Netflix’s new true crime documentary, What Jennifer Did, explores a chilling case of cold-blooded murder that shook a Canadian town to its core.
In the documentary by American Murder: The Family Next Door director Jenny Popplewell, it uses police interrogation footage and testimonies from those involved in the case to explore what seemed like a home invasion gone wrong but turned out to be something much darker. The feature-length documentary explores how the intruders terrorised the Pan family home, killing Bich Ha Pan, leaving her husband Huei Hann Pan in a coma and their daughter Jennifer Pan as the only witness.
Jennifer Pan, being the only witness, takes investigators on a journey they could have never anticipated. What initially seems to be a home invasion takes a sharp turn as they learn that Jennifer has been leading a double life while trying to live up to her parents’ high academic expectations. However, these elaborate lies were just the tip of the iceberg, and soon, investigators realised that Jennifer may know more than she was letting on. So what happened to Jennifer Pan’s mum, Bich Ha Pan and how was Jennifer involved in the plan to kill her parents?
Who Killed Bich Ha Pan?
In the ultimate family betrayal, Bich’s daughter Jennifer had reportedly arranged for hitmen to kill her parents because of how strict they were, their high expectations, and they had forbidden her from seeing her ex-boyfriend, Daniel Wong.
On the night of 8th November 2010, Jennifer frantically called 911 to the Pan family home, claiming that armed men had forced their way into the house, tied her up, shot both her parents and fled. Her mother, Bich, had been killed instantly, but her father, Huei Hann, was still alive and could be heard in the background of the 911 call.
The events in the Pan house shook the neighbourhood, particularly as they feared that more homes in the normally quiet residential neighbourhood could be next. However, as police conducted their canvases around the area and interviewed Jennifer, they became convinced that somehow Jennifer was involved in this crime.
For nearly a decade, Jennifer had lied to live up to her parent’s expectations, telling them she had got straight-A’s and got into university on a scholarship. Even knowing she didn’t have the grades to be a doctor, she pretended she was attending university. Jennifer wanted to study Kinesiology, but her father told her to be a pharmacist, so she lied that she was studying to be a pharmacist and even forged a diploma to complete the tale.
When her parents found out that not only had she lied about attending college, but when they dropped her off at her lectures, she went to spend time with Wong, they forbade her from seeing him. Jennifer’s father even reportedly told her “that she has to cease the relationship with Danny Wong. If not, you have to wait until I’m dead.”
Angry at her parents for not allowing her to see Wong, Jennifer allegedly enlisted Wong’s help to kill her parents. He provided her with the contact of “homebody”, also known as Lenford Crawford, who would be the hitman alongside David Mylvaganam and Eric Carty to help her stage a robbery gone wrong.
By Jennifer’s second police interview, police realised she was a professional liar. But it was when her father woke from his coma and told police that Jennifer had walked around the home with intruders as if she knew them that police realised that Jennifer was the ringleader of this crime. Knowing his daughter was somehow involved in the death of his wife and his attempted murder, Huei Hann asked investigators to “use your police techniques to find out what Jennifer did”.
In the third and final interview before her arrest, Jennifer confessed to Detective William “Bill” Goetz that she had arranged the hit, but it wasn’t for her parents but for herself, as she was tired of being a disappointment.
However, after so many lies, it was felt that Jennifer’s words couldn’t be believed. With a warrant for Jennifer’s phone, messages were found that confirmed her plan to kill her parents and the police learnt that ten months earlier, she had asked someone else to kill her parents. The police arrested and charged Jennifer with first-degree murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Jennifer Pan was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Wong, Mylvaganam, and Crawford received the same sentences. By pleading guilty to conspiring to commit murder, Carty received an 18-year sentence with eligibility for parole after nine years, but he died in jail in 2018.
Jennifer was also ordered to have no contact with her father or brother, Felix Pan. In May 2023, the Ontario Court of Appeal granted Pan, Wong, Crawford, and Mylvaganam a new trial and overturned her first-degree murder conviction, stating the original judge had made a mistake by not allowing the jury to consider second-degree murder or manslaughter as potential verdicts. Jennifer’s attempted murder sentence still stands.
The Supreme Court of Canada is currently deciding whether or not it will hear the case. Jennifer is currently in prison, where she maintains her innocence.
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