It's been nearly two decades since 14-year-old Reena Virk was beaten up by a group of students known as the "Shoreline Six" and later drowned.
One of Virk's convicted killers is making headlines this week by requesting parole.
Kelly Ellard, currently being held at the Fraser Valley Institution in Abbotsford, is scheduled for her first day parole hearing on Tuesday, after previously waving her right to a full parole hearing four times.
Ellard stood trial three times for the murder and was convicted twice. During her first trial in 2000, the judge found her guilty, but the verdict was overturned when the B.C. Court of Appeal determined the Crown had improperly conducted cross-examination.
The jury in her second trial in 2004 was unable to reach a verdict. Ellard was convicted during her third trial in 2005, then won an appeal. Her request for release comes roughly seven years after the Supreme Court of Canada rejected that appeal and restored the conviction.
Although she was only 15 at the time of the crime, Ellard was tried as an adult.
After the first beating from the group of Shoreline students, Ellard and Warren Glowatski followed Virk across the old Craigflower Bridge, where Ellard smashed Virk's head against a tree and held her under water until she drowned.
Glowatski was also convicted of second-degree murder and was released on full parole in June 2010.
katie@goldstreamgazette.com