A Shocking Murder and One Writer’s Insatiable Quest for the Truth Inspired ‘Under the Bridge’
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Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers regarding the upcoming TV show Under the Bridge.
The brutal murder of 14-year-old Reena Virk in 1997—at the the hands of her friends—shocked a small community within British Columbia, Canada, and drew the attention of dogged journalist Rebecca Godfrey. Her years-long investigation and subsequent best-selling book about the case form the basis of the new Hulu series Under the Bridge.
Debuting Wednesday, the eight-episode limited series stars Riley Keough as Godfrey and Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone as police investigator Cam Bentland. Under the Bridge gives a dramatized account of the events leading up to and following Virk’s death.
Decades later, the shocking crime has continued to make headlines and haunt the tight-knit community where it took place. Chris Horsley, a retired staff sergeant from the police department that investigated Virk’s death, told Global News he anticipates Under the Bridge will take creative liberty with details of the case. “I don’t want people to lose sight that a 14-year-old girl was murdered and lost her life. And now, almost 30 years later, we’re making it into entertainment,” he said.
Here’s what to know about the true story behind the new show and what happened to Godfrey as well as Kelly Ellard and Warren Glowatski, who were convicted of second-degree murder in the case.
Reena Virk struggled to fit in and was bullied
Reena Virk was born on March 10, 1983, and experienced an anguished childhood in Saanich, British Columbia. According to MSNBC, her parents, Manjit and Suman Virk, raised their daughter as a Jehovah’s Witness, the faith adopted by her mother’s family. In following her religious customs, Reena didn’t celebrate birthdays or Christmas.
She struggled to connect with other kids and also frequently tried to run away. According to her father, Manjit, Reena was bullied throughout her childhood. Other kids stuck gum in her hair and criticized her weight.
Desperate to make friends, 14-year-old Reena met a group of teenagers smoking at a park. Among them was a charismatic girl known as Josephine Bell, who idolized gangsters and mobsters like John Gotti, boasted of stealing cars, and dreamed of becoming the first female hit man. Her best friend was a girl named Kelly Ellard.
Despite Bell’s questionable behavior, Reena admired her confidence and attempted to get closer to her. Unfortunately, this set in motion the tragic events that led to Reena’s murder.
Bell wanted to get revenge on Reena for a prank
Reena’s behavior grew more unsettling after meeting her new group of friends. According to MSNBC, she falsely reported to child welfare authorities that her father, Manjit, had sexually molested her. Her parents believe friends convinced her to make the claims by saying foster care would bring her a better life. Reena eventually dropped the charges and returned home after living with her grandparents and under care of the province for a short time.
The struggling teen also drew the ire of her new social group. According to Godfrey’s July 2017 essay for Vice, Reena acquired Bell’s journal and used it to contact several boys. She told them disparaging things about Bell, seemingly in jest, such as that her friend had fake eyebrows and even had contracted AIDS. Enraged, Bell began planning an attack on Reena with Ellard and other friends.
On November 14, 1997, the teenagers lured Virk under the Craigflower Bridge near the Shoreline School in Saanich. Bell put out a lit cigarette on Reena’s forehead, starting a massive brawl that included Ellard—who punched Virk with a closed fist—a group of other girls, and a boy named Warren Glowatski.
The beating stopped minutes later. Stunned onlookers didn’t offer to help Reena, who lay bloodied and crying in the mud then began staggering across the bridge to get home. They also didn’t realize that Ellard and Glowatski followed her and, moments later, began beating Reena, thrashing her head against a tree. Ellard later admitted to dragging the girl’s unconscious body into a nearby waterway.
Investigators found Reena’s body via helicopter just over a week later on November 22. A coroner determined forcible drowning as the official cause of her death. Both Ellard and Glowatski denied holding down Reena’s head in the water.
The murder stunned the community and Godfrey
Police ultimately arrested eight teenagers. Six, including Bell, were convicted of aggravated assault for the first attack. They received sentences ranging from 60-day conditional sentences up to one year in juvenile detention at the Victoria Youth Custody Centre.
Bell—who, after legally reaching adulthood, spoke publicly to MSNBC in 2011 using her real name Nicole Cook—suggested that her sentence of up to a year for the first beating was too harsh. “I’m not responsible for her death in any way, shape, or form,” she said. “I wasn’t there [with Ellard and Glowatski]. I didn’t kill her.”
In contrast to their friends, federal prosecutor Don Morrison announced Glowatski, 16, and Ellard, 15, would be charged as adults because of the severity of their crime. Both were ultimately convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 and 2000, respectively.
“At the time, it rocked the community,” said Dean Murdock, now the Saanich mayor. “The idea that something so horrific could happen in our community, it was really upsetting and very unsettling.”
Godfrey, who was 29 and a working writer in New York City at the time, heard about the crime and decided to return to her hometown of Victoria, right next to Saanich, to investigate. She was surprised because she couldn’t remember a single murder taking place while she lived there until age 17.
She soon began her research, going to court hearings and the nearby juvenile detention center to meet with teenagers involved and conduct interviews. “A lot of them were traumatized by what had happened, but they put on this facade of bravado because they didn’t want to be judged by police or reporters,” Godfrey told the Poughkeepsie Journal in 2019. “I think they could tell my interest was genuine and sympathetic, and I was able to get beyond that facade.”
Meanwhile, the stories of Ellard and Glowatski were far from over.
Ellard had two retrials and has started a family
Ellard became the subject of a multiyear legal battle that saw her sentence overturned and reinstated multiple times. Her second-degree murder conviction was overturned on appeal in February 2003, then a subsequent retrial the following year resulted in a hung jury and was declared a mistrial.
Her third trial in April 2005 ended in a second conviction of second-degree murder and an automatic life sentence. Both were later overturned because of a judicial error before the Canadian Supreme Court reinstated them in 2009.
According to the CBC, Ellard “remained defiant for years following the murder” and exhibited problematic behavior while in prison. However, she completed multiple correctional programs and, in 2017, was granted day parole. This meant she was eligible to participate in public activities during daytime hours, such as working and studying, before returning to prison or a halfway house at night.
Ellard, now 41, legally changed her name to Kerry Marie Sim and began a relationship with a man named Darwin Dorozan, a former prison pen pal. The couple had two children and got married but are no longer together.
Ellard was later granted overnight leave in August 2019 and was able to rent a home. Her day parole was extended as recently as 2023, with the stipulation that she must undergo psychiatric treatment to address anxiety and mental health issues. She isn’t allowed to have contact with her ex-spouse without supervision or written consent from her parole officer.
Glowatski reconciled with Virk’s parents
While imprisoned following his 1999 conviction, Glowatski formed an unlikely relationship with Reena’s parents. According to the CBC, Glowatski visited with Suman and Manjit multiple times and became remorseful for his role in the murder. “I feel ashamed. I wish I could crawl under a rock,” he said at a parole hearing in 2007.
Glowatski took rehabilitation courses in prison and became a speaker, mentoring at-risk youth about the dangers of crime. He also participated in a restorative justice program with Suman and Manjit, personally apologizing for his actions.
The two of them were present when Glowatski was granted day parole in June 2007, offering him a supportive hug and handshake. “We would have hoped that somebody would have learned something from this whole thing,” Suman Virk told reporters. “And so far, it looks like Warren has done that. Out of all the accused in this whole process, he’s the only one that’s done that.”
Glowatski, now 43, is free after receiving full parole in June 2010.
Godfrey was heavily involved in the making of Under the Bridge
Following Godfrey’s detailed investigation, HarperCollins published her book in 2005 to much acclaim. According to Deadline, actor Reese Witherspoon’s Type A Productions optioned Under the Bridge for a movie adaptation, though the project never materialized.
Under the Bridge by Rebecca Godfrey
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$15.84
In 2012, Godfrey moved with her husband, Herbert Wilson, and daughter Ada to Red Hook in upstate New York. She shared her journalistic skills with a new generation, teaching creative writing at Columbia University, and continued working on getting her book to the screen.
Godfrey is credited as an executive producer for Under the Bridge. The New York Times reported that she collaborated with writer and director Quinn Shephard for more than two years to successfully adapt the novel into the new miniseries. However, Godfrey won’t see the completion of her vision. She died of complications from lung cancer on October 3, 2022, just one week after Hulu officially announced the eight-episode drama.
The former journalist and teacher previously said the book and her investigation weren’t meant to be moralistic. “I’m not offering lessons or rules about teenage violence,” she told the Poughkeepsie Journal. “But I hope people understand more about who these real people were, including Reena Virk, the victim, and have more of an understanding of how and why they came to be involved in a very unusual crime.”
One person in Under the Bridge who isn’t real is police officer Cam Bentland. Although the local authorities solved Reena’s murder, actor Lily Gladstone instead portrays a fictional police officer assigned to the investigation. Her character also explores systemic issues surrounding the case, including within the police force.
Watch Under the Bridge on April 17
The first two episodes of Under the Bridge premiere on Wednesday, April 17, on Hulu. Additional episodes release each week through May 29.
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