A Facebook selfie helped solve a murder case because the photo of two friends showed the killer wearing the murder weapon — a fashion belt with a large buckle. worn by the killer in the photo.
Cheyenne Rose Antoine, 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Monday in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in the 2015 strangling death of Brittany Gargol, 18, CBC News reported.
Antoine received a seven-year prison sentence for the death after Provincial Court Judge Marilyn Gray accepted a joint sentencing submission from the Crown and defense, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported.
Authorities secured the guilty plea after finding a selfie of Antoine and Gargol posted hours before the death that showed Antoine wearing the belt that police believed was the murder weapon, CBC News said.
Police also used social media posts to establish a timeline of the women's movements the night Gargol died.
"It's quite remarkable how the police developed this information," Crown prosecutor Robin Ritter told CBC News.
Antoine told authorities that she and Gargol had been out drinking the night of March 25, 2015, and got into an argument, per CBC News. Antoine said she didn’t remember strangling Gargol but didn’t contest that she killed her.
The StarPhoenix said Antoine dumped Gargol's body on a road near Cedar Villa Estates just south of Saskatoon and a passerby found the body in the early morning hours.
Antoine's attorney, Lisa Watson, said her client remembered leaving a house party with Gargol and last remembered Gargol taking her phone.
"I'll never forgive myself," Antoine wrote in a statement that Watson read to the court, per the StarPhoenix. "It's wrong and shouldn't have happened."
Gargol's father, Everett Hillbom, said in his victim witness statement that he felt angry and sad that his daughter's life was cut short, while stepmother Kristi Wickenhauser, told Antoine that she betrayed Gargol's friendship.
"You were her friend. She trusted you," Wickenhauser said.
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