Father of 19-Year-Old Killed by Best Friend for $9 Million: ‘My Daughter Trusted These People’

Stock image of a cemetery. Gisela Fotografie/Pixabay

The father of a 19-year-old Alaska teen who was killed for money by her best friend spoke at the suspect’s trial on June 19 about his daughter.

“The only thing I know is that my daughter trusted these people, my daughter just wanted friends,” the teen’s father, Timothy Hoffman said, according to CBS News.

“Now I have to bury her, and that is wrong,” he added.

A group of friends allegedly killed Cynthia Hoffman on June 2 because a man who claimed he was a millionaire offered them $9 million for video of the crime.

Authorities found Hoffman’s dead body a day after she was reported missing in Anchorage along the river bank near Thunderbird Falls trail on June 4, reported WDIV ClickOnDetroit.

According to the indictment quoted by ABC News, Denali Brehmer, 18 allegedly plotted the murder of her best friend, Hoffman after a 21-year-old Indiana man, Darin Schilmiller, pretending to be a millionaire named Tyler from Kansas, offered her millions to “rape and murder someone in Alaska” and provide him “videos and photographs of the murder.”

Hoffman’s father told the court that his daughter had a developmental disability and operated with the intelligence of a seventh grader. He said she just wanted to be accepted by the people around her.

“She had a lot of people who loved her,” Timothy told InsideEdition.com. “She just wanted to hang out and she just wanted to be happy.”

Police said Cynthia was shot in the back of her head and thrown into the river by Brehmer’s friend, Kayden Mclntosh, 16. The teens fled the spot with the victim’s belongings after committing the crime.

“They sent texts to the victim’s family members via her phone. They stated the victim was dropped off at the park. The family members took that information and used it to file a missing person’s report the next day. The male and female then drove to Lions Park in Mountain View and burned the victim’s belongings,” said the police in a statement via KTVA.

The next day the police contacted Brehmer’s mother who said the teen told her Cynthia might have been shot and pushed into the water.

Brehmer was arrested on June 7 after she confessed to telling McIntosh to shoot the victim. In documents, Brehmer is referred to as Hoffman’s best friend, reported ClickOnDetroit.

Brehmer did not hide anything when she faced a judge on Wednesday. “I know what I did was wrong,” she said according to CBS News, “and I know I probably could have done something different if I was able to.”

Inside Edition reports that Cynthia had a big family—she was being raised alongside four sisters, two brothers, and two cousins.

“We were so close together, you could not break that bond,” Timothy said told Inside Edition. “Every time they did something, they always called dad.”

He said his children had the freedom to call him anytime he wanted, and he was overprotective of them. “But look what happened,” he said.

He said Cynthia’s disability made her vulnerable, and who she thought were her friends were not friends at all.

Timothy said his “angel” daughter was hoping to get a driver’s permit and license, and his last conversation with her was about how proud he was of her.

He recalled saying to her: “You know, Cynthia, you’ve come a long ways, daddy’s so proud of you. You hurry up and get that permit, I’ll give you that car before you even get your license.”

According to a release by the Alaska Department of Law, a grand jury indicted Brehmer, McIntosh, Schilmiller, 19-year-old Caleb Leyland, and two unidentified juveniles in the crime. Leyland was the one who provided a vehicle to carry out the plot.

Schilmiller confessed to pushing Brehmer to commit the murder, and he also mentioned murdering another person but later dropped the idea, said police, according to ABC News.

All the suspects admitted to their respective roles in the crime and told investigators that they were planning to split the money among themselves.

The six were charged with first-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, and two counts of second-degree murder, along with other charges.