Canadian Man Traveled to California and Attacked Female Online Gamer He Became ‘Obsessed’ With
Canadian man Devin Wolfgang Vanderhoef will spend the rest of his life in prison after he traveled to California to attack a woman he became “obsessed” with after they met on an online gaming platform.
The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday, June 25, that Vanderhoef, 26, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences following the failed murder plot.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Department said in an initial press release that the incident took place on November 25, 2024, shortly after Vanderhoef and his alleged coconspirator, Darius Avery Whyte, were arrested while trying to travel into Canada through the border.
Prosecutors announced that Vanderhoef was sentenced to “two consecutive life sentences for the willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder of two people.” Additionally, he was “sentenced to serve five consecutive years for personally inflicting great bodily injury and personally using a weapon during the commission of the crimes.”
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The Monterey County Sheriff’s Department previously revealed that Vanderhoef met his victim through an online gaming platform and he “developed a year’s long obsession with the victim which led to him flying to California from Canada where he resides” to commit the murder.
Vanderhoef allegedly crossed the border with Whyte, 26, and he posed as an Amazon employee when he knocked on the victim’s door.
Police said that the victim’s boyfriend answered the door and found Vanderhoef allegedly holding a package while dressed as a delivery driver.
Vanderhoef allegedly lunged toward the boyfriend and “forced his way in and began stabbing the boyfriend with a knife resulting in multiple critical injuries.”
The woman then “grabbed a sharp metal object” to defend her boyfriend. “While fighting back, the female victim was strangled and stabbed by [Vanderhoef], sustaining moderate injuries,” authorities said. “During the struggle, [Vanderhoef] sustained multiple critical stab wounds.”
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A pregnant woman’s life was forever changed when she woke up from a coma to learn that her boyfriend shot her in the head in an attempt to kill their unborn child. Now, he will spend the next six decades behind bars for the crime. The DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office announced that Donald Wooten […]When detectives arrived at the scene, they “discovered that the package that Vandorhoef was carrying when he arrived contained handcuffs, duct tape and knives.”
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Deal Alert! This 44%-Off Throw-On Mini Dress Is Too Good to Leave in Your Cart View DealPolice initially said it was “unknown how these items were intended on being used” by Vanderhoef or Whyte.
“The investigation determined that Whyte was an accomplice of Vandorhoef during this incident and that he had knowledge of what Vandorhoef’s intentions were,” police added.
Whyte eventually pleaded guilty to charges for assault and for being an accessory after the fact to a felony. He was given a probationary sentence and was immediately released from custody since he had already served the time while awaiting his trial. Whyte also testified against Vanderhoef during his trial.
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Woman secretly livestreamed more than 700 hours of her ex-husband using his Ring cameras
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Inset: Rayna Bell in court. Background: Ring camera footage showing Rayna Bell's ex-husband being spied on in his California home (KNSD/YouTube).
A California woman has admitted to using her ex-husband's Ring cameras to spy on him, with court documents saying she livestreamed more than 700 hours of the man and his family from inside his home.
Rayna Bell pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor charge of eavesdropping using an electronic device, according to court records. She was ordered to pay restitution as part of the plea deal and must serve one day in custody, with credit for time served and one year of probation.
Sign up for the Law&Crime Daily Newsletter for more breaking news and updatesA request for a "domestic violence restraining order" filed by the ex-husband, obtained by local NBC affiliate KNSD, accused Bell of "unlawfully accessing" her ex's private Ring camera system last year and linking his account to half a dozen Amazon Alexa devices that were registered to her.
"[Bell] viewed video footage for approximately 44,640 minutes — an average of 12 hours per day — over the span of two months," the request said. "These devices include cameras inside and outside my home, including our children's rooms. Her unauthorized access violated both my privacy and the safety of my household."
The ex-husband and his family told KNSD they first noticed something was wrong after hearing a voice coming from one of the cameras.
"It was his ex-wife's voice," recounted the man's fiancee, Acacia Young. "We tried so hard to try to restore the peace, the security, the privacy. Once you are robbed of that, it's almost impossible to try to restore that in your home."
According to the restraining order request, the footage that Bell "live viewed" and recorded included "deeply personal and private moments, such as my fiancee breastfeeding our newborn, nudity and partially undressed footage of our children … in vulnerable settings."
The recordings were "deeply invasive" and deemed as possible child exploitation by the ex-husband, according to KNSD.
"[Bell] also accessed and recorded confidential household conversations, including private discussions between my fiancée and me regarding our finances, credit card numbers, banking details, Social Security information, medical records, medical health history, and other protected health and identity-related data," the request charged. "Her conduct constitutes a serious invasion of privacy and potential identity theft."
Bell did not respond to KNSD's requests for comment. Her ex-husband plans to take legal action against her in civil court.
"You're always going to feel like they can do it again," Young said. "Or if they had the opportunity, they would do it again."
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Brendan Sorsby will not pursue path to NFL in 2026, QB to prepare for 2027 draft
Former Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is accepting the consequences for his gambling problems and will sit out both the collegiate and NFL seasons in 2026.
After his effort to join the NFL in a supplemental draft this summer failed, Sorsby will not seek litigation against the NFL and will be eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft, per CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones. The league won't punish Sorsby further for his known gambling conduct on top of what's unofficially a one-year suspension from football. Per the settlement between the NFL, the NFL Players' Association and Sorsby, he will be allowed to take part in the Senior Bowl, pro day and team visits in the lead up to the 2027 like any other draft-eligible prospect, per ESPN.
Sorsby released the following statement on the decision:
"There has been a lot of news about me out there, and I want to share this statement to make sure things are clear. I accept 100% responsibility for my actions. I did not have control of my gambling problem, and it took getting caught for me to realize that, but it was truly the best thing that could've happened to me. Because of this, I have been able to get the help I need and fully focus on my recovery.
"The news about the supplemental draft changes nothing about my recovery journey. I will continue to take it one day at a time. Focusing on making myself better throughout this process and making sure to share what I have learned and will continue to learn with others going forward. I am fully committed to being the best version of myself that I can be while getting ready for the 2027 draft. God makes no mistakes, and I look forward to seeing the good that is to come from this."
Sorsby's 2026 has been a winding road to lead up to this decision. He transferred to Texas Tech as the transfer portal's No. 2 overall prospect, per 247 Sports on Jan. 4, after earning first-team All-Big 12 honors at Cincinnati in 2025, thanks to leading the conference in passer efficiency rating (155.1). The NCAA then alerted Texas Tech of Sorsby's gambling activity on April 14, which led to the quarterback entering a gambling rehab facility in Arizona on April 27. He then filed for his collegiate reinstatement on May 18 after being ruled ineligible by the NCAA for thousands of bets placed during his four-year college football career. On June 8, he found a Texas judge willing to grant him an injunction to the NCAA's decision to make him ineligible, which appeared to clear a path for him to play for Texas Tech in 2026. Sorsby then decided to walk away from his college career to join the NFL via a supplemental draft this summer, after the Big 12 pursued legal action against him and Texas Tech on June 15.
| 45-plus pass TD and 1,000-plus rush yards in two-year span, Big 12 history | Two-year span |
|---|---|
Brendan Sorsby (CIN) | 2024-2025 |
Sam Ehlinger (TEX) | 2018-2020 |
Kyler Murray (OKLA) | 2017-2018 |
Trevone Boykin (TCU) | 2014-2015 |
Robert Griffin III (BAY) | 2010-2011 |
Colt McCoy (TEX) | 2007-2008 |
Zac Robinson (OKST) | 2007-2008 |
CBS Sports NFL Draft analyst Ryan Wilson views Sorsby as a potential first-round talent, and he now has a year to prove his worth through a year of training on his own while staying squeaky clean off the field.
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