Alaska Woman Kills 'Best Friend' After Man Promised Her $9 Million For Murder Videos

A 22-year-old woman in Alaska pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering her "best friend" in 2019 after a man she met online claimed he would give her $9 million if she sent him pictures and videos of her killing someone.

Denali Brehmer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the June 2019 death of Cynthia Hoffman, the Alaska Department of Law confirmed.

According to court documents, 19-year-old Hoffman, whose body was dumped in the Eklutna River, almost 27 miles northeast of Anchorage, died from a gunshot wound to the back of her head.

The Anchorage district attorney's office previously said that Brehmer, who was 18 years old at the time of the incident, began planning the murder after a man she met online told her that he would give her money in exchange for evidence of her committing murder, NBC News reported.

Brehmer reportedly knew the man as "Tyler" and had started a relationship with him.

However, police said that the man had catfished her and created and presented a fake persona as a millionaire from Kansas. According to authorities, the man's real name is Darin Schilmiller, and he is from Indiana.

Court documents added that Brehmer and Schilmiller started planning multiple crimes in exchange for money, including the "rape and murder of someone in Alaska."

Brehmer chose Hoffman as the victim and recruited four friends — Kayden McIntosh, Caleb Leyland and two other unnamed minors — to help her. Brehmer told them they would receive "substantial shares of money" for helping her murder Hoffman.

Brehmer, together with two of the teenagers, tricked Hoffman into coming to Thunderbird Falls for a hiking trip. They bound her hands, feet and mouth with duct tape, shot her in the back of the head and dumped her lifeless body in the river.

While in the middle of the killing, Brehmer reportedly sent photos and videos to Schilmiller as evidence, authorities said.

After killing Hoffman, the group destroyed some of the victim's personal belongings and texted her parents that they had dropped her off at a park.

Police said there was no proof Hoffman had been sexually assaulted.

Alaska Department of Law said Wednesday that Brehmer "admitted the facts contained in the complaint initially filed in the case." The Anchorage Police Department, together with the FBI and other agencies, assisted in investigating Hoffman's death.

Hoffman's family previously said that they believe she was targeted because she had a learning disability that "put her at a younger developmental age than her 19 years," The Anchorage Daily News reported.

Brehmer was initially arrested in 2019 and indicted on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree solicitation of murder and tampering with physical evidence and two charges of second-degree murder.

Following her plea of guilty to first-degree murder, the other charges were dismissed, the Alaska Department of Law confirmed. She is set to be sentenced in August and faces 30 to 99 years imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Schilmiller was arrested and indicted on five murder counts, online court records show.

McIntosh and Leyland were indicted on four murder counts. McIntosh was also indicted on tampering with evidence. All three have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.