‘Help me, please. I need help. I don't know where my parents are. Some people broke into our house and stole all this money. I could hear my parents yelling. Please send help.’
This was the chilling 911 call 24-year-old Jennifer Pan made after intruders broke into her family’s home in the affluent area of Markham, Canada. As police entered the house, they found Jennifer’s mother dead from a gunshot wound and her father alive and fighting for his life. In what seemed like a robbery gone wrong, the authorities were about to discover that Jennifer was not an innocent victim.
After fleeing Vietnam in 1979, Bich Ha Pan and her boyfriend, Huei Hann Pan, started a new life together in Canada. The couple worked for Magna International and eventually got married in Toronto. On 17th June 1986, they gave birth to their first child, Jennifer, and her younger brother, Felix, was born in 1989.
Their hard work paid off, and by 2004, Bich and Hann purchased a large house, drove fancy cars, and accumulated $200,000 in savings.
The Pans were extremely strict and had high expectations for their children. At school, Jennifer succeeded academically and socially. She was made to take piano lessons and figure skating classes from the age of four, with hopes of becoming an Olympic athlete. However, her dreams were shattered following a knee ligament injury.
Jennifer went on to attend the Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School, where she was an active band member. Her parents made sure she was picked up straight after class and monitored her extracurricular activities. The teenager was not allowed a boyfriend or to attend school dances for fear it would impact her academic achievements.
Unbeknownst to her parents, in eleventh grade, Jennifer began dating Daniel Wong. However, their romance was short-lived after he was caught with cannabis and transferred to a different school.
Jennifer had planned out her education. She told her parents she would spend the first two years at Ryerson University studying science before transferring to do her final two years at the University of Toronto to study Pharmacology.
However, as Jennifer’s grades began to drop, she faked report cards to deceive her parents into believing she was an A-grade student. In her last semester, she failed a calculus class, which prevented her from graduating and she had her place at Ryerson University rescinded.
Instead of telling her parents the truth, Jennifer’s lies snowballed, and she continued life as if she was due to start university in September 2004. She accepted a laptop from her father and even purchased science-related books for the course.
When questioned how she could afford the fees, Jennifer doctored papers to show she had received a loan and told her parents that she had won a $3,000 scholarship.
As classes began in September, Jennifer spent her time in cafes and libraries. She kept up this façade for two years, before lying to her parents that she had been accepted into the University of Toronto. She even got permission to stay with a friend closer to campus, but was actually staying with Daniel Wong.
With graduation approaching, Jennifer lied to her parents that due to numbers, she could only bring one guest, and she decided to bring a friend to not make one of her parents feel left out.
However, Jennifer’s years of lying slowly began to unravel. She told her parents she was volunteering at a children’s hospital, but they became suspicious of their daughter as she had no hospital ID or uniform.
To find out the truth, Hann offered to drop Jennifer off at work, with Bich following behind. When Bich entered the hospital, her daughter was nowhere to be found. The following day, Jennifer’s parents contacted the friend their daughter was supposedly staying with, only to discover she never stayed there.
The Pans confronted their daughter, who eventually confessed she was not attending university and was staying with her boyfriend. As a punishment, Jennifer was banned from using her mobile phone and computer for two weeks. Within this time, her relationship with Daniel broke down, and he began seeing someone else.
Daniel and Jennifer rekindled their relationship and began to plot the murder of Jennifer’s parents. The couple schemed to kill them to get their hands on a $500,000 inheritance. Daniel introduced Jennifer to hitman Lenford Crawford, who would carry out the murder for $10,000.
On 8th November 2010, the murderous plan was underway. As Jennifer went to bed, she unlocked the door for Crawford and his accomplices, David Mylvaganam and Eric Carty. Armed with guns, the trio entered the Pan home. Jennifer was tied to the banister, whilst her parents were dragged to the basement, where they were shot.
Initially, the authorities believed the shootings to be an armed robbery gone wrong. However, when Hann awoke from his coma, he told officers that he saw his daughter talk friendly with one of the gunmen. Later that day, Jennifer and Daniel were brought in for questioning, where Jennifer quickly confessed to her role in the murders. The following spring, the three hitmen were arrested.
In December 2014, Jennifer Pan, Daniel Wong and the three hitmen were found guilty of murder and attempted murder. They were sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years.
After an appeal in 2023, a judge granted a new trial to challenge the group’s murder charges. However, the date has not yet been set and all four remain in prison.
