Madison Meeks 

Editor-in-Chief 

Mvm7037

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA The villain in the vicious “catfish” murder for hire plot that baited teens into killing a 19-year-old woman was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

The perpetrator, Darin Schilmiller, was facing five to 99 years in prison for the murder-for-hire scheme. As he sat in court and cried, the display of waterworks did not faze Alaska Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson, who chose to give the harshest punishment. Peterson stated that Schimiller got the harshest punishment because he was the ‘worst offender’.

During last week’s sentencing, Schilmiller was told “you plotted with the other co-defendants to kill somebody you never met, for no reason other than the sheer thrill of controlling others and seeing it be done” by Peterson, who was giving no sympathy for the killer after the defendant had killed Cythia “CeeCee” Hoffman.

In 2019, Schimiller was a 19-year-old Indiana resident who plotted to get videos of a “real-life” murder. According to Fox News, “he posed as a 20-year-old handsome Kansas man named ‘Tyler’, used a bogus picture online, and offered to pay millions of dollars to whoever sent him these videos”.

According to the police, a group of Alaskan teens saw the fake profile and decided to take the bait. They then befriended Hoffman, who was described by police as vulnerable and developmentally disabled. They had taken her on a nature hike in Anchorage, Alaska, where they had committed the act of bounding her arms and legs with duct tape. Then she shot in the back of the head before pushing her body into a creek, as stated in the court documents. The teens then burned her clothes and ID to make sure that she could not be identified. Hoffman’s father had disclosed that she had been so happy the day that she died when the group’s leader, Denail Brehmer, had pretended to be her best friend.

Brehmer had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and admitted to planning the girl’s death last February. The two other teens who have been charged with Hoffman’s murder are Caleb Leyland and Kayden McIntosh, both now in their 20s. Leyland pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November, and McIntosh is pleading not guilty and is awaiting trial for pulling the trigger that ended the life of Hoffman.

According to Fox News, “Brehmer’s sentencing is scheduled for February 12, and Leyland’s sentencing is scheduled for June 10. McIntosh’s trial date hasn’t been set yet.” Before the teens entered the picture, Schilmiller was the mastermind behind a plot for “thrills.”

Schimiller had offered Brehmer millions of dollars that he said he won in a lottery, something that he lied about, to film s**** a**** of minors. According to authorities, Schillmiller would give instructions on what he wanted and how to pose the victims in a text chain with Brehmer. This aspect of the case is under FBI jurisdiction due to crossing over several state lines.

While investigating Hoffman’s murder, authorities found the texts indicating a larger plot at hand in 2019. Both Schilmiller and Brehmer were arrested for the murder in 2019.