Brehmer — who was “catfished” by a man into murdering her best friend for $9 million that didn’t exist — calls the killing a representation of her “monstrous side” on Interview with a Killer, as Court TV’s David Scott accuses her of “not taking responsibility” for her actions.
For the first time, Denali Brehmar — known as the “catfish killer” — is speaking out about the events and murder-for-hire plot that led to her killing her best friend in the latest episode of Court TV’s television series, Interview With a Killer.
On the show, award-winning investigative reporter David Scott sits down with some of the most notorious murderers in the U.S., some of whom have never spoken with the media about their convictions.
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Sunday’s new episode features Brehmer’s first interview about the brutal slaying of her then-alleged best friend, Cynthia Hoffman, 19. Brehmer was sentenced to 99 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder for her involvement in Hoffman’s murder in June 2019 in an Alaskan forest. At the time, a then-18-year-old Brehmer was allegedly catfished by Darin Schilmiller into murdering Hoffman for $9 million … that he didn’t have.
Schilmiller also admitted to blackmailing Brehmer into sexually assaulting minors, according to Anchorage Daily News. In August 2024, Brehmer and Schilmiller were sentenced to 30 years in prison for conspiring to “exploit a minor victim to produce sexually explicit images,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Alaska, citing court documents.
In TooFab’s exclusive clip from Sunday’s episode, Brehmer is grilled by Scott regarding her motive behind Hoffman’s murder — with Scott arguing it was “premeditated,” while also accusing Brehmer of “not taking responsibility” for her actions.
“Denali, of course, there’s sympathy for a troubled teenage girl who suffers the kind of abuse that you did,” Scott said. “But your crimes are so brutal, so depraved and premeditated that there’s nothing that really explains that alone, excuses them. Do you agree with that?”
“Yeah,” Brehmer admitted, while Scott said the crime didn’t appear to be “done on impulse,” but rather “premeditated and planned and conniving.”
“Again, the sheer brutality of it, it looks less like a terrible mistake and more like your true character,” he added. Brehmer — who appeared to have a quiet, rather reserved demeanor — immediately replied that the murder was not a representation of her “true character.”
“Was it then?” Scott asked, to which Brehmer said, “Pushed to that point, it used to be. That’s, like, definitely the worst I’ve ever been. My lowest point. That’s my monstrous side.”
However, Scott argued that Brehmer was doing a “fair amount of finger-pointing towards other people” during their conversation, which Brehmer also realized she was doing.
“It kind of contradicts the idea that you are fully taking responsibility. You’re parsing, for example, whether or not you are the same kind of murderer that [Kayden] McIntosh is because he pulled the trigger and you didn’t,” Scott said, referring to another then-teenager who was accused of participating in the murder.
“You’re pointing the fingers at others who may have, you say, texted [Schilmiller], as you. You’re denying the child porn charges,” he continued. “You’re denying making your younger sibling a victim of that. You’re doing a lot of not taking responsibility.”
In response, Brehmer argued, “It’s just, like, the media got a lot wrong. The cops got a lot wrong. My co-defendants and I did a lot wrong. We all did something really f–ked up and I take responsibility for my part a hundred percent. It’s just, I’m not willing to take responsibility for theirs.”
Schilmiller and the Murder-For-Hire Plot
In January 2024, Schilmiller was sentenced to 99 years in prison after previously pleading guilty to solicitation to commit murder in the first degree. During sentencing, Judge Peterson called the teen’s “assassination” both “extremely sad” and “shocking.” He also said he believed Schilmiller would “always be a risk to the community” and orchestrated the murder “for the mere thrill of it,” as well as “for power, for control, for your fetishes.”
Those fetishes, according to an FBI agent who testified in court, included child pornography, infants, rape and murder.
Hoffman was shot in the back of the head in June 2019, before her body was dumped in a river northeast of Anchorage.
According to the Anchorage district attorney’s office, the murder plot began when Schilmiller met Denali Brehmer — then 18 — online. He said he was a millionaire named Tyler and offered to give her $9 million in exchange for evidence she killed someone. Schilmiller, however, was actually unemployed, broke and lived in his grandmother’s basement.
Brehmer then chose Hoffman as the victim, before recruiting four other friends to help her commit the heinous crime. Brehmer and Hoffman reportedly considered each other “best friends”; Brehmer, according to her family, was a “trusting young adult” with learning disability which reportedly “put her at a younger developmental age than her 19 years.”
Per authorities, the group then talked Brehmer into going on a hiking trip with them, before they bound her hands, feet and mouth with duct tape and shot her … all while sending photos and videos to Schilmiller.
Alaska Department of Law/Facebook
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According to Anchorage Daily News, police were put onto Brehmer’s trail after she posted concerning photos and videos to Snapchat and even told some people she was involved in the murder. She then led police to Hoffman’s body, while her phone led them to Schilmiller. On her phone, they found messages from Brehmer to Schilmiller, in which she was seen sexually assaulting minors.
As previously mentioned, Brehmer was also sentenced to 99 years in prison with none suspended. When she was handed her sentence in February 2024, the State of Alaska gave her a “worst offender” finding.
“The Court should find that Miss Brehmer engaged in one of the most serious crimes that we have in Alaska,” District Attorney Patrick McKay said at the time. “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. She may not have pulled the trigger, but this never would have happened it if it weren’t for Denali Brehmer.”
Another accomplice, Caleb Leyland, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in Hoffman’s murder. Meanwhile, Kayden McIntosh — who pleaded guilty to one count of murder in the second degree — is set to receive his sentencing later this month.
See more from the sit-down when Interview With a Killer airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on Court TV.
