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Imagine barely surviving a violent home invasion where your wife is murdered only to wake up from a coma and realize
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that one of the people you both loved the most orchestrated the entire brutal attack. The story I have for you today
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peels back the curtain on what to many looked like a happy family. [music] In a lot of ways they represented a classic
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immigrant success story. Nice house in the suburbs, savings in the bank, mom, dad, two loving kids. Everything seemed
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perfect. But a horrific home invasion revealed that things within this family weren't what they seemed on the surface.
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And what investigators eventually uncovered was way darker than anyone imagined. This is the story of the Pan
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family, Big Ha Pan and Hui Han Pan, and their daughter, Jennifer Pan. The night of November 8th, 2010 in
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Markham, Ontario, just after 10 p.m., police get a frantic 911 call from 24-year-old Jennifer [music] Pan. And
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she's hysterical. She tells the dispatcher that men broke into the house and demanded money. And adding to the
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chaos, in the background of the call, you can hear absolutely agonizing screams. When police arrive, Jennifer's
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father, Han Pan, is outside screaming for help after somehow escaping the attack, during which he was literally
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shot in the face. Jennifer is upstairs tied to a banister with a shoelace. And downstairs in the basement, police find
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Jennifer's mother, Bickhaan, dead from a gunshot wound. [music] Police arrange for Bikha's body to be transported for
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autopsy. And Han is transported to the hospital, then airlifted to Toronto to be treated while he's in a coma.
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Jennifer is transported to the hospital too so that she can be checked out for any injuries while police start
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processing the Pan's house. As this is going on, doctors give Jennifer the allclear and she's then taken down to
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the police station to give her statement early on the morning of November 9th. And Jennifer gives investigators
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detailed descriptions of the intruders and the attack that took place. She shares that everything about her Monday
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night had been normal. [music] Her mom had gone line dancing, which is something she did every week, while
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Jennifer and her dad were at home. >> [music] >> Jennifer also has a younger brother,
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Felix, but he's off to college in Hamilton, Ontario, about an hour away. [music] Jennifer told police that she
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was up in her bedroom watching TV when she heard her mom come home around 9:30. Her dad was already asleep, and Jennifer
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was starting to get sleepy as well, so she didn't go down to say good night. But at some [music] point, Jennifer
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hears her mom downstairs calling out for her dad to come down. But she could hear
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that her mom wasn't alone. [music] There were unfamiliar voices talking to her. After a few minutes, Jennifer crept out
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of bed and tiptoed over to the door to try and see what was going on. And standing right outside her bedroom was a
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strange man with string in his hands. And he lunged at her. Jennifer said there was nothing she could do as her
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hands were tied behind her back. She tells police that the man told her he had a gun and he started demanding
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money, dragging her bound and stumbling through the bedrooms, yelling at her to hand over all the cash. So, Jennifer
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takes him to all the money she knew about, which is her own personal savings that she kept stored in her room and
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some US dollars her mom had in a dresser. But apparently, this wasn't enough for the intruder. The man pulled
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her down the stairs into the kitchen where two other strange men were holding her parents at gunpoint. [music] And I
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can only imagine that this was all a terrifying blur and that it all happened so fast because then it seems like one
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of the men lost patience and pistol whipped Han. Jennifer tells police how scared she was and how all she could do
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was watch as her mom started to cry and plead for her only daughter's safety. Jennifer says she got one last look at
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her family before she was dragged back upstairs and tied to the banister. And somehow in all of this chaos, Jennifer
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realized that her phone was tucked into her waistband, which hello 2010. I know I used to carry my phone like this. And
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if you're a millennial like me, had a flood of nostalgia at that visual. Let me know in the comments. But anyway,
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Jennifer manages to get her phone out, flip it open, and dial 911, which is the call that I told you about when we
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started this story. Now, in this initial interview with police, Jennifer also provides a description of the three
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asalants. She says that they're all black men. The first is between 28 and 35 years old, about 56, 5'7 with a
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medium build and hair in long locks. The second man is in his early 30s, around 5'7 or 5'8 with a thin build. And this
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guy has his face covered with a bandana and is wearing a dark hoodie. The third man had a thin build and notably, unlike
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the other two guys, spoke with a Caribbean accent. Now, if you're like me or you know the police investigating
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this incident, you're probably wondering why. What's the motive here? [music] And
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Jennifer says she has no idea why anyone would do this to her family. According to what she shared, it seemed like the
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intruders were there to rob the pan since they were demanding money. But there are actually a lot of valuables
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left behind in plain sight. I mean, both cars, her mom's Lexus and her dad's Mercedes are in the garage with the keys
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right there. So, the intruders could have taken those if they had wanted. The home's electronics are left behind. Cash
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is sitting out. So, if they were there to rob the family, it doesn't really look like these criminals did a very
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good job. But maybe this was random or the trio broke into the wrong house. Investigators don't know what it is yet,
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but there are parts of the story that feel off. Then investigators learn something else interesting. Jennifer had
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a boyfriend named Daniel Wong, [music] and this was a relationship her parents strongly disapproved of. Police have a
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conversation with Daniel, and whatever he tells the officers makes them want to talk to Jennifer again. And it seems
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like they specifically want to revisit how exactly Jennifer was able to make that 911 call while still tied to the
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banister, which I was wondering the same thing. So, Jennifer comes back for a second interview on November 11th, and
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investigators give her her phone and ask her to show them how she did it, and [music] she can. But even with the
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demonstration, there's some things about Jennifer's story that don't add up. For
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example, if the three robbers [music] were actually robbers, why didn't they, you know, take
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anything? Even if they came to the Pan's house by mistake, they still could have
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taken the things that were just sitting out. [music] And another big question that we haven't
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discussed yet is why didn't the attackers shoot Jennifer? It seems like they had no problem shooting Han or
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Bick, so why not her? In the second interview, police probe more into Jennifer's personal life and her
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relationship with Daniel Wong. Jennifer tells police that her parents disapproved so strongly of them dating
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that they had given her an ultimatum. Either she chose them or him. Jennifer alleges that she chose her parents, but
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we know he is her boyfriend, so that's not exactly true. And Jennifer also confesses that she'd been lying to her
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mom and dad about another huge aspect of her life for [music] years. She had told
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them that she was attending college, but she wasn't. [music] In fact, Jennifer had never even graduated from high
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school. She forged report cards, fake acceptance letters, and student loan paperwork. All of it. She even pretended
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to go to classes every day when she'd actually been spending time with Daniel. police start [music] wondering if
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Jennifer could maintain lies this massive for years. What else could she lie about?
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But she remains adamant that she had no involvement in the home invasion. And at
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this point, Jennifer is not a suspect. But police do have concerns. So they put Jennifer under surveillance.
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Then [music] the case completely changes. Jennifer's father, Han, wakes up from his coma [music] and recovered
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enough from his injuries to talk to police. And what he tells them destroys Jennifer's [music] story. Han says that
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during the attack, he saw Jennifer calmly speaking with one of the intruders [music] as if she was talking
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to a friend, not terrified and not restrained. Then, as the intruders forced Han and
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Beckha into the basement, Han says Bekha begged for the men to spare Jennifer's life. And instead of telling her to shut
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up or demanding money like they've been doing all along, one of the intruders said something strange.
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Don't worry, your daughter is very nice, so I won't hurt her. As investigators dig deeper, they uncover more about
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Jennifer's double life. [music] On the outside, the Pan family looked pretty perfect. But Jennifer says that behind
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closed doors, she lived under extreme [music] pressure. According to her, her parents demanded perfection. Straight
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A's, no dating, no parties. And when Jennifer's figure skating dreams of literally going to the Olympics ended
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after an injury, the pressure only intensified. And when her grades started to drop in high school from A's to B's,
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police learned that instead of admitting failure, Jennifer lied. first about grades, then about getting admitted to
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college, then about going to class when instead she was with her boyfriend. The deception [music] just kept going and
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police are stunned as they sort through all of this information, literal years worth of lies, until finally in 2009,
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Jennifer's parents found out the truth. [music] And that's when her dad gave her
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that ultimatum, Daniel or them. And remember, Jennifer said she chose her parents, but she didn't break up with
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Daniel. So, the cycle repeated. Eventually, police bring Jennifer back in for yet another interview, and they
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put on the pressure this time, telling her that they know she's involved. And finally, she breaks, but not in the way
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investigators expect. Jennifer claims that she didn't hire the intruders to kill her parents. She hired them to kill
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her. Jennifer claims that she got the cell phone number of someone known as Homeboy. and according to an article
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from York Region offered this person $2,000 to come to her house and kill her. On the night of the attack, she
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made sure to unlock the front door so the men could get in. But police don't really buy this version of events
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because if she really had hired them to kill her, why was the guy upstairs talking to her like her dad described?
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[music] So, they charge Jennifer Pan for murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy
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[music] to commit murder. Police also update their descriptions of the attackers at the same time they
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announced Jennifer's arrest. Police now describe them as two black men and one white man, all between 20 and 25 years
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old. [music] And throughout the rest of 2010 and into the spring of 2011, with Jennifer in custody, police focused
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their efforts on identifying the men Jennifer allegedly hired to kill her parents. [music] They used cell phone
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records and banking records to tie three men to the attack. David Melvaganom, Eric Cardi, [music] and Lenford
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Crawford. All three are arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy
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to commit murder, [music] connected through their alleged crime, not just to Jennifer, but to Daniel,
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too. Even though Daniel wasn't one of the intruders, police learned that he was the gobetween for the three men and
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Jennifer, and that he [music] helped devise the whole plan. So, he is also arrested. The prosecution's theory is
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that Jennifer wanted freedom. freedom from her parents, freedom to be with Daniel, even freedom to inherit part of
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her parents' estate, which was worth around a million dollars at the time of the shooting. The trial began in 2014,
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almost three and a half years after the murder of Bick Hopan. All five defendants, Jennifer, Daniel, David,
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Eric, and Lenford are being tried together on one count each of first-degree murder and attempted
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murder. And the prosecution laid out years of deception through cell phone records like calls between Jennifer and
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the hitman and more. Jennifer testified in her own defense and sticks to her story that the whole thing spiraled out
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of control. But after an intense trial lasting almost 9 [music] months, the jury doesn't believe her. Jennifer Pan
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is convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder. She received a life sentence with no parole eligibility for
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25 years. But the fallout goes far beyond this. Jennifer's younger brother, Felix, says her actions destroyed their
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family. [music] And Han, the father she tried to kill, tells the courts he hopes
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Jennifer can become a good, honest person someday. [music] Last year, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that
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Jennifer and the three men convicted in the attack should receive new trials for
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the charge of first-degree murder, but upheld the convictions for attempted murder. However, Jennifer has pleaded
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guilty to manslaughter in the death of her mother and received a life sentence, but will be eligible for parole. This
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case is one that sticks with me, and I think it's because it's not just about murder. It's not just about getting rid
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of two people in your way. It's about deception, about pressure, about someone building an entirely fake reality.
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[music] Jennifer Pan didn't just tell one lie. She built an entire life on them. If you want to go deeper into more
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stories like this one, you can find the full stories on Crime Junkie. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the
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