It's an age-old habit of people of our parents' generation to warn us to be careful what we post online. Now a Facebook selfie has proved that right as it was used as key evidence in the investigation of a killing.
21-year-old Canadian Cheyenne Rose Antoine, from the province of Saskatchewan, has been sentenced to seven years in prison after she pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her best friend Brittney Gargol, according to CBC News.
18-year-old Brittney was found strangled to death on a road near a landfill in the city of Saskatoon back in 2015. Police eventually deduced that Antoine was the culprit after seeing the selfie online.
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The belt Antoine was wearing in the selfie, posted online hours before Gargol was found dead, was eventually found near Gargol's body, leading it to become a key piece of evidence in Antoine's prosecution. Clever.
In court, crown prosecutor Robin Ritter drew attention to the connection police managed to draw between the selfie and the belt, saying it was 'quite remarkable how the police developed this information'.
The complex investigation into Gargol's death took almost two years as Antoine at first misled police and was initially charged with second-degree murder.
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Antoine initially threw cops off the scent as she posted to Facebook asking where Gargol was just hours after her death. She also told police that Gargol had gone home with an unknown man after the pair had been out barhopping.
The truth came out in the end, though, as a friend of Antoine's later tipped off police that Antoine had turned up at their house drunk and confessed to killing Gargol on the night of the killing.
Antoine eventually admitted to killing Gargol after the pair had been out drinking and got into an argument, but said she couldn't remember the incident.
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"I will never forgive myself," Antoine said in a statement made through her lawyer. "Nothing I say or do will ever bring her back. I am very, very sorry...It shouldn't have ever happened."
Gargol's aunt, Jennifer Gargol, paid tribute to Brittney in court, saying that the young woman had a 'special gift'.
"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."
The more we use social media, the more it will be used to crack cases like these. So if you've got a secret to hide, an innocuous post online might just be your downfall.
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Cheyenne Rose AntoineTopics: World News, News, crime, Canada