Kelly Ellard Was 15 Years Old When She Was Found Guilty of Murder — Where Is She Now?

Kelly Ellard would later testify that she did not in truth need to drown Reena Virk. She was already not respiring.

Apr. Sixteen 2024, Published 3:30 p.m. ET

Rebecca Godfrey's obituary in the (*15*) reads like a work of fiction. The novelist and nonfiction author gave up the ghost from lung cancer on Oct. 3, 2022. She was only 54. Godfrey was easiest identified for her distinctive talent to tap into the horror that is being a youngster. In particular, she was drawn to tales of young folks committing atrocities because Godfrey was in seek of their humanity all over those dark instances. She believed that we are not what we do.

Her maximum gripping paintings was a few murder that occurred in the small Canadian town where she was from. Under the Bridge was unlike anything else any individual had ever seen, and was regularly compared to Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, in that it opened other folks up to a previously under-explored global. The global was that of teenager girl friendships with a focal point on one of the killers, Kelly Ellard. She would eventually be convicted of second-degree murder. Where is she now? Here's what we all know.

Where is Kelly Ellard now?

According to the Times Colonist as of May 2023, Ellard now goes via the name Kerry Marie Sim and is nonetheless in jail where she's been since 2000. The then-40 year-old had gotten her day parole prolonged every other six months because of this she could proceed leaving the prison right through the day for "community-based activities," corresponding to employment.

In 2020 Sim was "allowed to live away from a ­residential facility for up to five days each week," in line with the hole, however was briefly crushed by means of non-public problems which integrated intimate partner violence. When Sim did not document the abuse, her parole was suspended in August 2021 even though it was reinstated two months later. While in jail, Sim gave start to 2 youngsters and is the main caregiver for both of them. She is no longer allowed to have contact with her ex-husband "without supervision or written consent from her parole officer," the opening experiences.

Sim is additionally following a strict mental health plan. This includes incessantly seeing a psychologist in addition to abstaining from medicine and alcohol. The parole board has been complimentary about Sim's efforts, announcing (as summed up by means of the Times-Colonist) that she is "motivated to live a pro-social life and to become more independent in the community."

What did Kelly Ellard do?

Ellard, at the side of seven different girls and one boy, brutally beat 14-year-old Reena Virk in November 1997. CTV News reported that after Virk had stumbled away, bloody and clearly gravely injured, Ellard and a boy named Warren Glowatski followed. Virk had wandered near the Gorge Waterway where she collapsed. During her hearing, Ellard stated she "flicked a lighter" and held it up to Virk's face which is when she saw it was covered in blood.

Apparently Ellard asked Glowatski to drag Virk closer to the water so she may just splash water on the unconscious girl's face. When Virk didn't respond, Ellard stated she panicked and driven her into the water. "I was only thinking of myself," she mentioned. "It's like almost I just thought in my mind, it would just carry the problem away." Later, Glowatski would testify that he saw Ellard drown Virk. Ellard claimed Virk was unresponsive, subsequently she "didn't need to hold her head under water."

Their reasons for killing Virk are rooted in vengeance. The much less widespread Virk stole a magazine that belonged to a friend of Ellard's and proceeded to make use of the tips in opposition to her. As punishment for this deed, Ellard and her pals vowed to overcome her and took it too far.

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