Jennifer Pan’s actions are the subject of a new Netflix documentary.
From American Murder: The Family Next Door director Jenny Popplewell comes a new documentary, What Jennifer Did.
The feature-length documentary explores a violent crime that shook a quiet Canadian town. Through footage of police interrogation and testimonies from those involved, What Jennifer Did unravels “a web of complexities that no one saw coming”.
In November 2010, Jennifer Pan called the police and claimed she had been at home when armed men forced their way into her home with her parents before tying her up, shooting her parents and then fleeing.
As the police investigated the shocking crime, it soon appeared that Jennifer Pan knew more than originally believed.
With the new documentary now available to watch on Netflix, here is an outline of what Jennifer Pan did and where she is now.
What did Jennifer Pan do? Crimes explained
For years, Jennifer Pan had lied to her parents that she had been attending university, studying to be a pharmacist, even going as far as to forge a diploma.
During the time she spent lying to her parents, Pan worked as a waitress and began dating a high school friend, Daniel Wong, who her parents disapproved of and forbade her from seeing when they found out the truth.
Pan was accused of organising a plot to murder her parents with the help of Wong. In 2010, David Mylvaganam, Lenford Crawford and Eric Carty were allegedly hired as hitmen and shot and killed Pan’s mother, Bich Ha and wounded her father, Huei Hann.
Pan’s father was in a coma which meant she was the eyewitness to the murder, but that changed when her father came out of a coma and told the public his daughter was familiar with those who broke into their home.
Pan admitted during her trial that she had previously tried to have her father murdered, but claimed she abandoned that plan and insisted the eventual attack was a home invasion committed by men she didn’t recognise.
Where is Jennifer Pan now?
In 2015, Jennifer Pan was sentenced to life in prison after she was found guilty of both first-degree murder and attempted murder, with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Wong, Mylvaganam, and Crawford also received a life sentence with the same possibility of parole. Carty’s case was a mistrial but the following year, he was sentenced to 18 years after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit murder. He died in prison in 2018.
As per Netflix, Pan is currently still in prison and maintains her innocence. In 2023, the Ontario Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned the first-degree murder conviction for Pan, Wong, Mylvaganam and Crawford.
It was argued that the jury should have been given the option to choose second-degree murder or manslaughter as possible verdicts.
At the time of writing, the Supreme Court of Canada is in the process of determining if it will review the case.
What Jennifer Did is available to watch on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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