Murder of Reena Virk

In May 2022, the then 39-year-old Sim (Ellard) waived her right to a parole hearing, as she did not yet feel ready to return to society on a full time basis. By law, the Parole Board of Canada was still required to review her feasibility for full parole, and also deemed her unworthy of moving beyond day parole.

Virk managed to walk away, but was followed by two members of the original group, Ellard and Glowatski. The pair dragged Virk to the other side of the bridge, made her remove her shoes and jacket, and beat her a second time. Ellard allegedly denied holding Virk's head under water, but admitted to rolling her beaten, unconscious body into the water at her day parole hearing on November 30, 2017.

Ellard was granted conditional day parole in November 2017; in October 2018, when her day parole was extended, the documents from the Parole Board of Canada revealed that Ellard had changed her name to Kerry Marie Sim. Her day parole was suspended in August 2021 for failing to report domestic violence with the suspension cancelled in late October 2021.

In 2015, Soraya Peerbaye published a series of poems dedicated to the murder of Reena Virk entitled Tell: poems for a girlhood. The book was shortlisted for the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize.

In May 2011, Meghan Gallagher from The Bush School in Seattle self-directed and performed The Shape of a Girl.

Warren Glowatski was released on full parole in June 2010.

In December 2010 and 2012, students from Walkerville High School in Windsor, Ontario performed a play based on the death of Reena Virk for members of the community, as well as the Virk parents.

The murder of Reena Virk was also the subject of a thesis published in a book edited by Christine Alder and Anne Worrell titled Girls' Violence; Myths and Realities. The author of the thesis, "Racism, 'Girl Violence' and the Murder of Reena Virk", Sheila Batacharya, discusses the murder of Reena Virk from a feminist perspective and looks at why the argument from media and the police that the murder was not racially motivated may not have been entirely accurate. Batacharya also argues that the narrative of 'girl violence' which academics policy makers and journalists have asserted is evidenced by Virk's murder, obscures other investigations and explanations surrounding this murder. Reena's father, Mr. Manjit Virk, has written a book about the murder of his daughter: Reena: A Father’s Story (2008), which is highly critical of the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development and the B.C. justice system; Reena was murdered under the voluntary care of the Ministry, yet no apology was given or responsibility taken.

The Virks did not contest the parole, because Glowatski expressed remorse and responsibility for his part in the murder. In July 2006, he was granted unescorted temporary absences from jail. By December 2006, Glowatski was eligible to apply for day parole again, which he was granted in June 2007.

Evidence was cited in a 2005 book about the case regarding Ellard's sociopathy and violence in middle school. The reason for the absence of her birth father in her life is never revealed.

The murder case has been the subject of an award-winning and bestselling book Under the Bridge. The True Story of the Murder of Reena Virk (2005) by Rebecca Godfrey, which is currently being developed into a feature film, and partly inspired a monologue play, The Shape of a Girl (2001), by Joan MacLeod, and The Beckoners by Carrie Mac. The film rights for the book Under the Bridge have been purchased by Type A Productions, a film production company, for adaptation into a movie.

Ellard was initially convicted in March 2000 for second-degree murder in Virk's death. In February 2003, this conviction was overturned and a new trial was ordered. The second trial ended in a mistrial (as the result of a hung jury) in July 2004. A third trial was ordered and Ellard was convicted again of second-degree murder in April 2005 and given an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for seven years.

In June 1999, Glowatski was convicted of second-degree murder and given a life sentence. Because he was 16 at the time of the murder, he was eligible for parole after serving seven years. In November 2004, he was denied his first chance at day parole.

On the evening of Friday November 14, 1997, Reena Virk was invited to a "party" by her "friend" near the Craigflower Bridge, in the city of Saanich, British Columbia.

Despite an alleged pact amongst the people involved to not "rat each other out“, by the following Monday rumors of the alleged murder spread throughout Shoreline Middle School. Reena Virk was a student at nearby Colquitz Middle School. Several uninvolved students and teachers heard the rumours, but no one came forward to report it to the police. The rumors were confirmed eight days later, on November 22, 1997, when the police used a helicopter to find Virk's partially clothed body washed ashore at the Gorge Inlet, a major waterway on Vancouver Island.

Virk has been described as a girl who was desperate for acceptance amongst her peers, but was taunted and/or ostracized by these girls whose subculture was influenced by Los Angeles street gangs. She had recently began to rebel due to such peer influence, smoking marijuana and cigarettes. Bullied for her weight and insecurity, she was said to feel restricted by the rules of the family's faith. In 1996, she falsely reported her father for sexual molestation in hopes of being moved to a foster home and having more freedom. As a result, she was moved from her family's home into the care of the state for several months in 1996. She later dropped the charges and returned home.

In 1996, when his parents separated, Glowatski and his father moved to Nanaimo, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. In 1997, they settled in a trailer home near the southern tip of the Island in Saanich.

The Globe and Mail commented at the time that her case was "elevated into a national tragedy." A pair of Canadian sociologists have described the case as a watershed moment for a "moral panic" over girl violence by the Canadian public in the late 1990s.

Reena Virk (March 10, 1983 – November 14, 1997) was a resident of Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Her status as a bullied murder victim attracted substantial media scrutiny in Canada.

Nicole Cook, born 1983, lived in a group home at the time. On MSNBC's documentary Bloodlust Under the Bridge, Cook spoke about how she took a lit cigarette and put it out on Reena Virk's face, initiating the mayhem that followed. Cook further explained how she repeatedly punched and kicked Virk as she was being pummeled by the other assailants. At the end of the MSNBC interview, Cook then lambasted the accusation that she had anything to do with Virk's actual murder because Ellard was the participant charged for the murder. Veteran Dateline reporter Keith Morrison then asked, "Would the murder have ever happened if you hadn't started the fight by burning her face with your cigarette?" and Cook replied, "I don't know. Maybe."

Kelly Ellard (born August 9, 1982), was 15 years old when she drowned Virk. Ellard stood trial three times for the murder, and was convicted twice. Her lawyers had succeeded in having her first conviction overturned on appeal, and attempted to have her second conviction overturned. However, while a 2008 decision of the BC Court of Appeals overturned the second conviction, on June 12, 2009 the Supreme Court of Canada (Supreme Court), in an 8–1 decision, overturned the BC Court of Appeals, ruling that Ellard's third trial had been fairly executed, and her conviction would stand.

Warren Glowatski, born April 26, 1981 in Medicine Hat, Alberta, was 16 years old when Virk was murdered. He was convicted of Virk's murder and sentenced to life in prison.