TV & Movies
Where Is Warren Glowatski From Under The Bridge Now?
After being convicted of murder, he took part in a restorative justice program.
Hulu’s new true crime series Under the Bridge retraces events surrounding the death of Reena Virk, a 14-year-old girl who was beaten and drowned by her peers in Victoria, Canada.
The 1997 attack led six teens to be convicted of assault, and two of second-degree murder. But nearly 30 years later, the fate of several of Virk’s attackers is surprising — especially after what happened to Warren Glowatski following the events of Under the Bridge.
He Was Sentenced To Life In Prison
According to the late writer Rebecca Godfrey — on whose reporting Under the Bridge is based — Glowatski didn’t know Virk, but took part in kicking and attacking her. After the crowd of teens beating Virk dispersed, Glowatski and Kelly Ellard reportedly caught up with Virk on her way home and continued the violence.
Both Glowatski and Ellard were convicted of second-degree murder in connection with Virk’s death. At a 2007 parole hearing, Glowatski said that he didn’t drown Virk himself, but was “ashamed” that he stood by while it happened, per CTV News.
(Ellard, for her part, has said she didn’t purposefully drown Virk either, but brought her to the water to “wake [her] up.”)
A Surprising Source Of Support
In 2007, Glowatski was granted day parole, and he shared a hug with an unlikely person: Virk’s mother, Suman Virk. “He was an angry, scared little kid, who was trying to prove something in a negative way,” she said at the time, via CTV. “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.”
Both of the late teen’s parents, Suman and Manjit, visited Glowatski in prison, he shared. “They reached out and offered me their hand and their care,” he said at the hearing. According to the Vancouver Sun, the Virks actually participated in a restorative justice program with Glowatski. It didn’t “take away the pain,” Suman told the paper, but it did help her move forward.
“You can let go of the questions you have and put it behind you,” she said.
Glowatski’s own niece was touched by the example of restorative justice in action, and went on to become an instructor in the field. “I learned firsthand how powerful and transformational this mode of justice could be,” Krystal Glowatski said in an interview with Simon Fraser University.
In 2010, Glowatski received full parole. “We don’t want to hear anything else about him,” Suman told Vancouver’s City News at the time. “I hope this is the end and he has truly turned his life around for his sake and ours.”
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