For Timothy Hoffman, it was the fifth annual memorial motorcycle ride to the Victims for Justice Memorial, and on to Thunderbird Falls in Eklutna, where his daughter had been tricked into going on a hike and then murdered by her companions on June 2, 2019. Then the riders would go on to an annual memorial celebration gathering in Big Lake.
The CeCe Celebration Ride for Justice started with a breakfast and live music courtesy of the Carousel Lounge. Riders mounted their motorcycles to head out to pay their respects to the teenager who was shot and whose body was dumped into the Eklutna River on that fateful day.
The ride in 2023 was going to be the last one, but then the fateful fifth-annual ride for 2024 was organized. For Timothy Hoffman Sr., father of the late Cynthia Hoffman, Sunday would be his last ride.
Hoffman, with his wife riding behind him on his Harley, lost control of his motorcycle at Mile 49 of the Parks Highway, near S. Rainbow Street.
Hoffman, 58, had organized the ride every year with friends and family to remember his daughter on the anniversary of CeCe’s death; this was the first time his wife Jeannie had gone with him. Jeannie was injured severely in the crash and is in the hospital in critical condition.
Timothy was not wearing a helmet on Sunday; Jeannie was wearing a full-face helmet, Alaska State Troopers said. Both were unconscious when they were transported to the hospital , where Timothy was pronounced dead on Sunday afternoon. The Parks Highway was closed for two hours, with traffic diverted onto a service road.
Timothy’s brother Greg has set up a GoFundMe page to help defray the costs for the funeral for Timothy.
The Hoffman family has endured much over the years, as one-by-one the perpetrators of the murder went in front of an Anchorage judge and pled guilty to their various roles in the murder of Cynthia. Denali Brehmer, one of the ringleaders, was recently sentenced to 99 years in prison for the deed that shocked Alaska and the nation.
Hoffman, who thought Brehmer was a friend, had been lured by Brehmer and other “friends” to the banks of the Eklutna River and she was shot execution style near Thunderbird Falls. Brehmer and accomplices dumped her body into the river. Investigators later learned that Darin Schilmiller of Indiana had solicited and orchestrated the murder with Brehmer during a perverted relationship the two developed on the internet. Schilmiller had offered money to Brehmer to conduct the murder of someone, and provide him the video footage of it.
Schilmiller is now serving a 99-year sentence. Caleb Leyland, one of the defendants, pled guilty to his role and is scheduled to be sentence June 10. Kayden McIntosh, accused of being the one who actually pulled the trigger, is still pending trial.
