The Other McCain

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‘Parents Would Be Wise to Monitor the Activity of Their Children Online’

Posted on | June 19, 2019 | 1 Comment

Kayden McIntosh (left), Denali Brehmer (center), Caleb Leyland (right).

So says U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder, announcing new indictments in the bizarre murder of a 19-year-old girl in Alaska:

A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted two of the defendants in the killing of Anchorage teenager Cynthia Hoffman on new child pornography charges.
The indictments represent the latest twist in a tangled case involving two young people whose online relationship, prosecutors say, crossed over into real-world murder plot that drew in five Anchorage teenagers and led to the killing of a young developmentally disabled woman.
“For all the good the internet can do, it can be a very dark place,” said Bryan Schroder, the U.S. Attorney in Alaska, at a press conference in Anchorage on Tuesday. “Parents would be wise to monitor the activity of their children online.”
Denali Brehmer, 18, now faces four federal child pornography charges in addition to state murder charges in the slaying of Cynthia Hoffman.
Darin Schilmiller, the 21-year-old Indiana man who prosecutors say offered Brehmer $9 million to “rape and murder someone in Alaska,” was also included in the indictment announced Tuesday.
He’d already been arrested on federal child pornography offenses last week. The new indictment includes five federal charges against Schilmiller, including conspiracy to produce child pornography, production of child pornography, receipt and distribution of child pornography and coercion and enticement of a minor. . . .
Prosecutors say the murder plot was a bizarre online “catfishing” scheme in which the rural Indiana 21-year-old posed as a millionaire named “Tyler” on the internet and recruited Brehmer to kill Hoffman.
Brehmer, in turn, involved four other Anchorage teenagers in the plan, promising them money, prosecutors say.
Hoffman was taken to the Thunderbird Falls trailhead in Chugiak where she was bound with duct tape, shot and left in the Eklutna River on June 2, according to charges. Authorities say Brehmer sent Schilmiller Snapchat images of Hoffman both before and after the killing.
Hoffman’s family has said she considered Brehmer to be her best friend.
Six people have been charged in her death: Schilmiller, Brehmer, 16-year-old gunman Kayden McIntosh, 19-year-old Caleb Leyland and two unnamed juveniles. . . .
Detectives found images of Brehmer sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl, which she then shared with Schilmiller, who was posing as “Tyler.”
Text message exchanges included in other criminal complaints in the case show the Indiana man asking Brehmer to “rape” the girl, who was said to be 14 but was actually 15. . . .
The indictments do not add detail to the narrative of the killing of Hoffman, or answer the many questions about the interactions between Schilmiller, a 21-year-old from rural Indiana who had a troubling history of befriending people online only to ask them for pictures of their children.

Hey, kids, be careful about people who claim to be millionaires on the Internet. Also, don’t rape and murder people. That’s not cool.

(Hat-tip: Kirby McCain on Twitter.)



 

Category: Alaska, Crime

Comments

One Response to “‘Parents Would Be Wise to Monitor the Activity of Their Children Online’”

  1. Scrapbook – Dark Brightness
    June 20th, 2019 @ 5:37 am

    […] when he took the regulation steps to protect himself and their children she allegedly killed him. There are evil people out there. Avoid them. That includes much of social media, who are not merely a vector for evil, but fail that […]