One Aspect of Reena Virk’s Case Remains Ongoing After the Events of ‘Under the Bridge’
At the end of Under the Bridge, both Warren Glowatski (Javon Walton) and Kelly Ellard (Izzy G.) are found guilty of murder. Given the different circumstances concerning the two perpetrators, viewers may be curious about what ultimately happened to Ellard.
Based on the book of the same name by Rebecca Godfrey, Under the Bridge dramatizes the true crime case of Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta), a teenage girl who disappears one night after attending a party. As Godfrey and Detective Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone) investigate the disappearance, they soon realize they have a murder case on their hands, and the prime suspects are also teenagers. While a whole group of teenage girls, who refer to thems as the Crip Mafia Cartel (CMC) are found guilty of assaulting Virk, Godfrey and Bentland hone in on Ellard and Glowatski as the ones who actually carried out the murder.
Initially, Ellard and Glowatski blame each other for the murder. Eventually, though, Glowatksi has a chance of heart and admits that both he and Ellard killed Virk. Both teenagers are ultimately found guilty of second-degree murder and handed life sentences. However, Ellard never owned up to her crimes and seemed fully willing to let Glowatski or one of the CMCs take the fall for her actions. For viewers who find her lack of honesty and remorse chilling, here’s what became of the girl after her trial.
Where is Kelly Ellard now?
In an epilogue, Under the Bridge touches lightly on what happened to Ellard and Glowatski after the events covered in the show. It reveals Glowatski was released on parole in 2010, while Ellard appealed her case but was once again found guilty. Ellard actually ended up undergoing trial three times. As mentioned above, the first ended with a guilty verdict. However, she successfully appealed her case and received a new trial, which ended in a hung jury. Upon her third trial in 2005, she was found guilty again and given a life sentence. She and her legal team tried to appeal the 2005 conviction, but the Court of Appeals ultimately upheld her sentence.
During this whole time, Ellard continued to maintain her innocence in the case despite Glowatski’s eyewitness account of her actions. It wasn’t until 2016, almost 20 years after the crime was committed, that she confessed for the first time to her role in Virk’s murder. She denied Glowatski’s account that she forcefully drowned the girl but admitted she pushed her unconscious into the river. Ellard also admitted that, despite Glowatski conspiring with her for a second assault on Virk, the drowning was her idea.
Ellard made the confession at a parole hearing, which ultimately led to her parole being denied. However, the parole board and Virk’s family expressed relief that she finally admitted to her crimes and allowed them some closure. Shortly after her confession, she was granted day parole, which means she’s permitted to leave prison during the day for activities like work, school, or volunteering but returns to jail at night. Her day parole was temporarily suspended in 2021 due to a domestic abuse incident with her partner but was eventually renewed that same year with additional conditions.
In 2022, she chose not to advocate for full parole, which the board took into consideration when determining whether to grant her release or not. It ultimately sided with her decision to continue day parole, noting her team was still concerned with how she was managing her emotions and also pointing to a 2016 psychological evaluation, which still placed her at a moderate to high risk of committing violence in the future. The same decision was made in 2023. As of now, Ellard remains on day parole, and it remains to be seen if or when she will be granted full parole.
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