Woman pleads guilty to killing 'best friend' after man offered to pay £7.5m for murder videos

A 22-year-old woman pleaded guilty to killing her best friend after a man she met online offered to pay her $9 million (£7.5 million) if she made a video of the act and sent it to him.

The accused, identified as Denali Brehmer, carried out the crime in June 2019 in Alaska, USA. The victim, Cynthia Hoffman, was only 19 years old when she was brutally murdered. She also had a learning disability, and her parents believe she was targeted because of that.

According to local media reports, Brehmer was catfished by a man who claimed to be a millionaire from Kansas. She knew him as Tyler, however, it was later revealed that the man's real name was Darin Schilmiller and that he hails from Indiana.

Schilmiller and Brehmer started planning several crimes, including the "rape and murder of someone in Alaska," according to court documents accessed by NBC News.

Brehmer then roped in four friends—Kayden McIntosh, Caleb Leyland, and two other unnamed juveniles—to help her carry out the act. She promised them "substantial shares of money" in exchange for their help.

According to the Alaska Department of Law, Brehmer and her friends tricked Hoffman on the pretext of going on a hiking trip to Thunderbird Falls.

The accused then bound her hands, feet, and mouth with duct tape, shot her in the back of the head and threw her body in the Eklutna River, northeast of Anchorage, Alaska.

After killing her, Brehmer sent photos and videos of the crime to Schilmiller. They messaged their parents stating that they dropped her off at a park. A search was launched to locate Hoffman after she went missing, and her body was found in the river two days later.

The police launched an investigation into the case, which led them to Brehmer. She was arrested in 2019 and charged with first-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree solicitation of murder, tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of second-degree murder.

She eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, and the other charges were dropped. She now faces 30 to 99 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

Her friends, McIntosh and Leyland, have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. Schilmiller was also arrested and charged with five counts of murder.