Lucy Devine
On May 7, 2008, 23-year-old Rachel Hoffman was on her way to buy two and a half ounces of cocaine, 1500 ecstasy pills, and a gun.
Being tracked by 19 officers, as well as a Drug Enforcement Administration surveillance plane, Hoffman's every move was being monitored by authorities, but somehow, as she travelled to meet two drug dealers with $13,000 cash and a wire in her purse, police lost her location.
Just hours later, and she had been shot five times in the chest and head with the gun she had been sent to buy.
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Hoffman had been acting as a police informant at the time of her death.
It all started a few weeks earlier, when she was caught with illegal drugs inside her apartment.
After police searched her property, they found over five ounces of marijuana, as well as ecstasy and valium pills.
With it being the second time she had been caught with narcotics, she agreed to help the city's drugs team, believing her charges would be reduced or dropped altogether.
She agreed to act as an informant for the Tallahassee Police Department under the supervision of investigator Ryan Pender, but sadly, the operation went drastically wrong.
Everything seemed to be going to plan until the dealers changed the location of the buy.
Apparently, Hoffman was instructed by authorities not to attend the new location, but it's reported that the message never reached her.
Minutes later, police lost her location, and after a 36-hour search, her body was found in a ravine in Taylor County. She had five gunshot wounds in the head and chest.
Hoffman's death lead to an overhaul in the way authorities recruit informants and the training and information that is provided to them beforehand.
A year on from her death, Rachel's Law was passed in Florida, which sets out a number of requirements for police when using informants.
The law states that authorities must provide special training and make clear that reduced sentences might not be provided in exchange for their work.
They should also allow potential informants to request a lawyer before going undercover, if they want to.
“Rachel’s Law remains one of the most important pieces of legislation in the informant landscape, even though over the past decade there have been many new developments,” Alexandra Natapoff, a law professor at the University of California Irvine School of Law, told Tallahassee Democrat.
The men who killed Hoffman are now serving life in prison, and Tallahassee Police Department were found negligent in her death.
“It’s a lesson learned, not only by our department but other agencies, to implement changes,” said TPD Spokesman Damon Miller.
“It is unfortunate that Ms. Hoffman died, and with our policies and in accordance with Rachel’s law, we don’t want this to ever happen again.”