B.C. coroner renews probe into teen's death as mother calls Victoria police investigation 'inadequate'
CTV
A Vancouver Island woman has successfully pushed for a renewed investigation into her daughter's death, nearly three years after it was deemed an accident.
A Vancouver Island woman has successfully pushed for a renewed investigation into her daughter’s death, nearly three years after it was deemed an accident.
“This was not accidental. This was homicide and there is evidence to support that,” Tracy Sims told CTV News in an interview Friday.
Her daughter, Samantha Sims-Somerville, was 18 when she died in April of 2021.
An autopsy revealed the young woman died from a fatal combination of GHB — commonly known as the “date rape drug” — and alcohol, though Sims said Samantha’s blood-alcohol level was below the legal limit.
This week, the BC Coroners Service reopened its investigation into Samantha’s death. The service can renew a probe when substantial new evidence has been discovered.
“I can’t even explain to you how I felt. I fell to my knees,” said Sims, who had appealed the coroner’s initial conclusion that Samantha died of an accidental overdose.
Sims believes Samantha and one of the teen’s friends were drugged at a party in Victoria. Some of the people there were convicted drug traffickers, she said.
