What Jennifer Did exposes Jennifer Pan’s disturbing text messages

Jenny Popplewell’s new Netflix documentary, What Jennifer Did, reveals a series of text messages Jennifer Pan sent to her ex-boyfriend Daniel Wong, suggesting she may have had a different motive for the crime.

Netflix’s latest true crime saga examines the chilling case, which unfolded in Unionville, Ontario, in 2010 when Pan called 911 to reveal she and her parents had been the victims of a home invasion. 

According to Pan’s accounts, her mom Bich Ha Pan had been shot dead, her dad Huei Hann Pan seriously injured, and she had been tied up and told to stay upstairs. However, as police dug deeper into the case and Pan’s background, they uncovered a horrifying truth: she had ordered the killing. 

This was corroborated by Hann when he woke up from the coma and told detectives that he’d seen his daughter walking freely around the house and speaking with the masked assailants. 

In 2015, Pan, her ex-boyfriend Daniel Wong and two co-conspirators, David Mylvaganam and Lenford Roy Crawford, were each sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years. Last year, they were granted a retrial, although a date is yet to be set. 

This case has been explored in great depth, with many true crime enthusiasts believing that while there’s no excuse for murder, Pan was subjected to cruel treatment from her mom and dad. 

As said by one Redditor months before news of the Netflix documentary, “To be charitable to Pan, a lot of people I see in comment sections hated Pan for doing what she did because she could have just ‘moved out’ or ‘been the bigger person’. 

“And that is by far the worst argument I have ever heard against her because it does not account for her age and socio-economic conditions in regards to dependency on her parents nor psychological trauma she got from her parents.”

In response, another said, “A lot of people don’t understand the pressure she was under. It’s weird that we can look at something like that and be like, ‘I can get it,’ and no one else does.”

Hann and Bich have been accused of “tiger parenting,” an approach characterized by strict discipline, high expectations, and an emphasis on academic achievement. Pan described an environment in which she was terrified of letting her parents down, so much so that she lied about graduating from high school and studying a degree in pharmacology. 

Pan also claimed her parents wouldn’t allow her to see Wong as they didn’t approve of him being “mixed race,” but Hann said the real reason was that he was a drug dealer. And this is where the lines start to blur. 

Exactly how much can we trust Pan’s accounts? For so long, the motive has been put down to the pressure she was facing from her mother and father. But a series of text messages suggest there was an ulterior motive at play: for Pan and Wong to stay in a relationship. 

In What Jennifer Did, Detective Alan Cooke, who worked on the case, highlights the significance of a text exchange in which Pan writes to Wong, “Do you love me and want to be with me?” At that time, Pan was being chased by Crawford, known as “Homeboy,” who Wong had put her in contact with to carry out the hit on her parents.

Wong replies, “I’m really down right now Jen. I’m sorry.” When Pan asks what he means, he says, “I don’t know how to say this. I feel the way you feel but about her,” referring to his new girlfriend. Jen then writes, “So you feel for her what I feel for you? Then call it off with Homeboy.”

Wong then gets increasingly agitated, seemingly because he’s had to call in a favor from Homeboy. In a series of messages, he says, “Call if off with Homeboy? You said you wanted this with or without me. You said you wanted this for you… I was always walking on eggshells with you. I did everything and lined it all up for you. Contact Homeboy.”

Detective Bill Courtice, who also worked on the case, points out that “this is the nail in the coffin for Daniel Wong.” But it also indicates where Pan’s priorities were set. Reports state that Wong broke things off with her due to them having to sneak around, as her parents wouldn’t allow her to see him. 

When he started a relationship with a different woman, the messages indicate that she thought she could win him back if her mom and dad were no longer in the picture. That’s not to say this is the sole reason, but it’s certainly worth highlighting when conversations about the case are reignited amid the documentary’s release. 

What Jennifer Did is streaming on Netflix now. You can find out what else to watch about the case here, as well as all the true crime documentaries hitting streaming this month.