0:00

Hey there, it's Kathy. I just wanted

0:02

to let you know that you can

0:04

listen to History of the 90s early

0:06

and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with

0:08

Prime. It

0:11

was a gray fall day when Officer

0:13

Chris Horsley boarded a Coast Guard helicopter.

0:16

As he buckled in, he thought to

0:19

himself, conditions were perfect for a search.

0:22

The doors on both sides of the bright

0:24

red helicopter were wide open as it took

0:26

off and flew up the dark waters of

0:28

the gorge on Vancouver Island. Officer

0:31

Horsley looked right, while another constable

0:34

looked left. Below, they

0:36

saw police divers who were also part of

0:38

the search. As

0:40

the helicopter traveled further up the waterway

0:42

and over a bridge, Officer Horsley saw

0:45

what they were looking for. The

0:47

body of a teenage girl who'd been missing

0:49

for over a week. I'm

0:52

Kathy Kansora, and this is History of

0:54

the 90s, a podcast about a decade

0:56

that changed the world. Over

0:59

the next two episodes, I'm joined by

1:01

Caitlin and Graham Duffy, the co-hosts of

1:03

the podcast True North, True Crime, as

1:06

we look back at a Canadian murder

1:08

that drew international attention and brought the

1:10

issue of teen violence and bullying into

1:13

the spotlight. This is the

1:15

murder of Reena Verk. When

1:23

Reena Verk was a toddler, her dad said

1:25

she looked like a princess, which was fitting

1:27

for a little girl whose name means queen

1:30

in Hindi. Manjit was

1:32

a doting father to his firstborn.

1:34

He read her books and sang

1:36

lullabies, cherishing every moment with his

1:38

young daughter. Reena's

1:40

dad came to Canada from India in 1979.

1:44

His original plan was to stay for

1:46

two months while visiting his sister in

1:48

Victoria on British Columbia's Vancouver Island. But

1:52

while he was there, he fell in love and

1:54

married Reena's mum, Suhman. Another

1:56

daughter and son soon followed Reena.

2:00

The family enjoyed the beauty of BC

2:02

camping and swimming at local beaches.

2:04

And they took fun road trips to places

2:07

like Disney in Baja California. They

2:09

were a typical family living an

2:11

ordinary life. But

2:13

Mangied Verk says when Rina was around 10 or

2:16

11, the family entered what

2:18

he calls rough waters. In

2:20

his 2008 memoir, Verk writes that

2:23

his daughter began talking back and picking

2:25

fights with her mom. She

2:27

withdrew and refused to go to church

2:29

or any other family outings. According

2:32

to Caitlin Duffy, who co-hosts the podcast

2:34

True North True Crime alongside her husband

2:36

Graham Duffy, Rina felt like

2:38

she didn't fit in with her peers. When

2:41

Rina was in grade six, she was growing quite

2:43

fast and felt trapped in a

2:46

bigger body. She was bullied

2:48

by other kids who teased her and excluded

2:50

her. And because she was so unhappy, she

2:52

stopped caring about her appearance and her hair

2:54

was often unkempt, which made obviously this ridicule

2:56

worse. These kids are mean in

2:59

middle school. So by the

3:01

time Rina entered Colquitts Middle School, she was already five

3:03

foot eight inches tall and 180 pounds. And

3:07

anybody who has been a 12 or 13 year

3:09

old girl knows that that appearance is not really

3:11

in line with other girls her age and was

3:13

certainly not in line with the 90s feminine beauty

3:15

standards that you would see in Maxim

3:18

or MTV or much music and all

3:20

of that. In

3:24

May 1994, the family moved to a

3:26

new split level house in Saanich, a

3:28

massive municipality that's part of the

3:31

capital regional district and surrounds the

3:33

city of Victoria. Graham

3:35

Duffy says that Saanich has well

3:37

over 100,000 residents and includes 17

3:39

different neighborhoods. Like

3:42

Saanich kind of proper goes up

3:44

the Saanich Peninsula and it's a

3:46

lot of farming properties and rural

3:49

stretches. But then when you get

3:51

closer to Victoria and sort of to the

3:53

west of the Padbe Highway, you

3:55

have this kind of centralized area of

3:57

Saanich and that is like It's

4:00

like suburban utopia. There's, you

4:03

know, especially back in the 90s,

4:05

there's like malls and fast food

4:07

joints and like densely packed little

4:09

neighborhoods. Reena's parents hoped

4:11

moving to Saanich would be a fresh start

4:13

for their daughter. But at her

4:16

new school, she was once again excluded and

4:18

bullied. Then in the

4:20

summer before high school, Reena began hanging out

4:22

with some older teenagers she met at

4:24

a local park. And that's

4:27

when Reena began to change her look.

4:29

She was wearing kind of urban

4:31

sportswear, sneakers, platform shoes, darker makeup

4:34

and unconventional nail polish colors

4:36

like blue. She smoked

4:38

pot and cigarettes and started listening to hip-hop

4:40

and rap. She even claimed that she had

4:42

joined the gang that is called the Crips,

4:45

which was something the other kids in her age group had

4:47

been claiming as well. And it seemed

4:49

like the California gang culture was the very

4:51

hip and cool thing at the time. When

4:54

Reena's parents discovered that her new friends

4:57

smoked and sometimes stayed out all night, they

4:59

tried to put a stop to it. Reena's

5:01

parents came from a traditional background and

5:04

adding to that they were also Jehovah's

5:06

Witnesses and they did their best to instill

5:08

traditional and religious ideals in their kids. These

5:11

beliefs, however, were obviously at odds with

5:13

the other 90s kids. Many

5:15

of Reena's peers were from relaxed

5:17

non-traditional white families. Reena,

5:20

unhappy with her parents' strict rules, decided

5:22

to push back in a way that

5:24

would cause a major rift in the

5:26

Verk family. Reena

5:31

complained to her new friends about her

5:33

overbearing parents, and at some point

5:36

someone in the group suggested a way out.

5:39

They advised her to tell authorities that

5:41

her parents were abusing her, then

5:43

she would get sent to a foster home or a

5:45

group home. So that's what she

5:47

did. Reena's parents insisted

5:50

the allegations were false, but a

5:52

social worker decided it was best for the

5:54

13-year-old to stay with her maternal grandparents, who

5:56

lived two and a half kilometers away from

5:59

the Verk family. home. The

6:02

situation got extremely messy over the

6:04

next several months, while at

6:06

her grandparents, Rina accused her father

6:08

of sexual abuse. That

6:11

led police to arrest Manji, but

6:13

charges against him were eventually dropped

6:15

when Rina recanted the allegations. The

6:18

turmoil continued as Rina bounced around

6:20

from place to place. First,

6:22

she moved from her grandparents to a foster

6:24

home, and then for a short period, she

6:26

moved back home with her parents. Then,

6:29

in November 1997, Rina said

6:31

she wanted to go back to foster care, and

6:33

while a social worker tried to sort

6:36

out the situation, Rina went to an

6:38

emergency youth shelter. That's

6:40

where the 14-year-old met up with two

6:42

teen girls with troubled backgrounds and a

6:44

history of violence. It was

6:46

a meeting that would have deadly consequences. At

6:55

first, Rina adored Nicole Cook and Missy

6:57

Plague. In her eyes, they were everything

7:00

she wanted to be, cool and

7:02

tough, living by their own rules and afraid

7:04

of nothing. Rina

7:06

desperately wanted to be friends with them, and

7:08

even though she did everything she could to

7:10

get to know them, they kept her at

7:12

arm's length. After a

7:14

few days at the shelter, Rina returned home, and

7:17

on Friday, November 14th, she planned to

7:19

spend a quiet evening on her own.

7:22

Then, the phone rang. It was Nicole and

7:25

Missy from the shelter, and they wanted Rina

7:27

to hang out with them. Caitlin

7:30

says Rina knew these girls weren't her

7:32

biggest fans, so she was a

7:34

bit suspicious about why they were inviting

7:36

her out. Nicole and Missy

7:38

ended up convincing Rina that she wasn't in any

7:40

danger and they just really wanted to be friends

7:43

with her. They said, come party with us, it'll

7:45

be fun. So, Rina,

7:47

who was so desperate to

7:49

be liked and accepted by

7:51

her peers, changed her

7:53

plans for that night and she packed her backpack

7:55

and made her way to that field at Shoreline

7:58

School, hopeful that this might be the beginning

8:00

of a different social life for her.

8:04

Rina met the girls in front of a

8:06

nearby Walmart and then took a bus to

8:08

Shoreline High School in View Royal, a suburb

8:10

of Greater Victoria. The

8:12

town is situated close to the Gorge Waterway,

8:14

a 6-kilometer tidal river which in

8:16

the first half of the 20th

8:19

century was a dumping ground for

8:21

industrial and residential waste, making it

8:23

unsafe for swimming until a clean-up began in

8:25

the 90s. At

8:27

the time Rina was a teenager, View Royal was

8:29

home to approximately 8,000 people, mostly working-class

8:34

families. For

8:36

some residents of Victoria, parts of View Royal

8:38

were considered to be the wrong side of

8:40

the tracks. On

8:42

most Friday and Saturday nights, teens would gather

8:44

in the field at Shoreline High School to

8:46

hang out. The night

8:49

that Rina went there with Nicole and Missy,

8:51

about 50 or 60 other teens showed up

8:53

to party at Shoreline. They drank

8:55

vodka and smoked weed, under a full

8:58

moon shining so bright that it illuminated

9:00

the field. The

9:02

sky got even brighter at precisely 9.12pm,

9:06

and stunning red and yellow

9:08

light trails blazed over Victoria

9:10

like silent fireworks. The

9:13

glowing trails, which lasted for about 30

9:15

seconds, came from a piece of

9:17

a Russian rocket as it fell back to Earth.

9:20

The debris burned up as it hit

9:23

the Earth's atmosphere and could be seen

9:25

from Seattle to Victoria and Vancouver. The

9:28

fiery display frightened many people who called

9:30

911 and local police

9:32

stations. Some of

9:34

the teens gathered on the field at

9:36

Shoreline School screamed when they saw the burst

9:38

of lights in the sky. They wondered

9:41

if it was a meteor shower or maybe

9:43

a satellite. Shortly

9:45

after the light show, a teenage boy in the

9:47

crowd threw a rock at a school window, which

9:51

prompted a janitor who was inside to call

9:53

the police. When

9:55

a cop car showed up, the kids scattered,

9:57

heading in different directions. While

10:00

that was happening, Nicole and Missy, the

10:02

two shelter girls who had invited Reena to the

10:04

party, put their real plan

10:06

in motion. They,

10:09

along with some other teenage girls, chased

10:12

Reena to a nearby road and surrounded

10:14

her. Reena ran to

10:16

a phone booth and called home. Her little

10:18

brother answered. She said to him, I'm coming

10:20

home. Can you tell mom I'll be home

10:22

soon? On the other end,

10:25

the young boy could tell his sister was

10:27

crying and scared. He encouraged her as best

10:29

he could and urged her to come home.

10:32

Reena hung up but was afraid to leave the

10:34

safety of the phone booth. She was surrounded

10:36

by the group of teens who beckoned her to

10:38

come out. They said they didn't

10:40

want to fight. They wanted to party with her.

10:44

Eventually, she stepped out of the phone booth

10:46

and said, I want to catch the bus.

10:48

I have to go home. The

10:50

teens wouldn't move. One of them took her bus

10:52

pass and ripped it up. Nicole

10:54

and Missy moved to either side of

10:57

Reena, linking arms with her. Then,

10:59

together, they walked toward a nearby

11:01

bridge. The

11:06

Craigflower Bridge crosses the Gorge Waterway,

11:08

connecting View Royal and Sanitch. On

11:11

one side, a wooden staircase with a

11:13

rusty railing descends from street level to

11:16

an area under the bridge that resembles

11:18

a dark cave. After

11:20

being told to leave the shoreline field, 14 girls,

11:23

including Reena, along with two boys,

11:25

gathered under the bridge. They

11:28

stood around on muddy, uneven ground that

11:30

sloped down to the water's edge. Then,

11:34

suddenly, Nicole screamed at Reena.

11:36

She asked, why are you trying to ruin my

11:38

life? Nicole was

11:40

very upset at Reena. This was

11:43

because Reena stole Nicole's phone

11:45

book and had

11:47

called numbers in that phone book

11:49

belonging to... Nicole was very popular.

11:52

Nicole knew everybody at Shoreline. Everybody's numbers

11:55

were in that phone book. She called

11:57

these numbers and she spread the

11:59

room. rumor that Nicole has AIDS. Nicole

12:01

isn't as pretty as she used to

12:04

be. Nicole looks like shit. All these,

12:06

all these things. Reena

12:08

insisted she wasn't to blame, but

12:11

Nicole didn't care. She lunged forward

12:13

and pushed a burning cigarette into

12:15

Reena's forehead. That's

12:17

when chaos erupted. Several other

12:19

girls swarmed Reena, wildly punching

12:21

and kicking, even though most of them didn't

12:24

even know her. Some others scrambled

12:26

up the hill, frightened by what they were

12:28

seeing, but they did nothing to stop

12:30

it. There were upwards of,

12:32

what, 20 kids present there

12:34

that night who witnessed what happened

12:37

and not a single person called

12:39

for help. Nobody. Nobody called

12:41

police, ambulance, their parents, nobody said

12:44

anything. As Reena lay on

12:46

the ground, a boy by the name of Warren

12:48

Glowatsky kicked her in the head until

12:50

his friend grabbed him and told him to chill out.

12:54

With her hands over her face, Reena

12:56

pleaded, stop, please stop. But the

12:58

beating continued until one of the

13:00

teens involved in the attack said it was enough.

13:03

She raised her voice and said, the next person

13:05

to touch her gets a shot from me. Everybody

13:09

scattered. And after taking a little bit

13:11

of time to recover, Reena climbed the

13:13

wooden stairs to street level. She

13:15

staggered a little as she attempted to walk

13:18

across the bridge toward her home. For

13:20

most of the teens, it was the last

13:22

they would ever see of Reena Verk. Manjeet

13:32

and Suman Verk called the police when Reena

13:34

didn't make it home that Friday night. In

13:37

the morning, with still no sign of her, they called

13:39

again. But the police said

13:41

because of her troubled history, they wouldn't

13:44

start searching until Monday. Unbeknownst

13:47

to the police and Reena's parents,

13:49

the teenage rumor mill was already

13:52

working overtime. By Monday,

13:54

everyone at Shoreline High School was talking

13:56

about what happened that weekend under the

13:58

bridge. detailed whispers of

14:00

the beating passed from student to student

14:02

in the hallways and in the smoke pit.

14:06

No one told a teacher, a parent, or

14:08

any other adult about what they heard. The

14:11

attack was kept secret among the

14:13

students at Shoreline. But

14:15

most of the kids didn't know the

14:17

full story. They had no idea what

14:19

happened to Reena after the assault under

14:22

the bridge. After that, Reena

14:24

was left on the ground and her eyes were

14:26

swollen shut. She was

14:28

bleeding from the nose and mouth and she had

14:30

a cigarette burn on her forehead. Her belongings

14:33

had been taken from her. They stole

14:35

her backpack. They broke her bottle of

14:37

polo sport and she was sort of

14:40

left there. And she and Reena got

14:42

up slowly, quite

14:44

disoriented. My guess

14:47

is concussed. And so when

14:49

you're in that fight or flight mode, and she

14:51

wasn't a fighter, that's the thing. So when you're

14:53

in that flight mode, you want to get somewhere

14:55

safe. And so she made her

14:58

way up the stairs because there were stairs along the

15:00

side of the bridge where the kids would go down.

15:03

And then she started making her way across to

15:05

the north side of the bridge. As

15:07

Reena stumbled across the bridge, two of

15:10

her attackers decided to follow her. One

15:13

of them was 15 year old Kelly Ellert,

15:15

who was best friends with Nicole Cook, one

15:17

of the girls Reena met at the shelter.

15:20

The other was 16 year old Warren Glowatsky,

15:22

the boy who had kicked her in the head.

15:26

They caught up to Reena on the other

15:28

side of the bridge. And after

15:30

a brief conversation, continued the vicious

15:32

assault on Reena. They

15:35

kicked and punched the 14 year old until

15:37

she was unconscious. Then each one

15:39

grabbed one of Reena's legs and dragged her

15:41

lifeless body and placed her face down into

15:44

the gorge. Kelly Ellert, who

15:46

was all of 5 foot 4 and 115 pounds, then held Reena's

15:50

head under the salty water until

15:52

life drained from her body and she stopped

15:55

moving. The pair

15:57

then had a cigarette and promised one another not

15:59

to talk. about the incident with

16:01

anyone, but neither one of them

16:03

was very good at keeping a promise. Kelly

16:06

was then witnessed at a bus stop, soaking

16:08

wet from the waist down, and she told

16:10

the witness at the bus stop, a girl

16:12

died tonight. And her

16:15

clothing would later dry, but

16:17

forensics would show that there were saltwater

16:19

marks all over her clothing. So,

16:22

and there's only one place to get saltwater on

16:24

your clothing in Victoria, and that's literally the gorge

16:26

in the ocean. The

16:28

next day, Warren Glowatsky confessed to his girlfriend,

16:31

while Kelly Eller told her best friend

16:33

Nicole what happened. In

16:35

turn, Nicole told her roommate at the youth group

16:37

home where she was now living. The

16:40

roommate, a 15-year-old girl, was the

16:42

one who finally went to police, telling them

16:44

about the beating and the murder. Surprisingly

16:47

though, police didn't initially believe her,

16:49

even after they learned that Rena was

16:51

in fact missing. Several

16:53

more days passed while police looked into what the

16:55

teen had told them. Then

16:58

on Friday, November 21st, exactly

17:00

one week after the attack, police

17:02

announced the arrest of eight teenagers between

17:04

the ages of 14 and 16. Six

17:08

girls were charged with aggravated assault,

17:10

while a 16-year-old boy and 15-year-old

17:12

girl were charged with second-degree murder.

17:15

We believe that there were other kids in that

17:17

area. It's a popular hangout. As far as how

17:19

many kids have firsthand knowledge of what actually took

17:22

place, we are still going with those eight for

17:24

now. However, again, there could be more. We have

17:27

not ruled out the possibility that some of those

17:29

charged with aggravated assault could be bumped up to

17:31

second-degree murder. What about the second-degree murder charge? It's

17:34

certainly a possibility. We have not ruled it out that

17:36

that even could be raised. Again, it's

17:38

going to be based on the many, many people that we

17:40

still have left to interview. Because

17:44

of their ages, the identities of all

17:46

the teens arrested were initially protected by

17:48

the Young Offenders Act. However, the names

17:50

of Kelly Ellard and Warren Glowatsky, the

17:53

two accused of killing Breena, were eventually

17:55

released because they were tried as adults.

17:58

And Nicole Cook and Missy Plaik have

18:00

identified themselves in the media, which is why

18:02

we are using their names in this episode.

18:06

While the teens were questioned at the Saanich

18:08

Police Station, officers and firefighters

18:10

searched the shoreline and the gorge

18:12

waterway looking for clues, but nothing

18:15

was found. The

18:17

next day, Saanich police officers boarded a

18:19

red Canadian Coast Guard helicopter to begin

18:21

an aerial search of the waterway. Within

18:25

20 minutes, they spotted something. Floating

18:27

in the reeds, hidden by the tall

18:29

brown stalks, was the body of a

18:31

teenage girl, her long black hair floating

18:34

out toward the shore. It

18:36

was Rina Verk. When

18:44

news of the shocking crime broke, the general

18:46

public was stunned. It seemed

18:48

unfathomable that a 14-year-old girl could have

18:50

been killed by a group of her

18:52

peers, and many wanted to figure

18:54

out why. This case is

18:56

still very much the talk of the city, from

18:59

the radio talk shows to people on the

19:01

street. I think it's a societal problem. I think

19:03

it stands far beyond the spools. I think it

19:05

starts with how we look

19:07

at violence in society and how we treat

19:09

it and how we react to it and

19:11

respond to it. We've lost the ability to

19:14

guide and train our young people. We

19:17

have a major problem with our kids, and

19:19

we have to find a way of doing it.

19:22

Is it the school's problem or the whole community's

19:24

problem? No, it's not the school's problem. It's the

19:26

community's problem. Experts were

19:28

quick to point out that violence among female

19:30

teenagers had been on the rise since the

19:32

mid-80s and had become a noticeable

19:35

problem in the early 90s. Civil

19:37

Arts, a University of Victoria professor who

19:39

wrote a book called Sex, Power and

19:42

the Violent School Girl, warned that

19:44

schools and parents needed to deal with the

19:46

issue head on to prevent things from getting

19:48

worse. Arts said violence

19:50

among teen girls had always been there,

19:53

but it was more prevalent in the 90s

19:55

because of the emphasis on girls becoming

19:57

sex objects early in life. Other

20:01

experts blamed violent movies, TV and

20:03

video games, suggesting that 90s

20:05

youth, both girls and boys,

20:07

were desensitized to the violence, and

20:10

they had overcome their inhibition against

20:12

killing. Canadian

20:15

crime statistics seemed to show evidence

20:17

that there was a problem. Between

20:19

1992 and 1996, overall youth crime in the country was down, thanks

20:24

to a drop in property crimes committed

20:26

by youth. But violent crimes among

20:28

12- to 18-year-olds had actually risen

20:30

by 3.5%. With

20:34

the highest number of violent youth crimes

20:36

taking place in British Columbia, which saw

20:38

a spike of nearly 40%. Graham

20:42

Duffy grew up in Victoria, and he says

20:45

he wasn't shocked when he heard about Rina's

20:47

murder. I knew that

20:50

that place was a tinder

20:52

keg, like with regards to the youth violence

20:55

that was going on in Victoria. I

20:58

didn't feel safe walking around downtown Victoria.

21:00

I know people might hear this and

21:03

laugh, because it's horse-drawn carriages and flower

21:05

pots and stuff, but there was kids

21:08

got stomped. I

21:11

had never heard of it before, but it was a thing that people

21:13

did, and so you really had your head on its way. There

21:17

was no Ubers or cell phones or anything like

21:19

that. It was like you took the bus or

21:21

you walked, and if you missed the bus, which

21:23

was the last one was 10, 30, 11 o'clock,

21:25

then you were walking on dark

21:27

streets. The crime had made headlines

21:30

across Canada and the U.S., and

21:32

even as far away as France, Norway, and

21:34

Sweden. And everybody wanted

21:36

to know why. What could drive young

21:39

people to commit such a horrible crime

21:41

against another teen? When

21:44

the 18's charged in connection with the

21:46

beating and murder appeared in court

21:48

on the morning of Monday, November

21:50

24th, a horde of reporters and

21:52

cameramen gathered outside the courthouse for

21:54

updates. But police and

21:56

the Crown Attorney were tight-lipped, releasing

21:59

very few details. They would only say

22:01

that Reena's official cause of death was

22:03

drowning. The lack

22:05

of specifics left a void which

22:07

would be filled by rumors and

22:09

incorrect information. In

22:11

particular, there was talk that the murder

22:13

was gang related. Kids

22:16

said that some of the accused were members

22:18

of the notorious LA-based gangs, the Bloods

22:20

and the Crips. But police

22:22

said they were actually gang wannabes

22:24

and insisted true gangs were not

22:26

a problem in Victoria schools. Graham

22:30

Duffy says local teens may not

22:32

have been affiliated with LA gangs,

22:34

but lots of predominantly white affluent

22:37

kids who were influenced by 90s rap

22:39

culture tried to emulate thug life.

22:42

And that's when we started to see groups

22:45

of kids crewing up sort

22:47

of thing. And there weren't

22:49

gang members in the sense that they were moving

22:51

large quantities of drugs or engaging in turf wars

22:54

for survival. They were gang members in the sense

22:56

that they were selling dime bags, they

22:58

were picking fights with other groups, and they

23:00

took on sort of the affect of the

23:03

criminal lifestyle. And they took

23:05

on names like the E-town boys in Esquimalt.

23:08

They were also Crips. There was

23:10

the Crips Mafia Cartel. There was one called

23:12

Natives with Attitude that came out of Esquimalt

23:14

and it was First Nations boys. There

23:17

was the Metro crew, there was Turbo crew, there were

23:19

the Jax, and then there was a group out of

23:21

Blanchard Courts as well. While

23:23

talk about gangs dominated the news, there

23:25

was also an outpouring of remembrance

23:28

and support for Reena and her

23:30

family. Next to a playground

23:32

for children and the path that

23:34

people stroll for reflection by the waterway in which

23:36

Reena lost her life, 300 gathered

23:38

in threatening rain to express shock,

23:40

horror, and the commitment that this

23:42

would be the last. As

23:45

we say goodbye to Reena, the door closes

23:47

but a new window opens. A

23:49

window of hope and compassion. Each

23:52

one of you are not together as a community, not

23:54

working for a better place, but sad things happen.

23:57

We are asking you, everyone,

23:59

to come. to commit to non-violence,

24:02

to tolerate, respect, value,

24:04

and appreciate each other. The

24:07

extensive media coverage about the case

24:09

often portrayed Rina Verk as a troubled

24:12

misfit who fell in with the wrong

24:14

crowd. But her family said

24:16

she was so much more than that, and

24:19

they wanted people to remember her as

24:21

a smart kid who won prizes in

24:23

math. She loved to draw and worked

24:25

on the school yearbook. She dreamed of

24:27

becoming a writer. But most

24:29

of all, she just wanted friends. Graham

24:32

says for him one of the saddest parts

24:34

about what happened is that Rina

24:36

didn't get to see how many people actually

24:39

cared about her. More

24:41

people as we are adults and as we move

24:43

forward in life and we have children and we

24:45

become parents and leaders, we sympathize with the person

24:48

who's been picked on. And not only that, we

24:50

have great empathy towards them and we want to

24:52

help them. Because we've all felt that. But she

24:54

didn't, she never got to know that that night,

24:57

that there were millions of people out there

24:59

who did care and did relate to her

25:01

story of being outed or being othered or

25:03

being made to feel different than others.

25:10

The first of many trials in this case began in

25:12

February 1998, less than three months after Rina's

25:16

murder. Sixteen girls

25:18

involved in the initial attack were

25:20

charged with aggravated assault. But

25:23

before the trial started, their charges were

25:25

lowered to the lesser offense of assault

25:27

causing bodily harm. Then

25:30

in a surprise move, three of the accused

25:32

pleaded guilty on the first day of the

25:34

trial. Rina Burt's grandfather

25:36

says he's come to court for his

25:38

granddaughter. Three young

25:41

women entered guilty pleas today. The

25:46

victim was never charged. And

25:51

I believe in the way the court

25:53

is in violation. Missy Blike

25:55

and Nicole Cook, the two teens who lured

25:57

Rina to the shoreline field with the intent

26:00

of beating her up were among the

26:02

three who pleaded guilty. Court

26:04

heard they not only accused Reena of

26:06

taking Nicole's phone book and spreading rumors

26:08

about her, but they also believed that

26:11

Reena was trying to steal Missy's boyfriend.

26:14

It was revealed that both girls came from troubled

26:16

backgrounds and were in the care of the province

26:18

at the time of the attack. A

26:21

short trial was held for the other

26:24

three girls. They appeared in court dressed

26:26

casually and seemed bored during legal arguments,

26:28

alternately gazing around the room, chewing their

26:30

fingernails, or simply staring straight ahead. Multiple

26:34

teen witnesses were called to the stand

26:36

and testified how Reena was chased and

26:38

swarmed by the accused girls. But

26:41

the defense maintained that they didn't take part

26:43

in the attack. They only watched it.

26:46

In the end, the judge hearing the case

26:48

disagreed and found all three guilty. In

26:51

their first sign of emotion, the girls held

26:53

hands and cried as the verdict was read

26:56

out loud. Like the three

26:58

that had already pleaded guilty, they also

27:00

had troubled backgrounds. In fact, two of

27:02

the teens had lost their fathers to

27:04

murder. Reena's mom

27:06

said she had empathy for their sad

27:08

backgrounds, but said it didn't

27:10

excuse what they did to Reena that night. Even

27:13

still, at the end of the trial, Sumon

27:16

Verg hugged some of the guilty girls' parents, telling

27:18

them how sorry she was that they had to

27:21

go through such a horrible ordeal. The

27:23

teens known as the Shoreline Six were

27:26

handed sentences ranging from 60 days

27:28

conditional custody to one year in jail

27:30

for their parts in the first attack

27:32

on Reena. In

27:37

April 1999, nearly a year

27:39

and a half after Reena's death, Warren

27:41

Glowatsky's second degree murder trial began

27:43

at Victoria's BC Supreme Court. The

27:46

17-year-old had battled to have his case heard

27:49

in youth court but lost and now was

27:51

being tried as an adult. The

27:54

short, slightly built teen who looked younger

27:56

than his age glanced around nervously as

27:58

he entered the courtroom. room in

28:00

handcuffs. In a barely

28:02

audible voice, he pleaded not guilty to

28:05

the murder of Reena Verk. Reena's

28:08

parents sat solemnly in court as

28:10

disturbing details were revealed throughout the

28:12

trial, including testimony from

28:14

the pathologist who performed the

28:16

autopsy. Dr. Laurel Gray told

28:19

the court the 14-year-old was alive but

28:21

likely unconscious when she ended up in

28:23

the Gorge waterway. Graham

28:25

Duffy says that even though Reena's official

28:27

cause of death was listed as drowning,

28:30

Dr. Gray said the teen suffered head

28:32

injuries that were severe enough to kill her.

28:35

The pathologist described the extent of

28:38

her injuries, which included severe bruising

28:41

all over her entire skull, her

28:43

forehead, ears and cheeks. Her

28:45

brain was swollen and there was

28:47

an imprint of a running

28:50

shoe on her head and brain. Now

28:53

this was consistent with being stomped

28:55

or kicked. The pathologist also found

28:57

severe bruising on Reena's pelvis, her

28:59

stomach, her liver and her pancreas.

29:01

This list of injuries

29:03

is horrific. Another crown

29:05

witness called to the stand was

29:07

Glowatsky's former girlfriend. She had

29:09

been at the shoreline field the night in

29:12

question but went home early before Reena was

29:14

swarmed under the bridge because she wasn't feeling

29:16

well. Sarita Hartley had

29:18

previously told police that Glowatsky had

29:21

confessed to her about what happened.

29:24

But when she got on the stand, Caitlin says

29:26

it was like pulling teeth as the

29:28

crown struggled to get answers. Sarita

29:31

was a torn, you know,

29:33

14-year-old girl who was in love.

29:35

Her first love was

29:37

Warren Glowatsky so she felt kind of loyal

29:39

to him and she was also afraid

29:41

of being labeled a rat and I think all

29:44

of that weighed heavily on her. And

29:46

once she was actually on the stand and sitting

29:48

across from her, her,

29:50

you know, first boyfriend, Warren, all of that prep

29:52

went out the window and Sarita who

29:54

was forthcoming in those interviews with police claimed

29:57

to not remember things or to be mixing

29:59

up found. and rumor, unsure of which

30:01

was which. And the

30:03

crown was actually forced to read her statements that

30:05

she had given to police back to her. And

30:08

she kind of claimed like not to remember what she

30:10

had said. And her most common answer on the stand

30:12

was, I don't know. When

30:15

Glowatsky took the stand, he was dressed

30:17

in a Tommy Hilfiger shirt. He was

30:19

teary-eyed and trembling as he admitted being

30:22

present for the second attack on Reena.

30:25

But the team said he did not hit

30:27

Reena. He testified that Kelly Ellard was the

30:29

one who beat and killed her while he

30:31

pleaded with her to stop. Glowatsky

30:34

told the court he left before the

30:36

attack ended and didn't know she was dead

30:38

until five days later. When

30:41

the judge delivered his verdict in June 1999, Sarita

30:44

Hartley and several other teen girls from

30:46

Shoreline sat in court listening as the

30:48

judge read out his decision. The

30:51

judge said, on the whole, Glowatsky's

30:53

evidence was incomplete and improbable. He

30:56

said, quote, I did not believe

30:58

him. I find Warren Glowatsky guilty

31:00

of second-degree murder as charged. As

31:04

the verdict was read out, Glowatsky turned his head

31:06

to face the public for the last time. In

31:09

the packed courtroom, he couldn't see that his

31:11

father was sitting in the back row by

31:13

himself. He had

31:15

flown in from California, where he had

31:18

moved in the months before Reena's murder.

31:20

After his dad moved, Glowatsky was

31:22

essentially homeless. His mom, who struggled

31:25

with addiction issues, was living in

31:27

another province, so the 16-year-old was

31:29

forced to couch-surf. Neither

31:31

of his parents were in court when Glowatsky

31:34

was sentenced two weeks later. The

31:36

18-year-old was handed a sentence of life

31:38

in prison with no chance of parole

31:41

for seven years to be served at

31:43

an adult medium security facility. The

31:46

judge described Glowatsky as a troubled, immature

31:48

young man who had difficulty dealing with

31:50

the effects of the breakdown of his

31:52

family. Within minutes

31:55

of sentencing, Glowatsky's lawyers filed an

31:57

appeal, which was later rejected by the

31:59

court. All

32:01

that remained in the case was the prosecution

32:04

of Kelly Ellard. But no

32:06

one could have predicted the lengthy and complicated

32:08

legal battle that would take more than a

32:10

decade and test the

32:12

justice system and the fortitude of the

32:14

Verk family. That's

32:17

next time on History of the 90s, in

32:19

Part 2 of the murder of Rena Verk.

32:25

Thanks for listening to Part 1, and special

32:27

thanks to Caitlin and Graham of True North

32:29

True Crime, my partners on this episode.

32:32

You can find their podcast wherever you're listening to

32:34

this one right now. If you

32:36

have a topic you want covered by History of the

32:38

90s, send me a message on Instagram at

32:41

that 90s podcast, or you

32:43

can reach me by email. The address

32:45

is 90s at curiouscast.ca. This

32:47

episode was written by me, Kathy Kansora,

32:49

along with Caitlin and Graham Duffy. Our

32:52

producer is Dila Velasquez, and technical production

32:54

is by Rob Johnston. See you next

32:56

time for more History of the 90s.

33:17

Thanks for watching!