Her crimes are fictionalized in Hulu’s Underneath The Bridge and if you happen to’re questioning the place is Kelly Ellard now, you may be shocked. Ellard modified her title to Kerry Sim and was discovered responsible of murdering her teenage peer Reena Virk in 1997, happening in historical past as certainly one of Canada’s most surprising slayings.
The present explores the occasions main as much as 14-year-old Virk’s dying—the present premiered on April 17, 2024. The sequence is predicated on a memoir by Rebecca Godfrey of the identical title, revealed in 2005. The ebook explores the advanced dynamics of teenage relationships, peer stress, and bullying; analyzing the lives of each a sufferer and perpetrators, offering insights into their backgrounds, motivations, and actions.
On November 14, 1997, Virk was invited to a celebration underneath the Gorge Waterway bridge, in Victoria, British Columbia, and by no means returned dwelling. Her closely overwhelmed physique was discovered eight days afterward November 22, 1997, within the waterway in suburban Saanich. Convicted of second-degree homicide in 2000, right here’s the place Kelly Ellard is now.
The place is Kelly Ellard now?
Ellard, who as talked about modified her title to Kerry Sim, continues to be in jail for the homicide of Virk, although her day parole has been prolonged after being sentenced to life behind bars in British Columbia. Day parole in Canada is a type of launch that permits prisoners to take part in public actions in the course of the day whereas nonetheless requiring them to return to a jail or midway home every evening.
On the time of writing, Sim is 41 years outdated. A parole board choice in April 2024 confirmed the continuation of her day-release privileges and noticed her response to Hulu’s Underneath The Bridge, per Vancouver Information as a part of that call.
“You lately additionally demonstrated some regret and sufferer empathy after a dialogue about an upcoming tv sequence primarily based in your crimes. You stated the sequence is disrespectful to the sufferer and her household, and that index offense was so horrendous that it could re-victimize the sufferer’s household.”
Sim was initially granted day parole in 2017 and acquired prolonged in a single day go away privileges starting in 2020. However in 2021, her parole was suspended over incidents of home violence between Sim and her then-partner, who’s the daddy of her two youngsters.
After a psychological evaluation in 2016, a parole board noticed: “In keeping with the evaluation, you current a reasonable to high-moderate threat of future violence, notably over the long run. The chance can be larger if you happen to use substances or affiliate with delinquent or substance-abusing others,” per World Information.
The main points of Kelly Ellard’s crime in opposition to Reena Virk
The story of what occurred to Reena Virk is nothing wanting heartbreaking. At 14, Virk was the sufferer of bullying for every little thing starting from her look, faith, weight, and ethnicity. She struggled to slot in at instances and was accused of spreading rumors.
On November 14, 1997, Virk was invited to a celebration underneath the Gorge Waterway bridge, in Victoria, British Columbia, by a gaggle of associates. At one level, Nicole Cook dinner requested Virk why she was spreading rumors; Virk referred to as her a “bitch” (per the MSNBC Information’ particular, Bloodlust Underneath the Bridge), so Cook dinner put out a cigarette on Virk’s brow.
Cook dinner’s finest associates, Ellard and Pleich started hitting and kicking Reena, and the remainder of the group, together with Warren Glowatski, joined in. When Virk tried to flee, Ellard, then 15, and Glowatsk, then 16, adopted and saved attacking her. Glowatski testified that Ellard had smashed Reena’s head right into a tree after which held her underwater till Virk drowned.
Virk’s physique was discovered eight days later, on November 22, 1997, within the waterway in suburban Saanich. Per the New York Occasions, her neck, again, and arms have been damaged; she had sustained a number of blows all through her physique and suffered a “convulsion harm as usually seen in automotive crash victims.”