Netflix’s latest true crime documentary, What Jennifer Did, focuses on a Canadian woman who was found to have hired a hitman to kill her parents.
What Jennifer Did explores how the horrific crimes of Jennifer Pan shocked a whole town and now Netflix viewers. The Pan family’s neighbours describe them as a hard-working and generous family, so one night, when intruders break into their home, kill Bich Ha Pan and shoot Huei Hann Pan in the head, leaving him in a coma, it shakes the entire town to its core.
Directed by Jenny Popplewell, the documentary takes viewers on a journey as those involved in the case try to unravel this complex case, which seems to lead back to the only witness, daughter Jennifer Pan, who detectives discover has been living a double life for close to a decade.
Although viewers know what happened to Jennifer Pan, many are asking if Jennifer’s father survived and if he is still alive today.
Is Jennifer Pan’s Father Still Alive?
Jennifer Pan’s father Huei Hann Pan survived being shot and testified at Jennifer’s trial. On the night of 8th November 2010, when Jennifer called 911 after men had entered the Pan home and killed his wife, Bich Ha, Huei Hann could be heard in the background of the call. When emergency services arrived at the scene, he was rushed to the hospital, where he was put in a coma.
While he was in a coma, investigators interviewed his daughter twice, learning that for years, Jennifer had lied to her family about her academic success, forging an acceptance letter to university and a diploma.
When her parents found out she wasn’t attending university but instead spending time with her boyfriend, Daniel Wong, who was a drug dealer, they forbade her from seeing him. Her father told investigators that at the time, he had told Jennifer “that she has to cease the relationship with Danny Wong. If not, you have to wait until I’m dead.”
It seemed like Jennifer had taken her father’s words literally as she asked Wong to help her hire someone to kill her parents. He introduced her to “homebody”, also known as Lenford Crawford, David Mylvaganam and Eric Carty, who were the intruders in the Pans’s home.
When Huei Hann woke up from his coma, he told the police that he remembered Jennifer walking around the house unrestrained and talking to one of the hitmen in a familiar manner. Knowing his daughter was somehow involved in what happened, he asked investigators to “use your police techniques to find out what Jennifer did”.
For Jennifer's third interview, experienced Detective William “Bill” Goetz took the lead and told Jennifer that he was an expert in truth verification and not a homicide detective. He also said that the police were using satellites to analyse movements in buildings to see if people were in the place they said they were or were lying. This was untrue, but it was a strategy Goetz used to get Jennifer to change her statement and tell the truth. In Canada, police are legally allowed to lie to those they are interrogating as long as it doesn’t bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
Goetz’s techniques worked, and Jennifer confessed to hiring the hitmen but to kill herself, not her parents. However, detectives had learned that ten months earlier, she had tried to pay someone else to kill her parents. This led to police arresting Jennifer for first-degree murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Did Jennifer’s father testify at her trial?
As per The Toronto Star, at the trial, Huei Hann Pan took the stand and testified that when he was woken up at gunpoint and ordered to get out of bed, he saw Jennifer talking quietly and familiarly with one of the intruders: “He talked to my daughter. I could not hear what was being said, but they were speaking softly.”
He told the court he had never seen her tied up and that she had lied to her entire family for years. For four years, they believed she was studying pharmacology at the University of Toronto and volunteering at SickKids. Instead, she was living with Danny Wong.
Jennifer's father told the court that he had given Jennifer an ultimatum months before the killing of his wife. Either stay home and go to school, or she can go with Danny Wong and never return. Similarly, as shown in the documentary, Huei Hann testified that his wife pleaded with the gunmen not to harm their daughter before she was killed.
Jennifer was convicted and sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25 years for the murder of her 53-year-old mother and attempted murder of her 60-year-old father. The court also granted her father and brother’s request for a restraining order to ban her from ever contacting her surviving family members. She was also banned from contacting Wong ever again.
In May 2023, Jennifer, Wong, Crawford and Mylvaganam were granted a new trial and their first-degree murder convictions were overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal. It was stated that the original judge had made a mistake by not allowing the jury to consider second-degree murder or manslaughter as potential verdicts.
The Supreme Court of Canada is deciding whether or not it will hear the case. Jennifer maintains her innocence and is in prison.
