True Crime All The Time - Brittney Gargol

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

In March 2015, 18-year-old Brittney Gargol was found dead on the side of the road in Saskatoon. Police used social media to solve her murder, focusing on a selfie taken with her friend Cheyenne Antoine on the night she died. According to Cheyenne, around 4:00 am, they attended a house party, and Brittney began hanging out with an unknown man in his thirties. She and Brittney eventually parted ways. Cheyenne was dropped off at an assisted living facility, where she visited her uncle. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the murder of Brittney Gargol. After the police unraveled the mystery, her killer said they couldn't really recall the events of that night, saying, "I blacked out and woke up hours later to realize something very bad had happened." After the trial, many people have questioned whether Brittney received the justice she deserved.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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It's time to turn those what-ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash teacat. Go to Shopify.com slash teacat. That's Shopify.com slash T-C-A-T-T. Hello, everyone and welcome to episode 4954.9.5. of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson, and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. How are you?

Hey, I'm doing good. How about you? I am doing excellente. Oh, excellente. Well, you know what? This is Thursday. We'll come out near Cinco de Mayo. Possibly.

Excellent. I can't look that far in the future. Yeah. It is, it'll be next week. Next week sometimes. It'll be around the fifth. Yeah, around that time. So, around the fifth.

If it comes out on that, you know, happy Cinco de Mayo. Exactly. If not, we're still happy Cinco de Mayo anyway. We'll drink a Corona for you or a dose Echis. Oh, yeah. Or a shot of tequila. You don't like my tequila. Yeah, I used to until I got that one time.

So I ate the worm that one time. Yeah, see. That was it for me. You always, yeah, that worm. I always take it too far. You do. That's why I don't drink anymore. No self-control.

I have no self-control. All right, buddy. You ready to get into this episode of True Crime all the time? I am ready. We're talking about Brittany Gargol in March 2015. 18-year-old Brittany Gargall was found dead on the side of the road in Saskatoon. Police use social media to solve her murder, focusing on a selfie taken by her friend, with her friend.

Yeah. Cheyenne Antoine on the night she died. So fascinating stuff. We're going to dive into all of it. Brittany Jane Gargall was born on August 31st, 1996, in Saskatoon, the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan. There's a lot of fun names to say here.

Saskatoon is fun. Saskatchewan is fun to say. Brittany was raised by her grandmother due to her mother struggles with addiction. Her father was not in her life. So, I mean, it's a rough situation. Sure it is. But it's one that, unfortunately, a lot of people find themselves in. Yeah.

You know, I don't like it, but, you know, let's face it, dad's dip. And I think it's a horrible thing. Right. But they do. They take off. They leave the family. A lot of single mothers, we've talked about that in the past. But then when you have a single mother who has either, you know,

real severe alcohol or drug addiction, that is tough. Yeah. At least you had a grandma that was willing to, you know, take care of her. Yeah. Step up and take care of her. Yeah. Brittany maintained a positive outlook on life. She was described as a bubbly and hyper girl.

Bubly. And a lot of people have described you in the past as bubbly and hyper. It can be bubbly and a girl. Some people have whatever. Whatever, I need to be. At the time of her death, she was just a few weeks away from graduating high school. One of the people who encouraged Brittany was her friend, 32-year-old Atasha story. They became friends while working at a store in the area and remained friends after they both moved on to other jobs.

Brittany often came to Atasha for advice. Brittany had gone through some rough patches and Atasha encouraged her to go to school. and pursue her dream. That's a good friend right there. It is. Now, there's quite an age difference, right? Brittany is,

you know, 18-ish, or she is 18 at this point, probably met her when she was 17 or 18. And Atasha's 32, but you get the sense like that she's acting

is almost like a big sister would. Sure, I mean, she's got some years in front of you. So she knows kind of where you're at now. Yeah,

She's got more life experience, for sure. She can say, well, I know where you're at and I know where you want to be from my life experience. You probably got to pursue your degree and go that route because that's what you're going to really want to do. It's really not a bad person to have in your life when you don't have a lot of parental guidance. Yeah. Sounds like Brittany didn't have much, if any at all. You know, you and I have probably touched on it before, but, you know, there's that old saying, if I knew at 17, 18, what I know now.

Right. Now, you and I are a little longer in the tooth than a Tasha was at the time. But still, even if I knew at 17, what I knew at 30, I could have, you know, blown the doors off this world. Sure. But unfortunately, you can't go back. And I think that's why, you know, a few years ago, I started Rex West mentoring, dot com. And it's really taken off.

I'm currently booked, but it looks like there might be a few openings coming up soon, you know? Okay. Rexwestmentoring.com. Yeah, I mean, I don't know who needs mentoring in the area of retirement home exotic dancing,

but if there's anybody out there, go to rexwest mentoring.com and sign up, I guess. The set of principles used to do that. You can use them anywhere. They're just life skills. Yeah. Is that what you're saying?

Exactly. It's not surprising that you got some openings. So Brittany wanted to pursue a degree in business management. Her dream was to build and own hotels. Oh. About that. I like that. You know, we talk about what people want to do when they get older.

You know, young kids. doctor, lawyer, astronaut, whatever. Then as you get older, things kind of change for some people. Now, some people might still latch on and hold on to that astronaut, doctor, lawyer, dream. Right. But this is very specific. It is. You know, not just to own hotels to build them.

Right. To build your own. That's a very specific and, what's the word? lofty goal yeah it really is in addition to schoolwork brittany also had multiple jobs including at a pizza shop and her local german cultural center in her free time she enjoyed outdoor activities such as snowboarding camping and boating i know you enjoy some snowboarding now and then i've never been snowboarding in my life i've never been snow skiing in my life really never not one time i've never gone to one, and we have some that are not that far away. Yeah. Um, where it's like snow year round.

I don't know how they do it. Maybe you probably just been doing the sledding, you know, just, uh, like the Clark Riswold. Don't do that either. Wow. I don't do any snow sports whatsoever. So basically, you really do not leave this studio at all. No, I, I've tried regular skiing. Okay. Couldn't get out of the water. No. They make it, people make it look so easy. You. my wife, my daughter, man, they just pop out of the water and they're doing one-legged thing. I can't even get out of the water. It almost pulled my arms out of the socket. Now, my weight maybe could have played a factor there.

I'm sure that doesn't help. Could have been who was driving the boat too. You know, sometimes you need a good person behind that wheel that knows how to get you up. Yeah. You know? That's true. Because you do have to kind of floor it. Yeah, the right momentum.

You have to hit it just right to get you up. up and then back down. That was my one, that was my last time because I thought, these arms are going to come flying out. I got bad shoulders anyway. Sometimes can give you a nice little enema too. Yeah, we don't need that. No.

On the night of March 23rd, 2015, Brittany decided to go out to a party in Saskatoon with her friend Cheyenne Antoine. Brittany and Cheyenne had been friends since the ninth grade. The girls bonded over their paths. early in life. Cheyenne lost both of her parents and grew up in the foster care system. She was also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Wow. So another young woman that had a rough childhood. Yeah. So I could see how, you know, people could bond over something like that.

They went through some similar type of things. According to Brittany's friend, Natasha's story, both girls. stop by her home that night. Brittany asked to borrow some gas money. Atosha asked Brittany what her plans were. She said she was going out with a friend and was considering going to a party later that evening. Natasha told Brittany to be careful and to call her if she needed anything. Brittany gave her a hug and that was the last time she saw her. So I mean, I do want to go back to, you know, Atasha. Again, she's quite a bit older, 14 years older. But really seems as though she was a good friend of Brittany.

Yeah. Trying to help her with guidance, maybe help her with money every now and then, just like an all-around good friend. Just a, and everybody needs a good friend like that. Yeah. At 12.02am on March 24th, Brittany posted a selfie of her and Cheyenne, getting ready at Britney's home. This was Brittany's last known correspondence.

And, you know, you and I talk about, social media a lot because it comes up in most of the cases that we do that are fairly recent. Obviously, in cases that occurred prior to the internet or social media, you're not going to have it. But, you know, 18-year-olds, pretty big on social media. Absolutely. I would say from even younger to, you know, late teens, early 20s. and then I think maybe people start to slow down and they pick back up maybe when they get a little bit older. I don't know because I'm not a huge social media person.

But when you say that's the last time someone was on social media, well, that's a pretty big deal for someone who's always on. For sure it is. You know, they're always posting doing this and that. For me, I don't know when the last time I was on. And so it's really not a big deal. No. If I were to go missing, you wouldn't make anything out of it.

Yeah. I remember when I used to be on all the time. Yeah. And then I stopped all together. People thought something happened to me. It did. You know, and then, and it did. Yep.

And then, you know, recently I got back on again. But I can see, you know, when you're posting something every day or liking and. And then just all of a sudden it stops. Silence. Yeah. I think they're going to ask that question. Like, what happened to him? Well, luckily, we had the podcast.

People still knew you were on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did get some questions about, you know, is this A-I? Are you just using Gibby's voice? I was like, no, because if so, I would make him sound way more intelligent. More men's like. So around 6 a.m. on March 25th, 2015, a. a passing motorist called police after finding a female's body in a ditch on a remote road on the outskirts of Saskatoon, not far from a landfill.

Okay. You're talking about landfills. Last week we were talking about like a quarry. Any situation like that. Okay. I start to get a little suspicious, especially because, you know, when you're talking about a criminal case. The caller noted that the victim was cold to the touch and her shoes were missing. Law enforcement immediately suspected foul play because there were marks on the victim's throat and bruising consistent with a homicide, which makes perfect sense to me.

Yeah, that's not good. When you hear things like that, you know that she would have suffered. Yeah, I think it's pretty easy to rule out accidental, self-influx. You're going to rule all of that out pretty quickly based on these marks and the bruising and all of that. Police collected a leather jacket, a watch, and a belt from the crime scene hoping to get more information about the unidentified victim. And, you know, it's interesting in a lot of these cases because, number one, they have to identify the victim. Yeah. First and foremost, you can't really do much.

of an investigation without that. You can know who this person is so you know how to kind of walk backwards from that spot. Yeah. How do you know who to talk to, where to look? If you don't even know who the person is, that morning they published photos of the victim's tattoos, which included a couple of stars and a lion's head. Atasha's story saw the news release and called the police to identify the victim as Brittany Gargle.

That'd be rough. Oh, you know, we just got done talking about, right? Atasha, what a good friend she was, to see this kind of on the news. Yeah. And you don't know anything's wrong with your friend. And the story is victim found murdered. Here are the clues we have. And you immediately know that those tattoos belong to her.

I can't imagine what that's like. I mean, just think about it. If that was your best friend and you see that. article, I mean, I just think your stomach would just sink. Yeah, you'd be sick over it. She recalled, I literally dropped on my couch and started crying because I was like, there's no way. She was just here nine hours ago.

How bizarre, you know, I mean, we just spent time with her. Investigators looked through Brittany's social media accounts, hoping to recreate a timeline of her final hours. And again, I know I've talked about it, but I think that's something that investigators have now that, you know, obviously they didn't have in the 60, 70s, 80s, even in the early 90s, this kind of digital footprints that almost all of us are leaving pretty consistently. Pretty true. I mean, think about social media. Think about those smart watches. Yeah.

That track some of your movements. Sure. Just logging on to the internet. Yeah. Internet usage. Getting into some of these vehicles now, they have tracking devices in them as well. GPS. Yeah, GPS in the phone.

So I do think all of that comes into play a lot in some of the newer cases that we do talk about. Police questioned Cheyenne, who said she and Brittany went bar hopping around Saskatoon. starting at Manchester brew pub and ending at Colonial Pub and Grill. And, you know, what led them to Cheyenne was that they saw that Cheyenne Antoine had contacted Brittany via Facebook writing, where are you? Haven't heard from you. Hope you made it home safe. Yeah.

So again, once you find out who the victim is and now they know that it's Brittany, they're going start looking for boyfriends, friends, people in her inner circle. But it's interesting that, you know, Cheyenne probably called, called, didn't get a response and then knew,

you know, as most people today would, pose something on social media because they know how often people view their social media accounts. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, you know, I don't think younger people talk on the

phone nearly as much as we used to. Not at all. I think a lot of the communication is text, social media, things like that. I just don't hear my girls talking on their cell phones at all. No. I believe that. It's all. Much at all.

I mean, to get a hold of my son, it's like text messages. And I'm like, hey, just call me. Are you available to talk? Yeah. Because it's going to be easier for me. instead of me doing this, you know, I can just talk to you. Yeah, it's just a different generation. And, you know, I know my girls, they grew up with phones from the time they were,

I don't know when we got them their first iPhones, but, you know, 14, 15. So, you know, they're really good with the texting and all that. And I'm just like, okay. They got all those shortcuts down. Oh, whatever. You know, and there's the emojis that half of them I still don't understand. some of them are dirty and I'm not supposed to understand. You keep sending me the eggplant thing.

I'm like, dude, don't see me the eggplant parmesan. I don't even know what that is. Around 4 a.m. They attended a house party and Brittany began hanging out with an unknown man in his 30s. She and Brittany eventually parted ways. Cheyenne was dropped off at an assisted living facility where she visited her uncle. Cheyenne got her uncle on the phone with police. And he corroborated her story saying he saw Cheyenne sometime after 4 a.m. on March 24th.

So, I mean, obviously, I think if you're the police, you got to start to focus in on this, you know, unknown man in his 30s. I mean, it sounds like a good spot to start. You know, the, uh, Cheyenne's alibi doesn't sound super solid, you know, but not bad. Not bad, but I think you also have to look at motive. Right. What's the motive? Could be something, you know, maybe. But they've been friends since a young age.

What is she going to get out of the murder? But this unknown man, you never know. No, and I think that's for me, you know, if I was a detective and I learned that, okay, I'm starting there. A few days after Brittany's body was found, her post-mortem exam. confirmed she was strangled and the murder weapon was the black braided belt found at the crime scene she was not sexually assaulted the belt was sent to the lab for testing two DNA profiles were identified one matched brittany and the other was unidentified so the one matching brittany

you would expect sure it's her belt yeah um or i mean i'm assuming it's her belt we don't know for sure, but it was there at the crime scene. If it was used to strangle her, you would expect her DNA to be on it. 100%. But then the other DNA profile, you have to believe, is from the killer. Yeah. I mean, now, not being able to identify it is a huge hurdle. It is.

At this point. Meanwhile, police began following up on, Cheyenne's account of her night with Brittany. You know folks, it's summertime and that changes how I get dressed. You know, I want pieces that are breathable, easy, but still make me look put together. And that's why I just keep coming back to Quince. You know, Quince has high quality pieces that feel and look amazing and the prices are unbelievable. Everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. This is because they work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen. So what you're paying for is quality and not brand markup. They have European linen pants and shirts,

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assisted living facility showed that Cheyenne never went there to visit her uncle. That's going to be a problem. Yeah. It is a problem. It's also making my statement of, okay, well, what's the motive? Look possibly as though there was a motive and we just don't know what it is yet. Police talked to Cheyenne's uncle again, and he soon confessed that he lied because Cheyenne asked him to do so. She told him that she and Brittany went to a bar and eventually ended up at a motel with two men where they drank and used drugs. And you and I talk about alibis in almost every episode that we do, you know, there are strong alibis. And then there are alibis like this, where you have someone's mom or friend or relative saying, well, that person was with me all night

or from this time to this time. Yeah. But there's really no other way to corroborate it other than this person's word. And we've found out that a lot of those tend to fall apart. They do. Or not be true. Now, the one thing that did kind of jump out at me was, okay. They looked at surveillance footage.

They didn't see Cheyent. I'm assuming because this was an assisted living facility that maybe there was only one way in or out or that they had surveillance footage on every possible entrance and exit. Yeah. Because that's the only way you could really say that. Look, I've been to a lot of senior living homes. I know you have.

And there's typically only one point of entry for visitors and guests. You know, now, is there a back door way to sneak in? Sure, or sneak out. But, yeah, typically you have to go through one entry and, you know, they want you to sign in and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I know you usually have to use the back door to escape. I do. After the show, because, you know, there's throngs of women who are trying to get out.

you. I mean, to be honest, at this point, I can still outrun most of them, but, you know, it's getting harder. It's getting harder and harder every year. Yes. So, you know, her uncle confesses to lying. Cheyenne told her uncle that they fought over cocaine before she went to use the bathroom. When she returned, Brittany was dead on the bed with marks on her neck. Oh. She said one of the men threatened her, meaning Cheyenne with a gun and demanded that she helped dispose of the body. I mean, this is a big turn of events, right? I mean, this story has totally flipped from what it originally was. Yeah, I would say it's, it's pretty much done in 180. Yeah. Right? It really has. From, okay, we parted ways. I went to go visit my uncle to now we're partying with these men.

using drugs. There's cocaine. All of a sudden, I come back from the bathroom and Brittany is dead. Yeah. So. I mean, how long were you in the bathroom? Well, and also I think if you're, your police, you were already suspicious because you're starting to figure out that, you know, Cheyenne's alibi is not holding up. Now with the changing of the stories, I mean, she's got to be right there as prime suspect number one, or at least very involved in whatever happened. And let's not forget, she's also saying that one of these men threatened her with a gun and said, hey, you got to help dispose of this body. Police thoroughly investigated this story, and they found no proof that any of this ever happened.

Police re-interviewed Cheyenne on May 3, 2015. At this time, she was in jail for shoplifting charges. According to the CBC, she was caught shoplifting and threatened to stores lost prevention officer with an allegedly HIV contaminated needle. Okay. You grab me. I'm going to stab you with this needle, buddy, and it's got stuff on it. So, you know, first of all, if you're kind of on police radar for your best friend. murder, do you then go shoplifting?

I would say no, but if you have a problem, and it sounds like maybe she might have had a drug problem. Could have been. The way you get the money for, to buy those drugs is to go shoplift the stuff and then turn around and sell it to make yourself some money. Yeah, some people, yeah, a lot of people do that. Cheyenne, though, she wasn't willing to talk about Brittany's death. Police still considered her a prime suspect.

but as we've seen so many times, there just wasn't enough evidence for an arrest warms. And again, I think that has to be very frustrating for police. Obviously, it's frustrating for family members of, of a lot of victims too. When you think there is an kind of an absolute number one suspect.

Yeah. And you think, oh, this person obviously had to have had something to do with it. but police can't charge them with anything. No, I mean, at this point, she just said, Brittany was fine. I went to the bathroom, came back out,

and one of these guys strangled her, left her dead on the bed. And then forced me to help dispose of the body. Yeah. I mean, I would think at the very least, you could do something with tampering of evidence or, you know, something misuse of a corpse or something like that. But I don't think that's what they're looking for here.

They think she played a much bigger role. Yeah. So they're wanting to go after her for murder is what I get from it. So as the weeks passed, Brittany's family was becoming frustrated. Like I said, it's natural. Right. Right. With how the investigation was progressing.

And they were worried that the case would go cold. And I think frustration is one thing. I think a lot of victims, family members, you know, experience that. But this other idea is something we probably don't talk about enough. And that's that they're not going to solve this. The case is going to go cold. And we're still going to be wondering 20, 30, 40 years later. Yeah, who did it?

Was it, you know, Cheyenne or was it one of these guys or, you know, who? But that's got to be a real fear. Yeah. Because who wants to spend the next 30, 40 years wondering about that every day, frustrated that you don't have the answers, all of that is got to be tough. Nobody wants that. Unexpectedly, they received a call from Cheyenne's aunt, who said Cheyenne returned home in a panic.

Shortly after Brittany's estimated time of death, she was crying and said she strangled Brittany. there's a different side of the story now well but it's one i think police were leaning towards now maybe they didn't know exactly how it happened but i think they believed that her story was BS so they they knew something was not correct brittney's family can contacted police who contacted the aunt and she gave them the same version of events so you know here's a a member of Cheyenne's family, basically turning in Cheyenne. I mean, good for her, right?

Because she's doing the right thing. Yeah. I mean, you would hope that everyone would do that. Yeah. But we know they don't. No. There are some family members. There are some friends who will cover, even when somebody gets murdered.

Right. Now, I think for most people, most people listening, most people watching would say, oh, I don't think I could live with that type of information. That's a lot to put on somebody. Right. Yeah. But you have to weigh that with turning your family member in. I mean, you've turned me in for not paying for a Big Mac once.

Oh, I would turn you in for jaywalking if I thought it would amount to anything. If it meant that I had to get that ankle brace at black gone monitor system. So investigators did follow. up interviews with Cheyenne, obviously, how could they not after this information? But she continued to deny knowing anything about Brittany's death. And there still was not enough evidence to arrest her. On September 10, 2015, Cheyenne posted a comment on Brittany's Facebook, writing, I miss you so much.

You came and visited me in my dream last night. Miss you so much, you were way too young to go. rest in paradise my angel you know if she didn't do anything that's really sweet and touching it's something you would expect from a best friend right right um you know anniversaries birthdays birthdays the anniversary of the death things like that you would expect people to come out and make those type of pose yeah now if it turns out that she had something to do with it, then what is it? Yeah.

Somebody feeling maybe guilty. Maybe it's somebody that's just putting some fluff out there to make her look better. Yeah. Maybe misdirect the police or make them not look as closely at her. In 2017, almost two years after Brittany was killed, investigators had an aha moment. According to prosecutor Robin Ritter, they circled back to the selfie.

Brittany posted shortly before she died. In the photo, Cheyenne was wearing a black braided belt that looked just like the one found at the crime scene, which was determined to be the murder weapon. A new round of testing confirmed. The unknown DNA profile on the belt belonged to Cheyenne. Wow. I mean, that's what they need it right there.

Yeah. And, you know, you could make the argument, oh, why did it take them so long to figure that out? But there's a lot of stuff going on in an investigation. And like you've mentioned in the past, each year, DNA testing and all that gets better and better and better. So in two years, I'm sure there was some development there too. It does. But I think if they had thought it was Cheyenne's back then, they probably could have matched it to her. Yeah. She just wasn't in. in a database. Right. So that's why they didn't get a match first time around. On March 7, 2017, Cheyenne was arrested in charge with second degree murder and causing indignity to a body. There's a charge that you were looking for. Yeah, but I don't know that I've heard that one very often. Cheyenne was finally willing to talk about what happened on March 24, 2015. She admitted she and Brittany went to a house party and used drugs and

alcohol, they were both heavily under the influence. And her last memory was from about 4.30 a.m. after they went to McDonald's. At one point, they argued, but she couldn't remember why. Okay. And I could, I could understand this. You know, if you've had a lot to drink, throw in some drugs in there as well, okay, things might be a little fuzzy. Now, we already know she's a liar. She's lied multiple times. But she could be telling the truth about that that things are a little hazy. That happens when you party. Too hard.

She did say she blacked out at some point and was unable to recall what exactly happened, but she woke up hours later and knew something terrible had happened. According to prosecutor Robin Ritter, Cheyenne didn't offer a reason as to why she killed Brits. Brittany. And this kind of goes back to what I said earlier, you know, they've been friends since like the ninth grade or something. Yeah. They're not in a relationship. What is the motive? But as you and I talk about often, sometimes there really isn't a motive if you have kind of a snap type moment. Yeah. Yep. It's not like something was planned out, drugs. alcohol, words are exchanged, people get heated, and the next thing you know, something really bad happens,

well, there really wasn't a motive for it. It was a heat of the moment type of thing where somebody got mad and killed somebody else. Yeah, they went too far. But those, I think, can be tougher to solve because, you know, there is no motive. Yeah, I mean, sometimes it can be like a jealousy thing. Like, I can't believe that these people were giving you more attention at the party than me. Yeah, or I liked this guy or, you know,

whatever it is. Prosecutors couldn't establish criminal intent, but they did prove reduced intent. It's not something I've really heard of. Me neither. Either. The charges against Cheyenne

were reduced from second degree murder to manslaughter. Okay, so they really dropped those charges down. They did. Now, I understand why first-degree murder would be hard. Right. Right. In a snap situation, we just said it there's no motive, but there's really no intent.

Yeah. There's no planning. There's nothing like that. So I could see it being dropped. Now, being dropped all the way to manslaughter is quite a bit. It is. On January 15, 2018, Cheyenne pleaded guilty to manslaughter. and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Pretty light, but it is manslaughter. But seven years is still very light. Yeah. You know, there are people, now we are talking about Canada. That's true. So it's hard for me to, you know, compare that to the U.S., but, you know, here you would get more for armed robbery or burglary. Some drug charges.

Some drug charges. Yeah. So I get it. manslaughter is a much lesser criminal offense than first-degree murder, but still to kill someone and only get seven years. Man, if I'm a family member, I'm upset. I would be. I'm not happy. Yep, I would be very upset. Not happy with that sentence at all. Shian's lawyer, Lisa Watson, argued she lacked intent for murder because she was drunk and hot and didn't remember strangling Brittany. Well, she says she doesn't remember. True. Very true. While Cheyenne accepted responsibility

for Britney's death, through her lawyer, she maintained that she didn't remember killing her. Attorney Lisa Watson told the court per CBC, she knows the family would like an explanation, a reason, but unfortunately she can't provide that. Let's remember she didn't accept responsibility initially. She finally accepted responsibility. Yeah, she lied in the beginning. Ultimately accepted responsibility. But still says,

can't really give an explanation because I don't know exactly what happened. Now, to your point, that could be true because of the drugs and alcohol, or that could be a way to maybe wriggle out of some of the more serious charges. I don't know. Maybe she knew how to play the system a little bit.

Could be. Cheyenne also gave the following statement through her lawyer. She said, I will never forgive myself. Nothing I say or do will ever bring her back. I'm very, very sorry it shouldn't have ever happened. Yeah, look. I mean, if she really felt that way, then yeah, yeah, there's absolutely nothing you can do and you will absolutely not forgive yourself.

and you will think about this for the rest of your life. You know? And I think we all hope that somebody like that would. She took another person's life. Exactly. Now, again, I'm somewhat dubious of what people say in court because sometimes I think it is heartfelt. It's true.

Other times I think people are just saying what they know. The court wants to hear because it's in their best interest to say this or that. we don't know, right? At the end of the day, Cheyenne is really the only person who truly knows. Yep. How all of this went down and what state of mind she was in when she did it. Either she remembers it all exactly,

but has played it off as though she doesn't or she really doesn't know. Yeah. I mean, at one point there was a conversation that it might have been over the cocaine. and I think how terrible is that for anybody to lose their life? Sure. To lose it over because, you know. Something to do with cocaine. You're getting an extra line more than I am or whatever it is.

Yeah, I don't know how cocaine works. Apparently you do. You must have a lot of experience with it. I don't know. I've seen movies. I know how it works. The lesser charges angered Brittany's family. Her stepmother, Vicki,

Wickenhouser told reporters after a sentencing, she was a wonderful person whose life was cut short and it's not fair. It's just not fair. Yeah, we echo that, right? I mean, just said the same thing. I know for a fact, if I was a member of the family, I would feel the exact same way. You know, my loved one is gone forever and the person who took her life got seven years and let's face it probably won't even do the seven years, right? We've done a lot of cases in Canada. We've done a lot of cases in Canada. And even here in the U.S., most people don't do their full sentence. Chime is fee-free banking built for you. They are not like the stuffy, traditional old banks. Charging you overdraft and monthly fees. Chime does things differently. They also have thousands of

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And Chime card provided by Chim's bank partners for more information on APY rates. My pay, SpotMe, and travel perks, go to chime.com slash disclosures. Optional products and services may have fees or charge. Brittany's aunt, Jennifer said in her victim impact statement, most days, we can't stop thinking about Brittany. What happened that night, what she must have felt fighting for her life. And again, you know, if you're the family, I don't think, okay, was justice served in some capacity?

it was because the person who did this is being held accountable, but not accountable to the degree that you would probably like. They're going to get out much earlier than you would like for them to. And the family still doesn't have all the answers that they would like to have. No, there's a big piece missing. Yeah. During her time in prison, Cheyenne received 15 serious institutional charges. including assaulting a corrections officer.

Not good. She racked up 44 minor charges for drugs, diverting medication, threatening staff, and disobeying authority. So not a ideal inmate. No, not at all. No, I'm sure a lot of inmates rack up charges. Sure.

But Cheyenne was granted day parole in June 2020. But it was revoked. four months later when she overdosed, used a laptop without approval, and was, quote, generally disrespectful. Well, it sounds like, yeah, pull her back in. Don't let her, you know, be out during the day if she's being disrespectful, overdosing, and not, you know, following the rules. Well, I talked about being very upset if I'm a fan member.

I am going to be livid if I find out that two years. after the conviction, this person is out on day parole. You know how I feel about day parole? I know. I've talked about it before. I don't get it. I understand the idea of rehabilitation. I understand the idea of trying to acclimate this person back into the world.

I really don't want killers, though, shopping at the same grocery store as I do, who then have to later report. back to prison. I just, I don't like that idea. I really don't. I just don't think she deserved the right to be out after racking up all the violations that she did. Well, and I think you have to couple, you have to factor that in as well, right? How do you get day parole when you're so far from a model inmate? Be good in here. So I know you can be good out there. You can't be good in here. How are you going to be good out there? So I'm with you. That doesn't seem to be a good recipe. And obviously we know it didn't work because the minute she got out, she's using drugs,

using a computer, which she apparently wasn't supposed to. In 2021, she completed her first six-week intensive addiction program and went unlawfully at large and was arrested in March 22. Yeah. Shortly after that, she attacked a correctional officer. After, being denied a shower. Not going to let me shower. I'll show you. Not going to let me take a shower. Come here. Come here. I know people like their showers, but Cheyenne was granted statutory release on March 28th, 24. Most offenders serving fixed-length sentences are given statutory release after serving two-thirds of their sentence. This allows them to finish serving their sentences on conditions as they reintegrate into the community.

The parole board set the conditions and offender must follow during their release period. See, the problem with something like that is you already have a track record of this individual not really doing well. You know, so maybe just hold her for the whole length of time. Yeah, I guess. But what happens when, now you can't hold her past seven years. No. So eventually she's going to get out and is anything going to be any different?

I kind of understand this part. I'm not as upset about it. I guess as I am about the day parole. That part really bugs me for some reason. But, you know, this is basically like parole, kind of, but you have all these conditions. And if you fail to meet them, they're going to send you back. I just think she has a problem listening to authority. I think she has a problem following, you know, guidelines.

Well, and she also has a problem with addiction, I think. Well, yeah. I mean, that's probably the what's driving all this, right? Yeah, and that could be the underlying factor that causes many of these other things to happen. But, you know, she's released. Her release was suspended when just three days later. She got into an emotional state during a conversation with a halfway house staff member and refused to let them

into her room during room checks. Well, why would you not want somebody in your room to do a room check? Probably because you got something in there. You don't want them to find. After a suspension, the board reviews the case to decide whether to cancel an offender's release or allow them to continue living in the community.

This time, the board decided Cheyenne could remain on statutory release. After she was accepted into a residential treatment facility. That's probably where she needed to go from day one. Yeah, well, she did go, remember, and got into trouble? Trouble. In May 224, Cheyenne went to a residential drug treatment center in Calgary.

Soon after her arrival, staff found syringes and a pill in her room. She tested positive for amphetamine and the center withdrew support. She left the facility and was again, unlawfully at large until she was arrested on June 2nd, 2024. She's definitely has a problem with drugs, addiction, and I don't know. I don't know how she's going to stay out of trouble until she can fight that monster, and that's a hard monster to fight. It is, but I have to question the parole board here because they keep making these decisions,

and I don't know what they're based on. She seemingly has done nothing to prove that she deserves to be, you know, set free. That's true. But yet time and time again, they keep saying, well, you know, it's okay. Just don't do this. Well, and she goes and does that. It's like, I don't know, it's kind of like telling your kids you're in timeout. But, you know, you can sneak a cookie if you want.

Yeah, yeah. What? What good does that even do? put time out. I don't get it. So apparently she pulled door handles in a parking lot until she was able to get into an occupied vehicle. She stole a key.

She was seen laughing in the driver's seat after hitting another vehicle and driving away. Okay. Well, don't forget, she's kind of hopped up on amphetamine. Oh, yeah. So I'm not sure that her thinking is all that clear. she was driving erratically and was in the oncoming traffic lane for several hundred meters causing other cars to pull off the road.

She hit another unoccupied vehicle and tried to steal a van before police were able to arrest her. It's causing all kind of havoc. Yeah, so she was charged with two counts of robbery and one count each of evading police resisting arrest and dangerous driving. The board suspended her statutory release and determined her risk to society can't be managed. So they released her, uh, revoked her statutory release in February 2025. Her risk to society cannot be managed. Yeah.

I think that's correct. Yeah. My problem is it seemed to take them way too long to figure that out. That's what I'm thinking. I think you could have figured that out. probably after the second release, that didn't go well. Or maybe even after the first, but it's like they just kept giving her chance after chance.

And every time she kept, you know, messing up. According to the board decision, they said you successfully deceived your case management team and ultimately the board into believing you were motivated to attend further treatment to address your substance abuse and trauma. you then breached virtually all of your special conditions within one day of your release, choosing to immediately acquire and use illicit substances, and absconding from the treatment facility where you were ordered by the board to resign.

One day. Yeah. I mean, do I really believe that she was able to pull one over on them? I don't think so either. I think that's some wording they used maybe to kind of. to make themselves look a little bit better. I just think they made the wrong decision, flat out. Yeah.

Yeah, and this is just them kind of C-Y-A. I get it. You want to get this person help. I understand that. Because I think you're right, a big part or maybe even the heart, the root of the problem is her substance abuse issues, probably leading to a lot of other things.

But. And it probably started when she was young because, you know, she had the problems with her family, you know, abuse and things like that. So yeah, there's a root cause there that was probably never addressed that led to the drug addiction and that was never addressed. And the board did acknowledge that, you know, she was exposed to drugs at a very early age as well as alcohol and continues to use substances to cope with the abuse she suffered in foster care. But they went on to say she's been able to access cultural programming and an extensive network of community support. So I think they're acknowledging the fact that, yeah, she dealt with a or is still dealing with a lot of issues from her childhood that were real.

They did happen. During her post-suspension interview, Cheyenne claimed she left the treatment facility because it was too strict. I can't handle all this strictness. Yeah. I don't like being told what to do. Well, who does? But when you kill somebody, part of the punishment is being told what to do and what not to do.

That's exactly right. She overdosed more than once and was hospitalized. She stole the vehicles because police refused to come get her when she tried to turn herself in. She got strange reasoning for a lot of different things. She does. She really does. I don't know if she's in her right state of mind. Yeah, I don't either.

I don't know how much of it is fueled by the drugs. And how much of it is just like an inability to take responsibility for your actions. I think there's a part of that here as well. The board concluded that Cheyenne has a dismal history in terms of, your complete unwillingness to abide by institutional rule and the conditions of your release. And that part I would wholeheartedly agree with. I think she got too many chances to prove that dismal history. Yeah.

That's the only issue I would take with it. Cheyenne's seven-year sentence ended on April 18, 2025. She has been deemed a high risk to re-offend. Yeah. I think absolutely she is. I don't know how she couldn't be. But again, it's part of my problem with the seven-year sentence. And I get it.

They have guidelines, probably men and Max's sentence, you know, guidelines. Yeah. But seven years to me is so light for killing someone that you're kind of, in a way, painted into a corner. can't hold the person for longer than seven years unless they rack up a bunch of other charges, I guess, in prison. But in this case here, they let her out after two, basically. Yeah, they kept trying to get her, yeah. To let her out.

And I get it. Canada has a different way of doing things than we do here. I'm not saying one is better than the other. What I will say is I think seven years is a little light. Yep. I agree with you. And maybe they gave her more chances than what. I would have if I was on a parole board.

I think I would have thought after the first, maybe the first, but definitely the second time that, hey, you don't deserve this early parole because you can't seem to follow the rules. So you go back and just do your whole seven and then after that, we'll see how it goes. I just don't feel like they ever addressed the underlying issue of the drugs. No, but they did say that she had access. to all these community programs and things in the facility. At a certain point, Gibbs,

if you're a person who's struggling, especially with addiction, even if all the help in the world is there, if you don't want it or if you decide not to take advantage of the help, well, it's not going to work. No, it comes down,

do you want this or don't you want this? Yeah. I mean, you're going to have to put the work in. You're going to have to. and you got to want to quit. Yeah. Some people say they do, but they really don't.

Yeah. Until that happens, you're probably just going to be on that mirror go around. And the first time that you're outside and you're in the presence of something, you're not going to say no to it because you haven't made the decision yet that that cannot be a part of your life. So as we wrap this one up, I think there are questions. here, you know, we go back to Brittany, Gargall. Did she receive justice? If the person who caused her death served only seven years for manslaughter, I think that's a real question for me. But I know my answer, and I would say no. I don't, I don't consider that to be justice.

I agree with you. I really do. You know, I think one of the problems in this case was, that prosecutors just had a real hard time, kind of establishing criminal intent. And then, of course, she had Cheyenne claiming that she had no memory of killing her, which meant investigators had no motive to go on. And that is the one thing that I would, I guess you'd have to say, was pretty smart on her part. Right. She didn't come out and, admit that I did this. But she kind of skirted it by framing it inside of this kind of drug-induced or alcohol-induced haze. Yeah, I blacked out, man. I don't did it. I guess maybe I did do that. I must have done it, but I don't remember doing it. So how can I, you know,

be stuck with first degree or maybe even second degree. So, but, you know, you know, again, of all of it, that's, that's what I have the most problem with. And I'm sure the family does as well. Yeah. That would be very frustrating for me to know that this person who killed my loved one got out in seven years. And they did so while in those seven years being given every opportunity to leave the facility and do this and do that. And at no point did they ever tow the line. Right. They broke the rules at every time. But yet they just kept giving her chance after chance.

Yeah. But that's it for our episode on Brittany Gargle. And that's it for another episode of true crime all the time. Yeah. So for Mike and Gibby. Stay safe and keep your own time ticking.