Father of Alaska woman killed in contract killing dies on motorcycle ride to commemorate her death

US News

By Louis Casiano, Fox News

The father of an Alaska woman killed in a contract killing in 2019 died over the weekend during a memorial motorcycle ride marking the fifth anniversary of her death.

The Anchorage Daily News reported that 58-year-old Timothy Hoffman lost control of his motorcycle near Wasilla on Sunday and was later pronounced dead, according to Alaska State Troopers.

In the back seat of the motorcycle was his wife, Barbara “Jeanie” Hoffman, Tanya Chaison, who is engaged to Timothy Hoffman’s brother, and was seriously injured, the newspaper reported.

Cynthia Hoffman, the couple’s 19-year-old daughter, was killed in a fraud plot involving Denali Brehmer, a woman Hoffman considered her best friend.

Brehmer began an online relationship with Darin Schilmiller, an Indiana man who claimed to be a Kansas millionaire, when he promised her $9 million if she killed someone and sent him photos and videos of it, prosecutors said.

Hoffman’s body was found on June 2, 2019, along the Eklutna River in Chugiak. She had been shot and later found bound with duct tape.

Brehmer sent Schilmiller photos and video recordings of the murder, authorities said.

She allegedly recruited four friends, including Kayden McIntosh, Caleb Leyland and two teenagers, to help her carry out the murder.

They tricked Hoffman into believing they had arranged to go hiking on the Thunderbird Falls Trail when she was killed.

Brehmer was sentenced to 99 years in prison earlier this year. Schilmiller, of New Salisbury, Indiana, also received a 99-year sentence for his role in Hoffman’s death.

Schilmiller admitted to federal agents and Indiana State Police that he chose Hoffman as a victim and told Brehmer to kill her, court documents say. Sentencing for two other defendants in connection with the case is scheduled for later this year.

During court hearings, Timothy Hoffman often wore a black leather motorcycle jacket and had his small service dog, Diego, with him.

Patrick McKay, who served as lead prosecutor in several criminal cases related to Cynthia Hoffman’s murder, called Timothy Hoffman a “zealous advocate” for his daughter and said his sudden death was “almost too unbelievable to be true.”

“I hope his family and friends find comfort in the knowledge that Tim died doing something he loved, with people he loved, in memory of a loved one,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.