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A Selfie Helped Police Solve a Years-Old Murder Case

Cheyenne Rose Antoine, 21, was sentenced to seven years in jail for strangling her best friend after police noticed the murder weapon in a Facebook photo.
Woman looking on smartphone
Photo by Nemanja Glumac via Stocksy

A woman was sentenced to seven years in prison for killing her best friend—and police say that a Facebook selfie was instrumental in helping them crack the case.

CBC reports that Cheyenne Rose Antoine, 21, pleaded guilty on Monday to the killing of Brittney Gargol. The 18-year-old victim was discovered with fatal strangulation injuries near a landfill in Saskatoon, Canada in March 2015.

Police discovered a belt—believed to be the murder weapon—next to Gargol at the crime scene. They pieced together Antoine's role in the crime when they spotted a selfie of Antoine wearing the same belt, which she posted on Facebook just a few hours before the killing took place.

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Other Facebook posts were used to establish the pair's movements on the night of Gargol's death. Antoine initially claimed that Gargol had left with an unknown man after they went bar-hopping, and even posted on Facebook after the killing asking if anybody knew where Gargol was.

Crown prosecutor Robin Ritter said of the murder investigation's use of Facebook: "It's quite remarkable how the police developed this information."

Antoine said that she and Gargol had been drinking on the night of the killing and subsequently argued with her best friend. She accepted responsibility for Gargol's death, but says that she could not remember strangling her.

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"I will never forgive myself," Antoine said in a statement delivered through her lawyer. "Nothing I say or do will ever bring her back. I am very, very sorry… It shouldn't have ever happened."

Antoine was initially charged with second-degree murder. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced earlier this week.