Woman admitted killing friend after Facebook photo showed her with murder weapon

A woman in Sasakatoon, Canada has admitted the drunken murder of her close friend after authorities noticed a Facebook photo where she was wearing the belt they believe was the murder weapon.

21-year-old Cheyenne Antoine, pleaded guilty to the killing of her friend Brittney Gargol in 2015, although she claims not to remember the incident.

In March 2017, Saskatoon Police Service said that they had arrested and charged Antoine with second degree murder and causing an indignity to a body. Gargol was found dead near the city's Cedar Villa Estates on 25 March 2015.

In an agreed statement of facts outlined by the courts, authorities found a Facebook picture posted just six hours before Gargol's body was discovered in which Antoine is wearing a belt authorities believe she used to strangle Gargol.

Prosecutors said that a post by Antoine on Gargol's page later that night stated: "Where are you? Haven't heard from you. Hope you made it home safe", was meant to show her innocence. However, an alibi Antoine gave, that she had gone to see her uncle, fell apart when the uncle said it had not happened.

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix reported that Antoine had previously gone to police to report abuse from her foster family that led her to turn to alcohol and drugs. An unnamed person reportedly told Gargol's family that Antoine had turned up at their house drunk, saying she had choked a friend.

According to the Toronto Sun, the two had been "inseparable" and had earlier attended a house party before the argument started. Family members spoke in the court, local media said, expressing their sadness at losing Gargol at such a young age and betrayal that it was perpetrated by a friend.

"You were her friend. She trusted you," Gargol's stepmother reportedly said. Antoine was sentenced to seven years in prison.