Horrifying true story behind Netflix hit What Jennifer Did

True crime documentaries are a dime a dozen on Netflix, but the streamer’s latest disturbing hit is truly something else.

True crime documentaries are a dime a dozen on Netflix, but Netflix’s What Jennifer Did — the latest true crime documentary that began streaming today — sets itself apart.

How? By featuring extensive real-life interrogation footage of a convicted murderer. And not just any convicted murderer, but a young, seemingly harmless-looking 20-something Vietnamese girl who, it’s revealed, conspired to murder her parents. You have to admit, it’s compelling.

Directed by Jenny Popplewell (who helmed another Netflix true crime doc, American Murder: The Family Next Door), this new feature-length documentary rehashes a 2010 crime that took place around the Toronto area in Canada. The case has already been the subject of several true crime podcasts, as well as the 2016 book A Daughter’s Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story by Jeremy Grimaldi.

Jennifer Pan was a seemingly harmless-looking 20-something Vietnamese girl who, it’s revealed, conspired to murder her parents.

But why read a book when you can just watch a Netflix movie? Better yet, why watch a Netflix movie when you can read an article summarising that Netflix movie?

Read on for what you need to know about Jennifer Pan from What Jennifer Did on Netflix, including where Jennifer Pan is today.

What did Jennifer do?

In 2010, Jennifer Pan was convicted for the kill-for-hire murder of her mother, Bich Ha Pan, and the attempted murder of her father, Huei Hann Pan, both immigrants from Vietnam to Canada. Jennifer had a history of extensive lying to her parents, who were strict and had banned her from seeing her boyfriend, a drug dealer named Daniel. Jennifer and Daniel conspired together to hire hitmen to murder her parents.

The doco is stuffed full of footage from the disturbing case.

Three men with guns entered the Pan family home on November 8, 2010. They shot and killed Jennifer’s mother, and severely injured her father. Jennifer called 911 and claimed that she had been tied to the upstairs banister while burglars shot her parents. Huei Hann Pan was placed in a medically-induced coma and was unable to verify this story during the initial police investigation, but later woke up and described seeing his daughter, unrestrained, speaking to the intruders in a friendly manner. During her third interrogation — after police officer, William “Bill” Goetz falsely claimed to Pan that he had satellite images that could verify the truth of her claims about who was at the house — Jennifer admitted she had hired hit men, but claimed she hired them to kill her, not her parents.

Text messages obtained by police between Jennifer and Daniel Wong suggested they conspired to kill her parents together.

Jennifer Pan was sentenced to life in prison for her crimes.

In 2014, a jury found Jennifer Pan guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. She was sentenced to life in prison, with a chance of parole after 25 years.

Where is she now?

Jennifer Pan is in prison, serving a life sentence, at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario in Canada. Jennifer still maintains her innocence to this day and was granted a new trial for the first-degree murder conviction after a 2023 appeal. A date for the new trial has not yet been set. However, the court rejected the appeal on the attempted murder charge against Pan’s father, which means it is very unlikely Pan will be leaving prison any time soon.

Where is Hann Pan today?

Jennifer’s father, Hann Pan, is still alive. He testified against his daughter in court in 2014, but does not appear in the documentary What Jennifer Did. According to the movie’s end credits, Hann Pan was granted a lifetime no-contact order against his daughter.

This story originally appeared on Decider and is republished here with permission.

Originally published as Horrifying true story behind Netflix hit What Jennifer Did