The real story that fueled this drama created a storm wave throughout Canada. Inspired by it, this show was taken from the 2005 book by Rebecca Godfrey. Reena was invited to a party under the bridge in Saanich, a Victoria suburb in British Columbia, Canada, in November 1997 by some of her classmates when she was fourteen. She was raised by parents with whom she had a problematic relationship and was living in a foster home at the time of the study. Manjit Virk immigrated from India to Canada to become a father. They are Jehovah’s Witnesses, like Reena’s mother, Suman; most people in her neighbourhood were Sikh Indian Canadian. In this article, we will talk about From Foster Care to Tragic End and Her Killer’s Parole Controversy.
Why was Reena Virk in foster care?
Reena faced constant bullying as a child, her father Manjit revealed in his 2008 book. Growing up Indian-Canadian and raised as a Jehovah’s Witness like her mother Suman’s family, she felt alienated. This outsider status fueled frequent rebellion against her parents’ traditions, shaping her tumultuous youth and tragic fate. Before her death, Reena ran away several times. She had reportedly falsely accused her father of physical, mental, and sexual abuse in an attempt to remain in foster care, where she thought there was much freedom. Later, she renounced her accusations of abuse and returned to live with her parents.
What happened to Reena Virk?
According to the Associated Press, on Nov. 14, 1997, Reena was invited to go to a party under the Gorge Waterway bridge. Cook and six other teens were also present at the gathering. Among them was Missy Pleich, whom Reena and Cook had met while in foster care, who reported Bloodlust Under the Bridge. Once there, Cook confronted Reena, asking why she was spreading these baseless lies regarding her. Cook said in Bloodlust Under the Bridge that Reena called her “a bitch,” wherein Cook allegedly proceeded to put a cigarette on the forehead of Reena. Cook and Pleich stated that Cook’s best friend, Kelly Ellard, also started hitting and kicking Reena, and then the rest joined in, including Warren Glowatski.
Two boys on the playground, Ellard, then 15, and Glowatski, then 16, accompanied Reena as she staggered out of the circle and continued to attack her. An article in the Globe and Mail reports that Glowatski testified that Ellard pinned Reena underwater until Reena drowned. A coroner’s report that Vice published revealed Reena received multiple blows to her body and had a “convulsion injury as often seen in car crash victims.”According to Real Crime, investigators said that given Reena’s habit of running away from home, it was not uncommon for her not to be back at her foster home in time to meet her curfew on Friday night. But news was spreading around her school by Monday, and police took the case seriously.
Police found Reena’s body on Nov. 22, 1997, eight days after she had been killed. Cook refused to answer questions made by the police about whether Ellard was involved in the murder. In the article published in Vice, the police found Reena’s jacket in her closet of Ellard and saltwater stains that looked the colour of the water in the Gorge where Reena’s body was discovered, which Ellard claimed belonged to her. Many other teens told the police that it was Ellard and Glowatski who killed Reena. Finally, Glowatski confessed to the murder.
Reena Killer receives an extension on day parole.
Kerry Sim, whose name until recently was Kelly Ellard, who was convicted in connection with the 1997 killing of Reena Virk, remains on day parole for another six months. Yes, now 42, and a group of other teens robbed and beat the 14-year-old Virk, then Sim and her coaccused Warren Glowatski drowned her in a nearby waterway called Gorge Waterway before she boasted about the murder to her friends, the Parole Board of Canada writes. Her murder led to her conviction in 2005 of Sim in life imprisonment, and in 2017, her board determined that her risk to society would not be undue and granted her periodic day parole.”Over the last few terms of day parole, you have been keeping busy with your children, leaving you little time to work or focus on your issues.
You have accessed resources through the Ministry of Children and Family Development and were assigned a social worker and a parental support worker who continues to connect with you and provides you with guidance and support,” the board noted in its decision, made on Oct. 9. Her most recent psychological risk assessment was completed in 2016, in which she was said to have a long-term moderate to high-moderate risk for future violence and a short-term low risk. According to the ruling, if she abused substances or were “associated with negative people,” the risk would be on the higher end.
As the board recognised her issues with substance abuse and domestic abuse, most notably the instance of July 2021, she was graded medium for accountability, motivation, and reintegration potential, so she continues to engage actively with her correctional plan.
Her case management team has reported many areas of her life for improvement; however, she is compliant with all imposed and general conditions of her release, she keeps in regular communication with members of her case management team, and she is open to discussing some challenges and stressors in her life. She cannot use drugs or alcohol and cannot have contact with anyone on her denial list, which includes the victim’s family. She must attend and comply with her treatment plan and report any relationships. Sim lives in a Lower Mainland community-based residential facility or halfway house.
Conclusion
Sad to say, the lives and deaths of Reena Virk will resonate, making us confront and question the very foundations of how we want justice, compassion, and prevention to become integral aspects of our society. It was never a matter of punishment; it was bullying, disconnection, and gaps in foster care that left the kid with no one who would look out for her. We remember at the delicate scales of justice and rehabilitation reading about the day her murderers finally face her family in court. The next generation should remember Reena’s legacy with the following words: Build a society that will continue protecting every young person’s safety and belonging so no such tragedy is ever replicated again.
