WHEN THE BODY OF BRITTNEY GARGOL WAS DISCOVERED, POLICE FOUND HER MURDERER HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
This year will see the release of Cheyenne Antoine, the woman behind one of Canada’s most shocking cases, who –after escaping justice for over two years – was finally jailed for acrime she says she doesn’t remember committing.But her own story is sadly all too familiar.The southern outskirts of Saskatoon in Canada offer ableak and desolate landscape, mirroring the lives of many of its inhabitants.Often, the native population live in fear,as alcohol and drug abuse are rife among communities where unemployment levels are sky high. The ripple effects of historic abuse endured by many who were enrolled in the residential school systems has been carried through to the next generation, where teenagers are being brought up in broken homes with broken parents. Antoine was one such product of generational trauma.
CRIMINAL RECORD
By the age of 20, Antoine had no relationship with her father, and her mother had died when she was very young. Both her parents had been victims of the abusive residential school system. Because of that, they both used drugs and alcohol to overcome their past suffering, acycle that would continue with their daughter. Her tumultuous upbringing resulted in her having a criminal record from the age of 12. Placed in foster care, she was sexually and physically abused by her carers, and by the age of 19, she had 54 criminal convictions.
Despite her struggles, Antoine had one person in her life that she counted on above all others, her best friend Brittney Gargol. The two girls were inseparable, and Brittney loved A ntoine as much as she did her four younger sisters, who she doted on. But on 25 March 2015, a horrif ying discovery was about to change everything.
It was 6am when aman walking near a landfill site next to Cedar Village Estate came across the lifeless body of a young woman, lying on her back with no shoes on. Her watch had been smashed and there was blood on the hood of her black leather jacket. When authorities arrived, they pronounced her dead at the scene and began attempting to unravel what had led to her death. Forensic investigators combed the surrounding area, but frustratingly only recovered one item of significance near to the victim’s body – adark blue belt buckle. Their victim had no purse or any other identifying information,and nobody had, as yet, reported her missing. Police published photos of the clothes she was wearing and her distinctive tattoos in the hope that someone would come forward to identify her. It wasn’t long before an inconsolable woman called the station to tell police that she believed the woman was her best friend, Brittney Gargol. The call
