
Photo courtesy of Colleen Breuning
Rachel Morningstar Hoffman was a 23 year old aspiring chef who loved to cook for friends and family. She was an only child and has been called a modern day flower child. She loved her family and friends. She cared deeply for the people in her life and was there for them through thick and thin. She was well loved and will be missed always.
Rachel graduated in 2007 with a B average. Her plans were to attend culinary school and become a chef which was her passion. As any young adult she would from time to time smoke marijuana. I don’t think there is anyone on the planet who can say that they never smoked weed at some point in their life. For Rachel it was recreational. At times she would sell an ounce or so to her friends.
On February 2008 she was pulled over for speeding when police found less than an ounce of marijuana in her car. She was ordered into a court supervised drug diversion program. A bit excessive for one ounce of weed if you ask me. She attended meetings, was not drug addicted and eventually stopped smoking and selling.
A very dear friend of her’s lost his Father. Rachel, with her caring and loving nature towards friends left to be with her friend in his time of grief. As a result she missed one of her meetings and was sent to jail for a weekend. Police went to her residence and rifled through the outside garbage container and found what they called a drug tally sheet. They then raided her apartment to find 5 ounces of marijuana and 6 ecstasy pills. As a result she was facing felony charges.
The Tallahassee police then made a deal with her. They told her “if you help us, we’ll help you.” That statement was the beginning of the end for Rachel Morningstar Hoffman.
The police told her they wanted her to participate in a sting and that they would be with her the entire time. On May 7th 2008 she was given $13,000.00 by the police to buy guns and drugs from suspects Bradshaw and Green who both had violent criminal pasts and long rap sheets. The operation was to be that Rachel would meet the criminals in the park and hand them the thirteen grand for drugs and guns. The police would then come in, arrest all of them and after the two thugs were in custody, Rachel would be released. The police were supposed to be following her to the park.
At 6:00 pm on May 7th, Rachel arrived at the Tallahassee police department. They gave her the cash and a transmitter where she could be in constant contact with the police and also her cell phone. She began driving towards the park where they were to meet with the police following her.
All of a sudden the police see that she takes a wrong turn. They contact her and she tells them that the suspects changed the location. At that split second moment, the transmitter goes dead. They try her cell phone and that is dead as well. She drives down the end of a road thinking police were behind her. They were not. The police lost sight and track of her.
At 3:00 am on the morning of May 8th the police contact her friends asking where she was. Her friends did not know and told them they thought she was with the police. The police by now had thought that she took off with the cash, without any regard for her and her safety. That’s all they cared about was the cash.
At around 5:00 pm that same day, May 8th - 22 hours after the sting, the police found the suspects. After intense interrogations of the two criminals and now murderers, they found Rachel’s body about 36 hours after the sting. She had been shot multiple times.
Above video created by and courtesy of Colleen Breuning
The Tallahassee police department took it upon themselves to blame Rachel for her own death. She was sent to be a confidential informant on a sting by police who were supposed to protect her and she ended up crying for help as she was being shot to death with no one hearing her cries.
A Grand Jury found that the Police department should have never sent her to buy guns from known violent criminals. The Tallahassee police dept. then fired the officer in charge. The murderers Green and Bradshaw have pleaded not guilty. The trial date has not yet been set.
On a personal level. I cannot even imagine the hell her parents are going through right now. My thoughts and prayers go out to them. This story disgusted and angered me. It also hurt deeply because it personally involved a friend of mine - Colleen Breuning. Colleen’s son Vince, as pictured above with Rachel were like Brother and Sister. To see how it affected Colleen and her family hurt me very much. What happened was a horrific act led by the Tallahassee police department. Frankly I’m sick of reporting on horrendous acts being done by the police. It’s just unfathomable that police departments operate in this manner. When does it end?
The video above is a photo montage’ created by my dear friend Colleen in tribute to Rachel Morningstar Hoffman.