What happened to Dusty in ‘Under The Bridge’? 

Rebecca Godfrey‘s 2005 memoir, Under the Bridge, about teenager Reena Virk’s murder in British Columbia, was adapted into a fictionalized Hulu series of the same name. Many characters in the show are composites of real people, including Lily Gladstone’s cop, Cam Bentland, and Virk’s friend, Dusty Pace, played by Aiyana Goodfellow.

In 1997, Virk was attacked by a group of teenagers, most of whom, because of their age, were never identified, and were referred to collectively in the press as the “Shoreline Six.” Virk wasn’t killed in the initial assault, but in a murder that shocked Canada, Virk was followed, beaten, and drowned by two teenagers who stayed behind. In Godfrey’s book and the Hulu series, many characters are given fake names, and one character who appears in the show, but not in the book, is Dusty. However, there are some unconfirmed theories about who Dusty might be based on.

Who is Dusty in Under the Bridge?

Reena Virk, who was 14 years old when she died, was attacked because she had been spreading rumors about another teenager, named Nicole Cook, or “Josephine Bell,” in the Hulu series. There were reportedly about 14 teenagers there that night, although only six were involved in the first fight. In the Hulu series, Dusty Pace is one of Virk’s friends, who was there the night she was attacked.

Pace is pivotal in the aftermath of the murder, as the teenagers involved panic while covering their tracks. According to the series, Pace knew who was responsible, and because she was more sympathetic to Virk, she might tell the cops.

For this reason, the character based on Cook called Josephine Bell on Hulu, and Kelly Ellard — one of the teens later convicted for Virk’s Murder — plots to kill Pace, and when that fails, they try to convince her to commit suicide, but at the last minute, change their mind.

Who is the real Dusty from Under the Bridge?

Series producers have never confirmed who the Dusty Pace character might be based on, or if Pace is a composite of real people. Missy Pleich, one of the real “Shoreline Six,” has since identified herself in the media, and many believe Pleich shares many similarities with the Chase character, according to a 2011 MSNBC interview Pleich gave about what happened, now available through the Internet Archive.

Pleich, like Chase, was the youngest of many siblings in her family, for example. At the end of the show, there are messages from Chase and others involved in the true story, and some theorize those words may have come from Pleich. But to date, no one knows for sure.

Chase is Black, and Virk in the true story, book, and Hulu series, is Indo-Canadian, so more than anything, Chase, who is a sounding board for Virk in the show, seems to symbolize Virk’s “othering” in their social group.