography, which led to federal charges against Brehmer.

Leyland pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November 2023 and in August 2024, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

McIntosh, who was 16 at the time, was charged with murder for shooting CeeCee in the head. His sentencing is set for November 14.

Another tragic death

In 2019, Timothy Hoffman, right, sits next to a picture of his daughter Cynthia Hoffman, during Darin Schilmiller's arraignment for murder charges (AP)

Every year on the anniversary of CeeCee’s death, her father had organized a celebration motorcycle ride.

Timothy Hoffman, 58, was one of the participants on the 2 June event this year as friends and family gathered to remember CeeCee. However, he lost control of his motorcycle and was killed in the crash.

That ride was the first time his wife, CeeCee’s mother Barbara “Jeanie” Hoffman, had gone with him to the memotial event.

Timothy Hoffman died during memorial motorcycle ride commemorating the fifth anniversary of his daughter’s death. (GoFundMe)

She survived the crash but has endured several surgeries after suffering a fractured skull, broken back, and broken bones, a family member told the Anchorage Daily News.

The Hoffman family has seen their share of tragedies, but Hoffman’s brother Donald Hoffman Jr has vowed to continue to search for justice for CeeCee.

In an interview with Court TV, he says that Brehmer does not deserve to ever get out of prison.

“As much as you guide your children, there are a lot of unsavory people in the world. We see the end result. My niece is not here no more. She’s dead, shot in the back of the head,” he said. “And for what? She was led there, she went willingly, thinking this was all a game. It’s just like the wolf leading the lamb to the slaughter.”

“I think she has no conscience,” he added about Brehmer. “She’s evil. She murdered my niece without blinking an eye. And if she could’ve gotten away with it, she would’ve.”

Interview With a Killer airs Sunday nights at 8 pm ET on Court TV.