A 21-year-old Canadian woman pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday, three years after she posted a Facebook photo that helped the police crack the case.
Cheyenne Rose Antoine of Saskatchewan was convicted after admitting to killing her best friend, 18-year-old Brittney Gargol, in March 2015. Antoine accepted responsibility for strangling Gargol after getting into an argument with her during a night of drinking but said she did not remember the incident.
The police found a black belt next to Gargol’s body, which had been dumped on the side of a road. She died of strangulation, according to CBC News.
Once they identified the victim as Gargol, the police sifted through her social-media accounts and came across a photo of Gargol and Antoine posted to Facebook six hours before Gargol’s body was found. In the photo, Antoine was wearing what appeared to be the same black belt that was found at the crime scene.
“It’s quite remarkable how the police developed this information,” the crown prosecutor Robin Ritter told the court.
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The police said Antoine initially tried to cover her tracks. Hours after Gargol was killed, Antoine posted to her best friend ‘s Facebook page: “Where are you? Haven’t heard from you. Hope you made it home safe.”
She also falsely told the police that she was with Gargol the night of Gargol’s death but had left early to see her uncle. The police also reviewed security footage of the bars Antoine said she went to that night and found no trace of her there.
Antoine was charged with second-degree murder and was due for a preliminary hearing but instead pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in court Monday afternoon.
The victim’s aunt, Jennifer Gargol, told the court how her niece’s death had affected the family.
“Most days we can’t stop thinking about Brittney, what happened that night, what she must have felt fighting for her life,” she said. “You feel darkened in your own dark world … You robbed this world of someone who had a special gift.”
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