SUSPECTS LEAD POLICE TO HOFFMAN'S BODY IN TAYLOR COUNTY

Rachel Morningstar Hoffman knew what jail was like, and friends say
she didn't want to go back.

Hoffman, 23, a 2007 Florida State University graduate, was found dead
in rural Taylor County early Friday after two men suspected in her
kidnapping and robbery led investigators to her body. Murder charges
are pending, according to the Tallahassee Police Department.

Hoffman was last seen Wednesday night near Forestmeadows Park while
attempting to assist TPD vice investigators by buying drugs and a gun
from two men.

When Hoffman agreed to help police, she was facing multiple felony
charges and was in a diversion program after being caught with more
than 20 grams of marijuana, Chief Dennis Jones said in a news
conference Friday.

"It is not unusual to have known drug dealers or users offer to assist
police in narcotics investigations," Jones said. "Rachel was no exception."

The Tallahassee Democrat requested a copy of Hoffman's arrest report
but was told that it was not available Friday evening. TPD spokesman
David McCranie said the report would be made available Monday.

Hoffman was facing charges of possession of ecstasy with intent to
sell, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell,
maintaining a drug house and possession of drug paraphernalia, Jones
said.

She agreed to buy 1,500 pills of ecstasy, 2 ounces of cocaine or crack
cocaine and a gun from two men, Andrea J. Green and Deneilo Bradshaw,
Jones said. The two were arrested Thursday in Orlando. The purchase
was to take place near the northeast Tallahassee park.

"Unfortunately, Rachel chose to ignore precautions established in a
previous briefing as well as the direction of her case agent," Jones
said.

Hoffman left the Forestmeadows Park area, where several police
officers were watching her, to meet Green and Bradshaw, McCranie said.
She spoke with a vice officer on the phone, who begged her to stay,
but she hung up, he said.

Police tried to stop her, but were unsuccessful, McCranie said. He
would not elaborate on how TPD officers lost sight of Hoffman or where
she went.

"I'm just upset that they didn't protect her," said Carlton Lahmann, a
friend of Hoffman's. "They could have been there for her, and they
weren't."

Hoffman's attorney, Johnny Devine, said he was "very angry" that
Tallahassee police didn't tell him that they'd asked Hoffman to be an
informant. He said he only found out that something was wrong when her
mother called him Wednesday night after police called the family.

"I see my role as protecting my clients," Devine said. "I was not able
to give her any advice on being a confidential informant because I
wasn't informed. And I wish to God I would have been."

He said he advises clients not to become informants because of the
risks.

McCranie would not say whether Hoffman was wearing a wire, but another
of Hoffman's friends, Shaina Hale, recalls Hoffman saying that police
wanted her to do so. Police did not say why Hoffman was doing the
bust, but McCranie said she was not coerced and helped willingly.

"We're not here to threaten or intimidate people," he said. "That's
part of being a professional."

Hoffman found Green and Bradshaw herself, he said.

"We did not introduce her to these people," he said. "She introduced
them to us."

Hale and other friends said they think police scared Hoffman into
thinking she was going to spend years in prison for the felony charges
if she didn't become an informant.

"She didn't want to go back to jail, so basically, they used that
experience to scare her," Hale said.

Hoffman went to jail April 4-6 for failure to appear for a drug test,
according to court records. That stems from an arrest when she was
pulled over for speeding Feb. 22, 2007. An officer found 25.7 grams of
cannabis in her car, court records show. She was sentenced to
probation, community service, and she was required to attend a
drug-rehabilitation program.

Hale picked up Hoffman after her three-day stint in the Leon County
Jail. Hoffman told Hale she only ate oranges while there. She asked
Hale to stop to buy Gatorade before Hale dropped her off at a friend's
house. Hoffman joked that the hair conditioner in jail was bad and
that she felt "gross."

"She tried to make light of it," Hale said. "But she was terrified.
She couldn't sleep."

Ed Sonnenschein of Tallahassee another friend, said Hoffman was
"flipped out" this week because of her dilemma.

"The police told her she had to give someone up," he recalled her
telling him.

When Sonnenschein saw Hoffman on Monday, she was jumpy and couldn't
relax from being so nervous.

"They (the men) would've taken one look at her and known something was
up," he said.

Green and Bradshaw were arrested about 5 p.m. Thursday by Florida
Department of Law Enforcement agents. They were flown to Tallahassee
Friday morning. Police have not said how Hoffman died or her time of
death.

Green, of Perry, spent nearly nine months in prison from 2004 to 2005
for selling marijuana and aggravated assault in Taylor County,
according to the Florida Department of Corrections. Bradshaw was
arrested in April and May 2007 on charges of possession of marijuana
in Leon County.

Friday morning before Hoffman's parents were informed that their
daughter's body was found, Hoffman's father offered a $150,000 reward
for her safe return.

"This is my daughter," Irv Hoffman of Palm Harbor had said. "My
heart's broken. We just want Rachel home safely."