WARNING: This story accommodates graphic particulars that could be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is suggested.
A brand new Hulu miniseries is about to carry gentle to one of the stunning crimes in B.C.’s historical past.
Beneath the Bridge is a collection primarily based on the homicide of Reena Virk and the ebook of the identical identify.
Virk was solely 14 years outdated in 1997 when her stays had been discovered within the Gorge Waterway in Saanich.
Two youngsters, Kelly Ellard and Warren Glowatski, had been convicted of beating and drowning her.
Glowatski, convicted of second-degree homicide, was granted full parole in 2010.
Ellard, who now goes by Kerry Sim and was additionally convicted of second-degree homicide, was granted prolonged day parole in 2022, nevertheless, she stays behind bars.
Sim was 15 years outdated when she and a bunch of youngsters swarmed and beat Virk, and her trial heard she and her co-accused later adopted the woman to proceed the beating and drown her within the Gorge waterway.
In 2018, Suman Virk, Reena’s mom, died in what her household described as a tragic accident.
Since Reena’s dying, the Virk household has labored tirelessly within the struggle in opposition to bullying, talking at colleges and neighborhood occasions in an effort to stop others from being victims of bullying and violence.
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The upcoming miniseries will debut on April 17 and have eight episodes.
It stars Riley Keough as writer Rebecca Godfrey and Lily Gladstone as Cam Bentland, one of many solely girls of color on the Saanich police power.
The stunning real-life crime turned a catalyst for change, sparking anti-bullying and youth violence prevention initiatives, the creation of a analysis centre on the College of Victoria and artwork created to contribute to Reena’s legacy.
Chris Horsley, a retired workers sergeant from the Saanich Police Division, was the media liaison officer when Virk was killed.
“On the time that Rena was murdered, APEC (Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation) was going down in Vancouver, so we had a number of worldwide media, which usually wouldn’t be in our space,” he advised International Information.
“So it was an enormous story, and for the remainder of my profession was nonetheless the largest story that I feel the Saanich Police Division has ever actually undertaken so far as the media technique.”
Horsley mentioned he’s not shocked by the Hulu collection as they’d by no means seen that “stage of youth violence.”
However he cautioned concerning the glorification of such a stunning crime.
“One, I don’t consider any of the investigators had been ever contacted to search out out form of the true nature of the investigation,” he mentioned.
“And two, and doubtless extra considerably, is I don’t need folks to lose sight {that a} 14-year-old woman was murdered and misplaced her life. And now, nearly 30 years later, we’re making it into leisure.”
Horsley suggests watching the collection with the information that it’s a TV present and there are numerous liberties taken with the story.
“One factor we do know, that in Canada, nearly 30 years later, youth crime has fallen,” he added.
Dean Murdock, the present mayor of Saanich, was in highschool on the time of Virk’s dying.
“On the time, it rocked the neighborhood,” he mentioned.
“The concept that one thing so horrific might occur in our neighborhood, it was actually upsetting and really unsettling. And I feel the discharge of this collection might be going to floor a number of these emotions for some of us in our neighborhood. And it could be a problem or possibly difficult to look at a few of that materials or take care of these emotions.”
Murdock mentioned as a highschool scholar on the time, it had a profound impression.
“It was a really saddening, a really unhappy and unsettling factor for folks to be coping with,” he added.
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