The true crime documentary “What Jennifer Did” on Netflix delves into the life of Canadian Jennifer Pan, who is accused of hiring assassins to assassinate her parents.
When hitmen broke into Pan’s house in 2010 killed her mother and seriously wounded her father, Pan was 24 years old. When Pan called 911 and claimed to be tied to a banister, it was initially assumed that she had been the victim of the crime.
The police assumed Pan was the one who hired the hitmen to kill her parents after questioning her several times. Pan was convicted of first-degree murder in 2014.
Here’s what transpired in her case and her current situation.
After Deceiving Her Parents About Her Life, Jennifer Pan Plotted to Murder Them!
Journalist Karen K. Ho, who claimed to have grown up with Pan, wrote a 2015 Toronto childhood piece that went into depth about Pan’s childhood and the events that led up to her crime. Before getting married and starting a family of two, her parents, Bich Ha, and Huei Hann Pan, had both arrived in Canada as refugees.
Ho describes Pan’s stifling upbringing and the intense pressure her parents put on her to do well in school in the essay. According to reports, Pan misled her parents about her professional volunteer experiences, college admission, and high school scores. Rather, she performed odd jobs and spent time with Daniel Wong, with whom she had become romantically involved.
Upon discovering the truth, her parents tightened their supervision over her and ultimately prohibited her from ever visiting Wong. Wong and Pan had a plan at the beginning of 2010 to have Wong’s acquaintance, Leonard Crawford, kill her parents.
On November 8, 2010, Crawford and two other men moved into the Pan home, according to Toronto Life. Jennifer was chained to the banister while they executed Bich and shot Hann in the head and shoulder. She then made a 911 call.
In “What Jennifer Did,” a significant amount of video from Pan’s police interrogation is included. She describes the house invasion, how she used her phone while confined, and how her account to the police finally fell apart. When her father Hann awakened from a coma in between her second and third police questioning, he saw his daughter going around their home alone and spoke casually with one of the guys.
Pan was detained by police on November 22, 2010. Wong, Crawford, and the other two guys engaged in the event were also taken into custody in the spring of 2011.
Life in Jail Was Pan’s Punishment!
According to Toronto Life, Pan’s trial started in March 2014 and continued for ten months.
According to CBC, she was found guilty of both first-degree murder and attempted murder. She was given a life sentence without the possibility of release in January 2015 for the first-degree murder conviction, as well as a concurrent life term for the attempted murder accusation. According to Toronto Life, the identical punishment was given to Crawford, Wong, and one of the other guys, David Mylvaganam.
A non-communication order that forbade Pan from ever communicating with Hann or her brother Felix was obtained by Pan’s family and granted.
Her father, who did not show up in court, stated in a written statement that he “lost my daughter at the same time that I lost my wife,” according to CBC.
“I hope my daughter Jennifer thinks about what happened to her family and can become a good, honest person someday,” he stated in a letter.
In 2023, a New Trial Was Mandated!
According to the CBC, the Ontario Appeal Court ordered Pan, Wong, Crawford, and Mylvaganam to have their trials retried in May 2023. The court ruled that the previous trial’s judge had prohibited the jury from deliberating on alternative findings, including second-degree murder or manslaughter, concerning Pan’s mother’s death. The attempted murder accusation against her father is not the subject of the retrial; it is only related to the first-degree murder charge.
In August 2023, The Markham Economist & Sun said that the Crown—the legal name for prosecutors in Canada—had submitted a request for permission to appeal the Ontario Appeal Court’s ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada. Per the newspaper, Pan could or might not receive a new trial if the Supreme Court rejects the request for permission to appeal. Pan will be eligible to apply for parole if there isn’t another trial.
Footage from “What Jennifer Did” appears to support Pan’s continued innocence.