So, this case is a popular one to review interview footage for, simply because it is so high quality and readily available, and honestly- quite shocking. The Netflix Documentary takes a very comprehensive look at the case and follows every realization as investigators discover them through the interview process.
Three Interviews occur over two weeks with Jennifer, and the Investigators peg her down almost immediately as a suspect due to inconsistencies in the original 911 call recording and the story she explains and shows to investigators.
Jennifer - 911 Call Recording - I'm Tied Upstairs
The first time anybody in law enforcement responds to the Pan home is after Jennifer's panicked 911 Call. The call is short, but some very important elements of her story are established. Firstly she somehow was able to call 911 while being tied up. Secondly, she was tied upstairs before her parents were shot. And lastly, she establishes that this was a robbery. Keep all of that in mind.
Jennifer - Interview One - Not Off the Top of My Head
Jennifer's initial interview with Investigators occurs the night after the events that exploded in the Pan household. Her story seems riveting. She seems small, meek, and fearful. And she is teary-eyed, missing her mom, and hoping for her dad's survival, it seems.
The claims she makes are very clear. No sounds of a break-in, being tied up, money being stolen, and the robbers being black men with multiple firearms. She hears several "pops," or shots being fired. Her mom screamed after being shot, and then more shots at her father, we can assume.
The investigators do a great job of discussing the elements of the event with her tenderly in this first interview. They establish trust, and they introduce the VLO - or the Victim Liason Officer - who is the advocate for the interviewee, especially as a victim of a crime. They keep an eye on how the interview goes and step in if the victim needs help of some kind. She feels for Jennifer in several ways, but the investigators start seeing confusing things about her story right from the start.
The investigator first nails down that Jennifer has no idea how they entered. She confirms that she has no idea. Then the investigator confirms whether or not they have money in the house. Jennifer confirms that it wasn't enough to warrant a robbery. And then finally, the family biographies. Hann Pan, the father, worked hard and was very honest. Bich Pan, Jennifer's mother, now deceased, did the same. The family immigrated to Canada from Vietnam.
After investigating the scene - it's clear that really nothing was stolen at all. The cash was still there, the jewelry, the cars; all of the valuables were still there.
At the end of the interview - the investigator confirms with Jennifer that she has nothing else on her mind that she could contribute. But what she didn't say was so much more important than what she did.
Danny - Interview - 99% Sure
Jennifer's ex, Daniel, does a brief interview with an investigator regarding his history with Jennifer. The investigator knows his history with drugs, and claims he had stopped both possession and trafficking. Then they focus on his relationship with Jennifer.
He reveals that Jennifer's parents were incredibly strict and that they were pulled apart after seven years by her parents. Jennifer wanted to continue in secret. Danny claims he has moved on, but Jennifer and him stay in contact here and there. Danny claims that both he and Jennifer were getting harassing and threatening phone calls and texts from unknown numbers.
Now why wouldn't Jennifer mention that to the police during her interview? Hmmmm...
The Investigator claims that this interview is strange. Who was the target of the murder? Because it wasn't robbery.
So they go back to high school.
The documentary has a brief discussion about the past regarding Danny and Jennifer with one of their high school peers, and it is revealed that Jennifer was heavily infatuated with Danny, if not completely obsessed with him.
Pan Home - CCTV Footage - Three Assailants
The Pan home was across the street from a neighbor with cameras, and we can see three suspects enter the front door, and then three leave about thirty minutes later. Grainy and unreliable, the only other thing to note is seeing the lights upstairs come on shortly before the attack.
Jennifer - Interview Two - Bound Hands
Jennifer's second interview revealed some more information that began to turn the tables. Jennifer's lack of information given in the first interview is turning some heads in the homicide department.
The investigator starts with Danny. Isn't it possible that someone related to his drug activity could have planned and executed the attack? Jennifer claims not at all, that he was just doing "runs," or delivering drugs here and there for a cut. So Danny is lying too.
Jennifer then claims that Danny's new girlfriend is being aggressive towards her, and she tries to point a finger at her claiming that Christine has a motive and that she is somehow connected, but it became clear at this point they needed the phones.
The interrogation carries on, and Jennifer reveals that her parents greatly disliked Danny and forced them to split up. The parents eventually took away her phone and her freedom. Even going so far as to drive her from place to place, and likely observe her interactions.
Jennifer confirms she still has feelings for Danny.
So they continue the story.
After high school? Jennifer's parents forced her into a career she hated as well - pharmacology. Then she couldn't find a job after high school to help with college either.
She reveals in this interview that she lied to her family about going to college at all. She even forged documents to prove to them that she was going to classes.
This caught the attention of the investigators for obvious reasons - if she could lie this big for years - she could be lying to them too.
Over four years of lying and forging a false degree. This is insanely diabolical for like, almost no reason.
They revisit the 911 call and listen to it again.
The investigator asks Jennifer to show him how she is tied up.
She gets quite emotional and then asks if she can just explain it.
The investigator pushes, and she stands up and shows how it's done. Something I noticed as a viewer was that she was able to move her upper right arm quite freely for being tied up, to reach her phone, and to be able to see the screen.
I think at this point it probably becomes obvious to Jennifer that she is being looked at as a suspect. If they truly thought she was a victim, they wouldn't be pushing her so hard, would they?
Then the questions come regarding why she would have been left alive, and about the major lies she's told already.
She claims she's telling the truth, and in true clutching her pearls fashion - she appears shocked and explains that the only explanation she has regarding her survival is that she cooperated with the assailants.
Then suddenly - another reveal - Jennifer explains that her parents found out that she had not been going to school and they wanted the tuition money back from her that they had so generously given her due to her lies.
Now we have a motive - and the investigator picks up on this.
Jennifer could have resentment towards her parents regarding the financial expectations to pay them back and definitely could have issues with them controlling her every move.
She makes a bold claim that she loves them and wants to stay with them and take care of them. She claims her innocence once again.
The Victim Advocate comes in and lets her vent a little about the interrogation process. Jennifer claims she doesn't want to say something "wrong." And then the Advocate tells her that everything will be fine if she tells the truth. But only if she tells the truth.
Hann Pan - Recovery Interview
This interview is brief but poignant. Everything changes, as the investigator says. Hann has been brought out of his coma and wants to talk to the police as best as he can. He explains that he went to bed, and was shortly woken up later by a gun in his face. He is brought down into the living room, and both of the Pan couple are pleading for their lives.
He then sees Jennifer come downstairs with one of the men, and was being friendly with them, and has no bindings on her at all.
All of it had been a lie. All of it.
The parting words that Hann Pan gives investigators are, "Use your police techniques to find out what Jennifer did."
Jennifer - Interview Three - Confession
Jennifer's third interview (this is a great interrogation to watch) starts like the previous two, but this time we have a different investigator - one who is trained in lies and truths. He detects lies and knows which questions to ask next. Jennifer stands no chance.
He pushes.
And pushes.
And she breaks.
Finally, through the tears comes the truth.
She was involved, but oh no! It was supposed to be me! I was supposed to be the target! I'm still the victim!
At this point investigators don't believe a single thing she says.
She finally confesses and incriminates herself - claiming that she didn't know who they were, but that they wanted them to kill her instead of her her parents.
This is likely another lie, but she claims that to kill her they would be paid $2000. His name was Homeboy, and she was the one who let them in.
What Happened
What happened that night in the Pan household was disgusting, to say the least. Jennifer received a text from the assailant group. She unlocked the door. Then went upstairs and flicked the lights on and off to signal the men into the home. Three hitmen, hired by Jennifer herself, and with the help of her ex, Danny, are allowed into the home by Jennifer. Mr. Pan's testimony reveals that she was friendly with the killers, who murdered Mrs. Pan and then attempted to murder him. Jennifer was in on it. She wanted to kill her parents, and thank god her father survived to expose her. She wanted to kill them for separating her and Danny, and she wanted to kill them for forcing her into a life of academic suffering (which she didn't even do, but lied to her parents about for years anyway).
She was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
In 2023, Pan and the co-conspirators were granted a new trial for the First Degree Murder charges.
The Key to the Case: Jennifer's Phone
What went down was revealed towards the end of the documentary, but none of it would have been found out had it not been for the warrant into Jennifer's phone.
She received and responded to texts from "Homeboy," or the head of the assailant attack. She received and responded to texts from Danny. And all of it was geared towards murdering her PARENTS. Not herself.
The investigators believe that Jennifer was the one sending the harassing calls and texts to Danny.
She also had paid another individual to kill her parents, which didn't go as planned either.
And what Jennifer wanted, in the end, was to be with Danny, and remove her parents from the equation.
That's what Jennifer did.
-B
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