A Victoria mother whose teen daughter died in 2021 from a toxic combination of alcohol and drugs has received confirmation that her daughter’s death was not an accident.
Tracy Sims learned on Wednesday that the death of her daughter, 18-year-old Samantha Sims-Somerville, has been deemed a homicide by the B.C. Coroners Service, after initially being classified as an accident.
“Now I’m processing that my daughter was killed,” Sims said.
It’s what she has long believed and has fought to have acknowledged after police closed their investigation into Sims-Somerville’s death without laying charges.
Sims believes her daughter and a friend were recruited by a mutual friend, invited to an apartment on Yates Street where there were older men they didn’t know, and drugged with lethal doses of GHB.
She believes there are people who are criminally responsible for her daughter’s death and has fought for charges to be laid.
Sims-Somerville and the friend were rushed from the apartment to hospital, where the teen died the following evening, on April 10, 2021, of a lack of oxygen to her brain resulting from the combination of alcohol and drugs in her system.
The friend was on life support and survived a near-fatal overdose of GHB and Rohypnol.
Sims-Somerville’s mother has spent the three and a half years since her daughter’s death fighting for justice.
On Wednesday, she received a call from the coroners service telling her Sims-Somerville’s death had been deemed a homicide.
“Follow-up investigation revealed evidence that Samantha and her friend were intentionally provided an unregulated substance, without their knowledge, by another individual in the residence,” says the coroners report, which calls “homicide” a neutral term that does not imply fault or blame.
Toxicological analysis revealed a mild intoxication with alcohol and detected GHB, the concentration of which is difficult to determine due to its rapid metabolization, the report says.
Sims had appealed to the coroners service to reopen its investigation. The service agreed in March to reopen its probe due to information that was not available during the original investigation.
While it’s painful news, it feels like a successful end to a long fight, she said.
“This is the best I could possibly do for Samantha,” said Sims, who has spent years immersing herself in her own investigation into her daughter’s death.
She isn’t sure what’s next, but would like to see charges laid. “I’ve done everybody else’s job. What mother should have to do what I’ve done?”
While foul play was initially suspected, Victoria police closed their investigation without recommending charges in September 2022.
Not satisfied, Sims pursued charges as a private citizen against two people she believes are responsible for her daughter’s death. She compiled a 45-page package of evidence, including text messages and social-media posts that she believes shows two people were criminally involved in the death of her daughter.
In March, the B.C. Prosecution Service declined to approve charges, telling Sims the case did not meet the required standard of a substantial likelihood of conviction based on the evidence and being in the public interest.
Sims said she hopes the information she previously provided will be enough to approve charges.
“It’s all there. Names, evidence and their presence in that place at that time with photos, videos, texts and other statements to support without a shadow of a doubt who did this,” she said.
A spokesperson for the prosecution service said it will not revisit the previous decision, and will only consider charges if a recommendation is brought forward by police or another party.
Victoria police spokesperson Cheryl Major said the department provided all of its evidence to Crown counsel after Sims swore private charges privately.
“At this time it is too early to determine whether there will be any further action on this file,” Major said in an email, noting there is an active investigation by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner regarding the file. She declined to provide further comment.
Sims filed a complaint with the OPCC against the three officers who investigated her daughter’s death, alleging officers ignored important evidence.
She said she has lost confidence in the Victoria police and would like her daughter’s death to be investigated by another police force.
