B.C. mother vindicated by coroner re-classifying daughter’s death as homicide

Family responds to new classification in death The reclassification of a Victoria teenager’s death as a homicide confirms what Tracy Sims knew from the start.

A Vancouver Island woman who refused to accept her daughter died of an accidental overdose is relieved the record has been set straight.

On Wednesday, Tracy Sims received a report from the B.C. Coroners Service, which re-classified the death of her daughter, Samantha Sims-Somerville, as a homicide. The service initially ruled she accidentally overdosed on GHB — a date rape drug.

“When I read the report, the emotions I felt are very difficult to explain,” Sims told CTV News. “It was shock, it was relief, it was anger. It was like I was being told the news all over again.”

Samantha died in 2021 after losing consciousness at a party in Victoria. She was 18.

Sims is convinced her daughter was drugged and sexually assaulted. For the past three and a half years, she’s been gathering evidence to prove it.

Some of the people at the party were convicted drug traffickers, Sims said, and she has screenshots of texts saying Samantha and a friend, who survived, were drugged.

In March, the coroner reopened its investigation after new information emerged.

“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,” the coroner’s report reads.

“The evidence supports that Samantha was intentionally provided the GHB by another person.”

Sims said she has lost faith in the justice system.

“How many deaths that are overdoses or sexual assaults are going to be classified as accidental?” she said.

“How many more parents have to go through what I did and take on the system single-handedly instead of taking time to grieve and accept the loss of their child?”

Another police investigation?

While the coroner’s reclassification brings Sims some peace, she said true justice would see charges laid. VicPD said it’s too early to say if the file will be reopened.

“My only concern is that if it is re-investigated and it is by the Victoria Police Department, that everything will go wrong again because they did an awful job the first time around,” Sims said.

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner is investigating Sims’ allegation that VicPD’s investigation was inadequate. The department said it can’t comment on an active OPCC file.

“That doesn't negate the Victoria police from their obligation under the Police Act to investigate crime and to continue the investigation with any new evidence,” CTV public safety analyst Chris Lewis said.

“It doesn’t mean they’re going to find out who gave the victim the drugs, sadly, but they at least have to find out what the coroner knows and conduct any further investigation to try and put the case together.”

The Coroners Service noted the term ‘homicide’ does not imply fault or blame.

“Homicide means that a death occurred as a result of action that somebody took,” said Lewis, former Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner. “If the intent was to kill, then it’s a murder and that’s a criminal offence.”

Sims said for now, she’s done with detective work.

“No one should ever have to go through what I’ve gone through and work it out for themselves,” she said. “I’ve done enough. Can somebody now pick up the pieces and carry on and do their job?”