Denali Brehmer stands at her arraignment in the Anchorage Correctional Center in Anchorage, Alaska, on June 9, 2019. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP, File)
The so-called “best friend” who orchestrated a plot to murder a young Alaska woman has been sentenced for making child pornography on behalf of the basement-dwelling catfisher who solicited the crimes.
Denali Dakota Skye Brehmer, 23, was sentenced Monday in a federal court to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to make child sexual abuse material. She is already serving a maximum sentence of 99 years in Alaska for murdering her friend, Cynthia “CeeCee” Hoffman, 19, who was developmentally disabled. The victim was found bound in duct tape and shot to death near Thunderbird Falls on the banks of the Eklutna River.
Brehmer and five others were charged in connection to the incident, though two are being processed through the juvenile courts. Kayden McIntosh allegedly confessed to being the actual gunman. The case against him is set for trial.
And there’s Darin Schilmiller, 25, the catfisher. Posing online as a man named “Tyler,” offering Brehmer $9 million to kidnap and kill one of her friends and send photographic proof.
In actuality, however, “Tyler” was a broke, unemployed Indiana resident living in his grandparents’ basement.
Federal authorities said that while plotting to kill Hoffman, Brehmer agreed to make child sexual abusive material for Schilmiller.
“While they were conspiring to commit Hoffman’s murder, they also conspired to coerce a minor victim to produce sexually explicit images, which Brehmer took and sent to Schilmiller via text message,” authorities wrote.
Schilmiller has pleaded guilty to one count of solicitation to commit murder in the first degree and also a federal charge of conspiracy to produce child pornography in these cases. An Alaska judge sentenced him to 99 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 45. The federal court has yet to sentence him in the abuse case.
“The harm Ms. Brehmer has caused to the victims and their families through the course of her conduct is unfathomable,” said U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska. “My office will continue our unwavering commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to protect Alaska’s children and seek justice against perpetrators who choose to commit these reprehensible crimes.”
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