MURDEROUS MINDS: The Model Student Murderer Pt. 2

Jennifer Pan’s lies were finally unraveling—and she was desperate to regain control. When her parents discovered the truth, she didn’t beg for forgiveness. She planned their murder. In this episode, we follow the investigation, the shocking confession, and the trial that stunned Canada. Killer Minds is a Crime House Original. Follow us @crimehouse for more true crime content.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Vanessa Richardson?

  Hi, everyone. Before today's episode, there's another show I want to tell you about. It's called What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Plus, Connor's infectious energy that'll make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on earth. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod.

• 0:37Speaker 01

  This is Crime House.

• 0:41Vanessa Richardson?

  We've all lied at one point or another, whether it's a little white lie to make someone feel better or something bigger. It's only human to conceal the truth sometimes. But telling lies, no matter how big or how small, is risky because no matter how good you are at deceiving others, the truth always comes out. And in the case of Jennifer Pan, it was devastating. After nearly a decade of deception, Jennifer's parents found out she'd been lying to them about everything: her degree, her job, her dating life. When Jennifer realized she'd been caught,

• 1:26Vanessa Richardson?

  she tried to make amends with her family. But eventually, she decided she wasn't the problem. They were, which led to her biggest act of deception yet. Only this time, it ended in murder.

• 1:53Vanessa Richardson?

  The human mind is fascinating. It controls how we think, how we feel, how we love, and how we hate. And sometimes, the mind drives us to do something truly unspeakable. This is Killer Minds, formerly known as Mind of a Serial Killer, a Crime House original. Every Monday and Thursday, we'll be taking deep dives into the minds of history's most notorious serial killers and murderers. The show is still the same, the name just changed. And if you're interested in more true crime stories from this week in history, check out Crime House the Show. Every episode covers multiple cases unified by the same theme, so every week you get

• 2:38Vanessa Richardson?

  something a little different. At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing, and following Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly matters. And for ad-free and early access to Killer Minds, plus exciting Crime House bonus content, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Vanessa Richardson.

• 3:05Tristin Engels?

  And I'm Dr. Tristin Engels. As Vanessa takes you through our subject stories, I'll be helping her analyze what drove them to commit their crimes, as we try to understand how someone could do such horrible things.

• 3:19Vanessa Richardson?

  Before we get into the story, you should know it contains descriptions of self-harm and suicidal ideation. Listener discretion is advised. This is our second and final episode on Jennifer Pan. After spending her whole life doing the right thing and trying to live up to her parents' expectations, 24-year-old Jennifer hit a breaking point. In 2010, she decided the only way to truly break free from her family was to have them killed. Last time, we discussed Jennifer's childhood, her academic career, and her contentious relationship with her parents.

• 3:58Vanessa Richardson?

  We also explained how in 2010, three intruders broke into her home, killing her mother and leaving her father clinging to life. Today, we'll follow along as detectives unravel what really happened that night, and the shocking role Jennifer played in the crime. We'll learn about the years of carefully curated lies that allowed Jennifer to live a double life. And finally, we'll see if Jennifer ever faced justice.

• 4:28Tristin Engels?

  And I'll hop in to discuss things like how Jennifer's small lies snowballed into much bigger ones, the role her parents' strict rules played in Jennifer's descent into murder, and I'll provide a little more context around the psychological connection between deception and violent crime.

• 4:47Vanessa Richardson?

  And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer?

• 4:56Speaker 03

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• 5:28Vanessa Richardson?

  On November 8, 2010, three masked men broke into 24-year-old Jennifer Pan's home in Toronto, Canada's affluent Markham neighborhood. While it seemed like they were there to rob the Pan family, they didn't seem interested in stealing anything. Instead, they shot and killed Jennifer's mother, Bick, and left her father, Han, critically injured. In the wake of the attack, Han was taken to a hospital. One bullet hit his face. It traveled downwards, shattering his neck bone and barely missing a vital artery. Given how extensive the damage was, doctors placed him in a medically induced coma. Even so, they were hopeful he would make a full recovery.

• 6:13Vanessa Richardson?

  The sheer violence of the attack on the Pan family was baffling, especially considering that the attackers had left Jennifer completely unharmed. But it also gave the authorities an opportunity to talk to Jennifer in the immediate aftermath and figure out what happened.

• 6:32Vanessa Richardson?

  While her dad was in intensive care, Jennifer spoke with investigators at the Markham Police Station. But her interview only led to more questions than answers. Jennifer barely seemed upset. She pretended to cry and didn't appear concerned about her father's well-being. None of it meant Jennifer was guilty, but it did raise some red flags. And detectives only became more suspicious when they finally got a chance to talk to Han. On November 12th, Han woke up from his three-day-induced coma. Once doctors determined he was stable, Markham detectives visited him in the hospital. Despite his injuries,

• 7:15Vanessa Richardson?

  Han could clearly recall the events leading up to the shooting because they shook him to his very core. According to Han, Jennifer was chatting with one of the intruders like he was an old friend. Not only that, but he noticed that Jennifer's arms weren't tied behind her back while the assailants led her around the house, despite what she told police.

• 7:40Tristin Engels?

  So let's talk about the impact of memory after a series of traumas. And in Han's case, this involves both physical and psychological trauma. I touched briefly on how an acute stress reaction can impact memory in part one, but post-coma symptoms can do this as well. In fact, healthcare providers routinely use a neurological assessment known as the Glasgow Coma Scale in order to measure someone's level of consciousness after a head injury or a coma. And it's often given multiple times throughout their duration there in order to measure for any progress or decompensation. After a coma, people typically, though of course this does not apply to all situations, but it is a common experience

• 8:23Tristin Engels?

  that individuals have something called retrograde amnesia, which are gaps in their memory leading up to the head injury or coma. Or they experience antrograde amnesia, which is difficulty forming new memories after the injury or coma. But most often, this resolves on its own over time, though of course there are instances where it can become permanent. The accuracy of someone's memory after a coma can be questionable, but this is also relative to the severity of the brain injury and the duration of the coma. Could Han's memory be impaired in some way? It's definitely possible. Though, like I mentioned, it's more typical that he would struggle remembering the events leading up to the head injury.

• 9:07Tristin Engels?

  And instead, he's actually recalling things, very specific things. In particular, a memory that greatly distresses him and is difficult to probably even admit out loud.

• 9:20Vanessa Richardson?

  Whether or not Han's memory could be trusted, his revelations shocked detectives and only deepened the mystery around the break-in. Especially because by this point, investigators had found even more holes in Jennifer's story. They learned the men didn't have duct tape or rope with them. Instead, they used string from Bick's sewing kit when they tied Jennifer to the banister. This led to a bunch of other questions, like, how did they know where to find the kit? Why didn't they come prepared to the Pan home? And why use sewing thread if they were trying to restrain Jennifer? Over the next 10 days, detectives continued to investigate.

• 10:02Vanessa Richardson?

  They confiscated Jennifer's phone and looked through her calls and text messages. They tracked her movements in the days leading up to the attack and spoke to her closest friends. And before long, they uncovered a massive, years-long conspiracy that led them directly to their number one suspect: Jennifer.

• 10:27Vanessa Richardson?

  It turned out Jennifer had been lying to her parents for over a decade. It all started back in 1999, when she was 13 years old. After Jennifer learned she wasn't valedictorian of her middle school class, she was devastated. Later, she said her thoughts turned dark. She felt like she'd been betrayed by her teachers and that her hard work had amounted to nothing. Although she acted like everything was fine, on the inside, she felt like a failure. Without any acknowledgement of her years of hard work, Jennifer didn't see the point in trying anymore as she entered high school. And it didn't take long for her indifference to show up on her record.

• 11:12Vanessa Richardson?

  Instead of the As and A pluses she'd grown accustomed to, Jennifer's first ninth grade report card was full of Cs. The only subject she did well in was music. The thought of her parents finding out terrified Jennifer. She knew they expected perfection. That's when she busted out her arts and craft supplies. Using an old report card and photocopier, 14-year-old Jennifer changed all of her grades to As. That night, she nervously gave the forged report card to her dad. Han read through the document, then looked up at her and smiled. Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief. Her plan had worked.

• 11:56Tristin Engels?

  Lying is actually a normal part of a child's development. It coincides with the growth of important cognitive functions, such as understanding that others have different thoughts and feelings than our own. Children first start lying around the age of three, and it increases over the years. However, as they age, their reason for lying changes. By adolescence, they often lie to protect their privacy or feel independent from their parents. And that seems to track with Jennifer here. It appeared to be done out of self-preservation. She feared what her home environment would become if they knew the truth. And at age 13, she is dependent on that environment, which adds to that desperation.

• 12:40Tristin Engels?

  However, the complexity of her first big lie and all the subsequent lies make it alarming. It's gone beyond being a part of normal development. And because she's been able to do this undetected, it appears to have transitioned into dangerous territory.

• 12:56Vanessa Richardson?

  What does this say about her relationship with her parents that she felt like she couldn't just tell them the truth?

• 13:02Tristin Engels?

  That's a great question. I think what this tells us about Jennifer is that she has a negative core belief about her worth. It shows that she sees the world in black and white. Like I mentioned before, that if she's not perfect, then she's a failure. If she's not perfect, she let her family down. If she's not perfect, then she has no worth. It also confirms that she did not feel safe communicating with her parents unless it was what they wanted to hear. Telling them that she did not become valedictorian or that she became a C student would result in them highlighting her perceived failures. So in order to avoid affirming this core belief about her worth,

• 13:46Tristin Engels?

  she chose to lie instead. And that felt safer to her than simply telling the truth.

• 13:54Vanessa Richardson?

  Despite the dangerous territory Jennifer had just entered, she rationalized what she'd done. Because universities didn't look at report cards from ninth or 10th grade, she reasoned it wasn't a big deal. But this one deception opened the floodgates. Once Jennifer realized she could get away with fooling her parents, she didn't see a reason to stop. She continued to forge her report cards for the next couple of years. Eventually, she got more precise and started using Photoshop. And soon, her grades weren't the only thing she was lying about. In 11th grade, 17-year-old Jennifer met a boy named Daniel Wong.

• 14:36Vanessa Richardson?

  He was a year older with a big laugh and a great sense of humor. They were both in the school band, and Jennifer had known him for a while. But in 2003, they traveled with the group to Europe for a special performance. The concert hall was full of smokers, and Jennifer was suddenly overcome by an asthma attack. She started panicking, and Daniel was the one to calm her down. Soon, they were talking more often and exchanging flirty text messages. And by the time summer rolled around, they were boyfriend and girlfriend, which was a problem. Jennifer's parents had a very strict no dating policy.

• 15:18Vanessa Richardson?

  If they found out about Daniel, Jennifer knew they would be livid. So she hid her relationship from them.

• 15:26Vanessa Richardson?

  But Jennifer had gotten good at lying, and she didn't see the point in stopping now, especially because she really liked Daniel. So she found ways of getting around her parents' rules. She started using piano as an excuse, telling her parents she was heading out for a lesson when she was really going out to see Daniel. Other times, when she couldn't get away, she'd sneak Daniel into the house through the back door. Sometimes, he'd even use the second-floor window. Besides the basic fact that she wasn't supposed to date, there was another reason Jennifer didn't want her parents to know about Daniel. When he turned 18, he'd started selling weed to make some extra cash. If they learned about that,

• 16:11Vanessa Richardson?

  Jennifer would never hear the end of it. So she continued to see Daniel in secret, even once he graduated and was taking classes at nearby York University. By then, 18-year-old Jennifer was a high school senior herself and applying to colleges. This whole time, she'd been telling herself that once she got into university, her lies would be behind her. She'd do well, get her degree, and move on with her life without her parents constantly looking over her shoulder. And it seemed like she was slowly getting closer to making that happen. That year, in 2004, Jennifer did get into Ryerson University.

• 16:54Vanessa Richardson?

  But then, she found out she was failing calculus, which meant that not only was her acceptance revoked, but she didn't have enough credits to graduate from high school. Jennifer pictured herself telling her parents the news. If she came clean about Ryerson and graduation, she'd have to be honest about all of her report cards since ninth grade being forged. She decided she couldn't go through with it, which only left one option: continue the charade, no matter the consequences.

• 17:34Vanessa Richardson?

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• 18:45Speaker 04

  Early morning on a Manhattan sidewalk. A shooting caught on surveillance video.

• 18:50Speaker 05

  It was an assassination-style killing, and everybody saw it.

• 18:54Speaker 04

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• 20:39Vanessa Richardson?

  In the spring of 2004, 18-year-old Jennifer Pan learned she didn't have enough credits to graduate from high school. Not only did that mean she wouldn't get her diploma, but her acceptance to Ryerson University was revoked. Instead of telling her parents, Jennifer got on Photoshop and put together an acceptance letter. She even threw in a $3,000 scholarship from Ryerson. Luckily, she'd already taken her graduation pictures, so that wasn't an issue. Jennifer presented everything to her parents and came up with an excuse for why they couldn't attend her graduation ceremony. It's not clear exactly what she said, but it was enough to convince Bick and Han that

• 21:23Vanessa Richardson?

  she was well-prepared for the future. They bought it all, hook, line, and sinker.

• 21:31Tristin Engels?

  I think in most cases, there does come a point when you get so deep into a lie, it feels like there's no going back. Or the risk of exposing the lie seems so great that they commit more to the lie itself. But when it comes to Jennifer, even though she may rationalize that there's no going back, so she needs to continue her lies, it goes beyond that. Her pattern of lying is pathological. To be considered pathological, the pattern of deception must be pervasive to the degree that it affects their social, professional, academic, financial, or legal functioning. And it is clear at this point in the story that her lying has affected her in all of those areas.

• 22:15Tristin Engels?

  The amount of effort she put into these lies is also an indication of the pathological nature of this.

• 22:22Vanessa Richardson?

  Could her lying be due to fear?

• 22:24Tristin Engels?

  I believe that her lies, at least in the beginning, were motivated by fear. Fear of her parents and the consequences of not meeting their expectations. Think that's a very reasonable place for where that started. She was young, fully dependent on them, and did not have any outside support. But now things are different. Jennifer's been exposed to more autonomy, as well as a perspective of life outside of her parents' strict rules. She also has a boyfriend that she has been hiding from her parents, who has likely been influencing her in various ways. And given how long she's been hiding this relationship, it appears that her lies are now more motivated by her desire to preserve that relationship and the little autonomy

• 23:07Tristin Engels?

  those lies have earned her to this point. And for someone who did not have a large social support system and very few attachments to anyone, this relationship was likely very significant to her, especially when we consider how it started with her asthma attack. He showed her kindness. He showed her nurturance. At this point, it appears to me that she's lying now purely for selfish reasons and not for self-preservation or fear.

• 23:36Vanessa Richardson?

  Although Jennifer's parents were still buying into her lies, now came the hard part, because by the fall of 2004, she had to follow through and commit to the fake life she'd created for herself. Unlike high school, she didn't have a class schedule anymore, and her days weren't structured. So she had to create a routine for herself, and it had to be believable. In the mornings, she would pack her bookbag and take the bus downtown. Vic and Han assumed she was headed to campus. In reality, Jennifer was spending her days in public libraries, researching topics she thought were relevant to the classes she was supposedly taking at Ryerson. She took notes on everything,

• 24:20Vanessa Richardson?

  just in case her parents asked to see what she was studying. When she wasn't at the library, Jennifer hung out in cafes around Toronto or visited her boyfriend Daniel at nearby York University. But she still had a lot of free time, and before long, she started working as a bartender at a restaurant called Boston Pizza, where Daniel managed the kitchen. She also picked up a few waitressing shifts at a place called East Side Marios in Markham. Her parents didn't know about any of it. As far as they were concerned, Jennifer was busy with college classes and homework. They didn't want to bother her, especially since she was trying to transfer to the pharmacology program at the University of Toronto.

• 25:05Vanessa Richardson?

  And as long as they thought she was on track to get in, that's all that mattered.

• 25:11Vanessa Richardson?

  Come 2006, 20-year-old Jennifer told Vic and Han the good news. She'd made it into the program. Of course, she hadn't even applied. But for the next two years, Jennifer maintained the carefully curated facade she'd put together.

• 25:29Vanessa Richardson?

  She packed her schoolbag and took the bus into Toronto. Instead of heading to campus, she went to the library or to work. And of course, she made time to see Daniel. However, this time around, she added another deception into the mix. Bick and Han thought Jennifer was spending three nights a week with her friend Topaz. The truth was Jennifer slept at Daniel's place those evenings. By then, they'd been dating for three years. Things were pretty serious at this point. Jennifer spent plenty of time with Daniel's parents, and so they found it odd that they hadn't met Bick and Han yet. When they asked, Jennifer would brush them off, insisting her mom and dad were busy.

• 26:13Vanessa Richardson?

  Daniel, who knew about Jennifer's entire charade, would back her up.

• 26:19Tristin Engels?

  This is another indication that her pattern of deception is pathological. And I wouldn't be surprised if she actually believed some of the lies that she's giving. It also makes me wonder what she's telling Daniel. She could be feeding him lies about her current situation or what she's up to. But then again, Daniel has his own legal history and likely has his own pattern of deception, given that he was drug dealing in his youth. But he also has a lot to gain from helping her in her lies. And conversely, he might also think that he is helping her and that this is his way of being loyal to her as her boyfriend.

• 27:03Vanessa Richardson?

  With Daniel's help, Jennifer was able to keep the truth a secret. But in 2008, the 22-year-old faced her biggest test yet. That year, Jennifer was supposed to graduate from U of T. The stakes were high, and she knew she had to find a foolproof way to convince her parents she'd completed her studies. So she and Daniel paid someone $500 for a phony online degree and a transcript full of As. When it came to the actual ceremony, Jennifer told Bick and Han there weren't enough tickets to go around. They were disappointed, but Jennifer had bet correctly. The degree meant more to them than seeing her walk across the stage, and they let the

• 27:48Vanessa Richardson?

  issue go. With her parents taken care of, Jennifer now needed to put her supposed degree to use. She told Bick and Han she had an exciting opportunity at Toronto's hospital for sick children, volunteering in their blood testing lab. For the next year or so, Jennifer continued to go to her fake job. She told her parents the volunteering took place on Friday nights and weekends, which left Jennifer free to hang out with Daniel when he wasn't working or going to class. But eventually, Bick and Han started asking questions, and before long, one misstep from

• 28:27Vanessa Richardson?

  Jennifer sent her whole house of cards toppling down. In early 2009, Han realized something strange. Jennifer never put on a uniform or carried a key card when she went to the hospital. When he tried to ask her about it, Jennifer tried to shrug it off, but Han could tell something was wrong. It wasn't like Jennifer to be this disorganized. The next day, he and Bick insisted they drop her off at the hospital. On the drive, Jennifer tried to keep calm, but she couldn't hide the beads of sweat dripping down her forehead. As soon as they pulled up, Jennifer ran inside, but Bick was hot on her heels.

• 29:12Vanessa Richardson?

  When Jennifer realized her mom was following her, she ducked into the waiting room of the ER. Once she was sure her parents had driven off, Jennifer finally emerged. But she wasn't in the clear yet. Slowly but surely, Jennifer's sham was unraveling. After almost 10 years, her parents started questioning everything. The next morning, they called Topaz, the friend Jennifer claimed she was staying with in downtown Toronto. They wanted to speak to their daughter. By this point, Jennifer was supposedly staying with Topaz on the weekends, too. But when Topaz answered the phone, she was groggy with sleep and completely forgot

• 29:56Vanessa Richardson?

  about the plan they'd come up with. So she answered honestly. She said Jennifer wasn't there. When Jennifer showed up at her parents' house later that day, she could immediately tell something was wrong. Han was practically shaking with anger as he confronted her and asked Jennifer what was really going on. Finally, after so many years of deceit, Jennifer knew she couldn't keep up the lies any longer. She came clean and told her parents the truth—or at least, some of it. Although she didn't tell her parents she'd never graduated high school or gone to Ryerson University, Jennifer did say she wasn't volunteering at the hospital, she had never been in U of

• 30:41Vanessa Richardson?

  T's pharmacology program, and was dating a boy from high school named Daniel Wong. She wasn't at Topaz's that morning because she'd never stayed there in the first place. Instead, she was at Daniel's parents' house. As Jennifer expected, her parents were crushed by the news that their daughter's life was one big lie. While Bick sobbed uncontrollably, Han was livid. His immediate reaction was to kick Jennifer out of the house. After some convincing from Bick, he changed his

• 31:20Vanessa Richardson?

  mind. He said Jennifer could keep living there, but only if she abided by his rules. He insisted Jennifer quit all of her part-time jobs, and most importantly, she could not, under any circumstances, keep seeing Daniel. For the next two weeks, Jennifer was essentially on lockdown. Han confiscated her phone and laptop and monitored the odometer on the car.

• 31:50Tristin Engels?

  So the level of betrayal that Han and Bick likely felt was particularly deep, given that they had planned Jennifer's life out for her from birth. Every decision they made for Jennifer was to ensure she made it into college and had a career that would lead to her success. And all of their efforts were shattered in a moment. They were giving her money to spend on her education that was clearly being spent on efforts to deceive them instead. It's understandable that they would be heartbroken, shocked, and angered. And I can understand the ultimatum as well. If she's going to live under their roof, she would need to abide by their rules. And although their pressures largely shaped who Jennifer became, they are still the victims.

• 32:33Tristin Engels?

  She still had other choices, but Jennifer agreed to stay with them and agreed to those rules. She chose that. So let's conceptualize why she would choose to stay with her parents after spending over a decade trying to gain more control over her life. My first thought would be that her relationship ended, or was nearing an end, given that that was what she was trying to preserve the most. And if that's not it, then her decision to stay with them was fueled by desperation for their approval and this pathological need to appease them. But also, she has not been able to de-individuate from her family the way children normally

• 33:14Tristin Engels?

  do at this stage, especially in Canadian culture. And as a result, she has not been able to form her own identity. She only knows the identity that her parents crafted for her, because she's never been encouraged to express herself or explore who she is, only what her parents wanted her to be. So thinking about an identity outside of that was probably particularly difficult for her.

• 33:38Vanessa Richardson?

  For Jennifer, how does it feel to have that kind of control exerted over you when you're an adult in your almost mid-20s versus a teenager in high school?

• 33:48Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, I think any adult child would have a very hard time being under that level of control, regardless of the circumstances that led to it. He has not only taken away her financial freedom by forcing her to quit her part-time jobs, but he's taken away her access to the outside world. And in a domestic relationship, that kind of isolation is considered abusive. So even if these are the house rules, they've gotten stricter. And after she has had some degree of freedom, returning to more authoritarian rules as an adult is going to be exponentially more difficult to adjust to psychologically.

• 34:26Vanessa Richardson?

  Despite how strict Bick and Han's punishment was, Jennifer was careful to follow the new guidelines they'd set in place. And although she'd been deceiving them for so many years, Bick and Han wanted to believe she'd changed. But at 23 years old, Jennifer wasn't their little girl anymore, and the harder they tried to control her, the angrier she became. Before long, she was ready to do anything to regain her freedom.

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• 37:24Vanessa Richardson?

  In early 2009, Jennifer Pan's parents learned the truth about their daughter after a decade of lies. After Bick and Han found out what she'd really been up to all this time, they responded swiftly. Even though Jennifer was in her twenties at this point, they grounded her, made her quit working and forced her to stop seeing her boyfriend, Daniel. For over a year, Jennifer followed their rules and tried to earn back their trust. By the spring of 2010, Han believed the damage had been repaired. Jennifer seemed truly remorseful about her actions and had even enrolled in an online calculus class to get her final high school credit.

• 38:10Vanessa Richardson?

  He had no idea that all this time Jennifer had only grown increasingly resentful for all the restrictions he'd put in place. Although her parents had forbidden her from communicating with Daniel, she still snuck in phone calls and text messages whenever she could. She told Daniel she felt like a prisoner in her own home. And after thinking it over, she thought there was only one way to escape Han and Bix's influence: have them killed.

• 38:43Tristin Engels?

  So we're continuing to see that Jennifer views the world in black and white. Most people in her situation, and arguably it is a pretty traumatic one, it's like I said, financial isolation, physical isolation, those are abusive tactics. It is a traumatic situation, although it does not warrant what she did, and her parents are still victims in this. But most people in that situation would seek a way to move out and live independently, something that she was even close to doing a year prior. She was working several jobs and she was essentially living at least part-time with Daniel. But rather than consider that as an option, she goes to the extreme.

• 39:25Tristin Engels?

  Either she has to stay there or they have to die. Like, those are her two options in her mind. And of course, that also makes me wonder if there was another motive for this, such as a financial one. Because she doesn't have any career prospects, she's been financially isolated, she hasn't continued her degree or finished her degree, and now she's fully financially dependent on her family. So it makes me wonder if she feels a financial motivation for this in order to get out of that control.

• 39:59Vanessa Richardson?

  Could Jennifer be so far gone at this point that she doesn't really understand the consequences of her decision?

• 40:05Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, she absolutely could be because on the one hand, she's lived a pretty sheltered and protected life, and this could absolutely skew her ability to fully appraise the situation. But on the other hand, she's already had an entire decade of using deceit to navigate her life, and pathological lying can be a precursor for violence, particularly when it's associated with a personality disorder. So someone who is a pathological liar and has a personality disorder can fabricate stories that justify violent actions, stories even they believe, and they can be highly manipulative as a result. And that explains how she was able to rope others, like Daniel, even Topaz, into her

• 40:50Tristin Engels?

  plans.

• 40:52Vanessa Richardson?

  However Jennifer had come to her decision, once it was made, there was no going back. But she knew she couldn't do it alone. Soon Jennifer told Daniel what she was thinking. It was drastic, but Daniel had seen how overbearing Bick and Han were. Ultimately, he agreed with Jennifer. The only way they could be together was to get rid of them entirely. In the late summer of 2010, Jennifer and Daniel started to put together a plan. They figured the easiest option was to stage a home invasion that ended with her parents' death. Jennifer knew she was set to inherit about half a million dollars from Bick and Han.

• 41:36Vanessa Richardson?

  She reasoned that once they were dead, she and Daniel could use that money to move into their own place and to pay the hitmen she wanted to hire, which is where Daniel came in. 25-year-old Daniel had sold weed in high school and recently gotten back in contact with his connections in the drug trade. One of them was 27-year-old Lenford Crawford. Daniel thought he might be willing to kill Han and Bick for them, so he gave Jennifer an old iPhone and SIM card, which she used to contact Lenford. It turned out Daniel was right. Lenford didn't need much convincing, and soon, he recruited two other guys,

• 42:18Vanessa Richardson?

  21-year-old David Milveganum and 30-year-old Eric Cardy to help him. Jennifer promised them $10,000 total to do it. By November 2010, all the pieces were in place. Now, all there was left to do was wait for Lenford's signal. It came on the morning of November 8th. Lenford texted Jennifer, "Tonight was the night." Around 9:30 PM on the evening of November 8th, 2010, Jennifer came downstairs from her room. Han was already in bed, and Bick had just gotten home from line dancing.

• 43:00Vanessa Richardson?

  When her mom wasn't looking, Jennifer quietly went to the front door and unlocked it. Then she headed back upstairs. At 10:02 PM, Jennifer went into her dad's study and flipped the light on and off. Supposedly, it was her signal to Lenford, David, and Eric, who were waiting outside in a car. A few minutes later, the men walked through the front door, all carrying guns. One of the men held Bick at gunpoint, while another ran upstairs and forced Han to come down to the main floor with him. The third went to Jennifer, who supplied him with string from Bick's sewing kit. He used it to "restrain" Jennifer.

• 43:45Vanessa Richardson?

  Over the next 14 minutes, Jennifer feigned panic while the men brought her parents down to the basement. There, they shot them. By 10:32 PM, all three men were out of the house. But while they had successfully killed Bick, they didn't realize Han was still alive. When he regained consciousness, Han mustered whatever strength he had left to make it out of the front door before collapsing in the yard.

• 44:17Vanessa Richardson?

  Unbeknownst to Jennifer, he had seen her chatting with the men as they were leaving. Later, Han explained he had a sinking feeling Jennifer had put them up to this, and that he had run outside because he was terrified of being in the same home as his own daughter. By the time Han woke up from his coma on November 12, 2010, the Markham police were already putting the pieces together, and it was all thanks to a completely unexpected source, Jennifer's 25-year-old boyfriend, Daniel Wong. Before the attack, Daniel had been confident everything would go smoothly, but when he

• 45:02Vanessa Richardson?

  learned how Jennifer was being scrutinized by detectives, he knew it was just a matter of time until they came after him, too. While he hadn't pulled the trigger, he'd connected her to Lenford and helped her plan the attack. So, two days after the attack, on November 10, he came to the authorities and told them everything. By November 22, investigators were ready to speak with Jennifer again, and this time, they had the evidence to back up their suspicions. Based on her text messages and calls to Lenford, detectives were certain she had planned the robbery.

• 45:44Vanessa Richardson?

  Detective William Getz came out swinging. He told Jennifer he knew she'd been involved. In response, she hunched over and cried. Then she looked at Getz and asked, "But what happens to me?"

• 46:00Tristin Engels?

  This is quite the egocentric response, though it's not surprising. Her entire life has been about her. Everything she fixated on was about her. She was raised with the core belief that appearances, social status, and success are what matter. So it makes sense that her default would be concern for only herself. It is, however, worth considering the possibility of narcissism.

• 46:27Tristin Engels?

  There is a correlation with narcissism and deception because this is how individuals with narcissism not only control others, but how they control their perception of them as well. And this allows them to maintain that delusion of grandiosity. Narcissists also have reduced empathy. And if you're capable of hiring people to kill your parents, you certainly have a significant reduction in empathy.

• 46:53Vanessa Richardson?

  Whether or not Jennifer was a narcissist, her conversation with Detective Getz was enough to convince him she was guilty. Her interview lasted four hours. During that time, Jennifer admitted to hiring Lenford Crawford. However, she insisted her real plan had been for them to kill her. She explained that somehow Lenford and the others had gotten confused and ended up shooting her parents instead. Getz didn't buy it for a second. She was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for her mother's death and attempted murder for her father.

• 47:32Vanessa Richardson?

  While Jennifer awaited trial, Canadian authorities gathered evidence to charge her co-conspirators. In the spring of 2011, they arrested Daniel Wong, Lenford Crawford, David Milveganam, and Eric Cardy. They were all charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. Twenty-eight-year-old Jennifer and her accomplices went on trial in March 2014 in Newmarket, Ontario. Over the course of 10 months, over 50 witnesses testified, and more than 200 pieces of evidence were shown to the jury.

• 48:14Vanessa Richardson?

  Jennifer spent a week on the stand, trying to convince the courtroom she'd had a change of heart before the attack and wanted to call the whole thing off. But the argument against her was overwhelming. In December 2014, Jennifer Pan, Daniel Wong, Lenford Crawford, and David Milveganam were found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. Eric Cardy's trial was delayed for health reasons, but he was ultimately found guilty as well. Jennifer was sentenced about a month later in January 2015.

• 48:54Vanessa Richardson?

  She was given the maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Currently, 38-year-old Jennifer is incarcerated at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario. She still maintains her innocence and even filed an appeal. Her family was upset to learn that in May 2023, she was successful. However, the attempted murder charge against her father still stands. As of this recording, the date of Jennifer's retrial hasn't been announced. Her brother Felix and Han hope it doesn't change anything and that Jennifer continues

• 49:38Vanessa Richardson?

  to remain behind bars. Jennifer's story is a complicated one. It's easy to understand how the intense pressure she felt from her parents became too much to bear. But in her attempt to appease them, Jennifer crafted a web of lies that was so convoluted, she lost herself in the process. And in all likelihood, that's how she was able to come to terms with becoming a murderer. Because when you lose yourself, it's easier to lose those you love, too. But in the end, there was no one left in Jennifer's corner, and the only person she

• 50:21Vanessa Richardson?

  had to blame was herself.

• 50:37Vanessa Richardson?

  Thanks so much for listening. Come back next time for a deep dive into the mind of another murderer.

• 50:44Tristin Engels?

  Killer Minds is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on all social media at Crime House. And don't forget to rate, review, and follow Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.

• 51:06Vanessa Richardson?

  And to enhance your listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode of Killer Minds ad-free, along with early access to each thrilling two-part series and exciting bonus content. Killer Minds is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson, and Dr. Tristin Engels, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Killer Minds team: Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Laurie Marinelli, Natalie Pertsovsky, Sarah Camp, Sheila Patterson, and Carrie Murphy. Thank you for listening.

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• 52:52Vanessa Richardson?

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