Where is Warren Glowatski from 'Under the Bridge' now?

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Warren Glowatski, then 16, was part of a group of teenagers who swarmed 14-year-old Reena Virk under a bridge in Victoria, Canada, in 1997, punching, kicking and burning a cigarette on her forehead.

The scene plays out in Hulu's "Under the Bridge," a true-crime series that takes a dramatized look at Virk's case, with actors like Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone playing the roles of the investigators involved.

After the brutal assault ended, Glowatski and Kelly Ellard, then 15, followed Virk across the Craigflower Bridge and attacked her a second time, before drowning her in the Gorge Waterway.

Javon Walton, who portrays Glowatski in the show, tells TODAY.com he hopes his role in the show will help people become more understanding of what others may be going through.

“Teenagers can be pretty mean sometimes just because of underlying problems they have,” Walton says. “The show really speaks out on that and does a really good job of raising awareness for the murder and bullying in general.”

Walton also shared some of the questions he hopes his portrayal of Glowatski leads viewers to think about after the episodes premiere.

“I want them to be able to ask more questions about the story and and do more research to see what exactly happened because a lot of these people from the show, they’re still alive,” Walton says. “You know, to figure out what’s going on with them now.”

Glowatski and Ellard were both convicted of murder in separate trials, and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Here's what to know about what happened to Glowatski after Virk's murder.

Where is Warren Glowatski now?

Glowatski’s trial began in April 1999, and he was convicted of second-degree murder in June 1999, according to CBC. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years later that month.

Suman and Manjit Virk, Virk's parents, met with Glowatski several times while he was incarcerated, and Glowatski took rehabilitation courses where he apologized for his actions and expressed remorse for the crime, CBC reported.

Suman Virk, center, with mother Tarsem Pallan and father Mukand Pallan (Chuck Stoody / Hulu)
Suman Virk, center, with mother Tarsem Pallan and father Mukand Pallan (Chuck Stoody / Hulu)

“My thoughts back then were about being powerful,” CBC quoted Glowatski as saying at a parole hearing in 2007. “I call it bravado, or trying to be a gangster. I was screaming out for attention in all the wrong places and I got it.”

Walton says his experience playing darker roles in previous projects helped prepare him for playing the role of Glowatski, in addition to finding older documents about the case.

“There was part of me that wanted to talk to (Glowatski) and see what was going through his head,” Walton says. “But at the same time I was able to get a good sense of the character.”

He feels that Glowatski has "definitely redeemed himself a little bit" from his efforts to speak out about bullying.

“There’s no really going back from what he did, but at the same time, there’s definitely been a little bit of redemption,” Walton says. “He now speaks about speaks out on bullying and raises awareness.”

Virk’s parents also worked on anti-bullying campaigns following their daughter’s death. Suman Virk told The Vancouver Sun in 2009 that connecting with Glowatski helped her process her daughter’s death — though she didn’t want to sit down with him initially.

“Seeing what he had to say for himself, it doesn’t make things right or take away the pain, but you can let go of the questions you have and put it behind you,” she said. “It gave us a voice to say whatever we needed to.”

Virk’s parents were present when Glowatski was granted day parole in June 2007, according to CBC.

“We would have hoped that somebody would have learned something from this whole thing,” Suman Virk said after the hearing, according to CBC. “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.”

She added, “Today I think we see a young man who has taken responsibility for his actions and is trying to amend the wrong that he did,”

Glowatski, now 43, was released on full parole in 2010, according to CBC.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com