
Alaska teens accused of “Catfish Murder”
An Alaska teenager is charged with murdering her best friend for a multimillion-dollar payday from a stranger she met online in a Catfish scheme. Catfishing is when a person creates a fake online identity in order to deceive someone into a relationship. Denali Brehmer, 18, was charged in the murder of Cynthia Hoffman, 19, whom Brehmer and another teen allegedly shot in an Alaska park earlier this month. Prosecutors say Brehmer made the plan to kill Hoffman after the man she met online promised to pay her millions for evidence of her murdering someone. Authorities say Darin Schilmiller, 21, of Indiana, created a fake online persona as a millionaire from Kansas named “Tyler” and began a relationship with Brehmer. Schilmiller eventually convinced Brehmer to commit murder and sexual assault and send him photos and videos of the crimes in exchange for $9 million. It was after the teen committed the horrific crimes that she found out she had been catfished by Schilmiller. According to FBI data, almost 20,000 people reported being victims of online romance or confidence fraud, in which a perpetrator deceives someone into believing they have a trust relationship, whether it's friendly or romantic.