An
incriminating clue in a Facebook selfie was used as evidence to help convict a
Canadian woman who strangled her friend to death.
Cheyenne
Rose Antoine pleaded guilty to killing 18-year-old Brittney Gargol in March
2015 after police used clues in the Facebook post, uploaded six hours before
the victim's body was found, to identify her as a suspect.
Investigators
found a black belt matching the one worn by Antoine in the Facebook photo near
the body of her victim on the side of a road near a landfill site in Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, CBC Saskatoon reports.
Antoine was
found guilty of manslaughter this week and sentenced to seven years in prison
for strangling her friend.
The pair had
been drinking and were high on drugs when they got into an argument, Antoine
told police.
She had
initially told investigators the pair were out drinking in a number of bars
before her friend left with an unknown man.
However
police later discovered through a tip-off that Antoine had confessed to a
friend she had killed Gargol and later found out she had lied to her uncle
to try and cover up the killing.
The 21-year-old
had also intentionally tried to obstruct the investigation by misleading
detectives with a Facebook post to her friend on the night she killed her.
“Where are
you?” she wrote. “Haven’t heard from you. Hope you made it home safe.”
Antoine, who
had initially faced a second-degree murder charge, admitted responsibility for
her friend’s death but said she could not remember the details of what had
happened on the night.
Crown
prosecutor Robin Ritter said it was “quite remarkable” how police discovered the
information that helped solve the case, adding: “No doubt this young women has
issues...and because of those issues she is dangerous.”
Jennifer
Gargol, Brittney's aunt, said in an impact statement read to the court: “Most
days we can't stop thinking about Brittney, what happened that night, what she
must have felt fighting for her life.
“You feel
darkened in your own dark world...you robbed this world of someone who had a
special gift.”
Antoine said
in a statement released through her lawyer: “I will never forgive myself.
“Nothing I
say or do will ever bring her back. I am very, very sorry. It shouldn't have
ever happened.”
Lisa Watson,
Antoine's lawyer, said it was a “tragic situation where drug and alcohol use
exploded”.
“My client
had some very deep-seeded personal issues that she was not dealing with and
unfortunately, for whatever reason, we’ll never know, they turned into a very
tragic situation for all involved,” she added
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