On November 8, 2010, police in Markham, Ontario, Canada, a suburb of Toronto, responded to a report of a robbery and assault at the Unionville home of Hann and Bich Pan, ethnically Chinese immigrants from Vietnam. Both had been shot repeatedly; Bich died of her injuries, and Hann was permanently blinded. The investigation revealed that the crime was not a robbery but instead a kill-for-hire arranged by the couple's daughter Jennifer Pan. She had expected to inherit her parents' money and was angered that they had forbidden her to see her boyfriend after they discovered she had been deceiving them about her education.
Jennifer's police interrogation involved a technique in Canada, where police are legally allowed to lie to those they are interrogating regarding the evidence they have allegedly collected, and the strategies they are using. At trial, Pan was found guilty on multiple charges and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 25 years, the same penalty as her co-conspirators. In May 2023, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ordered a retrial for Pan and her co-conspirators on the charge of first-degree murder of her mother, allowing for the possibility thatdespite explicitly waiting until Bich was home before signalling the killers to enterthey might only have planned to murder Hann, and the jury should have been allowed to consider that option; the Court of Appeal upheld the attempted murder convictions for the shooting of Hann. Two years later, in April 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada sustained the appeal.
In 2026 the Crown was ordered to retry the four defendants charged in the killing then still alive. All pleaded guilty to lesser charges that made them immediately eligible for parole. , hitman David Mylvaganam has not yet been retried.
Early life and education Jennifer Pan's mother, Bich Ha Pan (pronounced "Bick"), and father, Huei Hann Pan, were ethnic Chinese refugees from Vietnam (Viet Hoa) to Canada. Hann was born and educated in Vietnam and moved to Canada in 1979 as a refugee. Bich also came to Canada as a refugee. The couple were married in Toronto and lived in Scarborough. Jennifer was born in 1986, and her brother Felix was born in 1989. The Pans found work at Magna International, an auto parts manufacturer in Aurora, Ontario. Hann worked as a tool and die maker, while Bich made car parts. By 2004, Hann and Bich purchased a house with a two-car garage on a residential street in Markham, a city in the Greater Toronto Area with a large East Asian population.
Jennifer's parents set many goals for their children and were said to have had extremely high expectations of them. Jennifer was made to take music theory and harmony lessons at the age of 12, as well as figure skating classes, where she trained most days of the week. Her aspirations to become an Olympic figure skating champion ended when she tore a knee ligament. At Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School, Jennifer played flute in the school band. According to her high school friend Karen K. Ho, Hann was seen as "the classic tiger dad," and Bich was "his reluctant accomplice." The Pans picked Jennifer up at the end of school each day and closely monitored her extracurricular activities. They never permitted her to date while attending high school or attend dances out of fear that these activities would distract from her academic commitments. Jennifer was also not permitted to attend any parties during the time her parents believed she was at university. At 22, "she had never gone to a club, been drunk, visited a friend's cottage or gone on vacation without her family." Jennifer and her friends reportedly regarded this upbringing as restrictive and greatly oppressive.
Despite her parents' expectations that Jennifer receive good grades, in high school they were somewhat average (in the 70% range) except for music. By forging report cards, Jennifer deceived her parents into thinking she earned straight As. When Jennifer failed calculus class in grade 12, Ryerson University (officially renamed Toronto Metropolitan University in 2022) rescinded her early admission. As she could not bear to be perceived as a failure, Jennifer began to lie to those she knew, including her parents, and pretended she was attending university. She sat in cafés, taught piano, and worked in a restaurant to earn money. In order to maintain the charade, Jennifer told her parents she had won scholarships, later falsely claiming that she had accepted an offer into the pharmacology program at the University of Toronto. She went to the extent of purchasing second-hand textbooks and watching videos related to pharmacology in order to create notebooks full of purported class notes she could show her parents.
Jennifer also requested permission from her parents to stay near campus with a friend (actually her high school boyfriend, Daniel Chi-Kwong Wong, who later transferred to Cardinal Carter Academy in North York due to low grades) during the week. Wong, of mixed Chinese and Filipino ancestry, lived in Ajax. He was an active marijuana dealer and managed a Boston Pizza.
Adult life While pretending to study at Ryerson, Jennifer told her parents that she had started working as a volunteer at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Hann and Bich soon became suspicious when they realized Jennifer did not have a hospital ID badge or uniform. Bich followed her daughter to "work" and quickly discovered her deception. Livid, Hann wanted to throw Jennifer out of the house, but Bich persuaded him to allow her to stay. As she had not completed high school, Jennifer eventually began working to finish high school and was later encouraged by her parents to apply to university. She was, however, forbidden to contact Wong due to his parents being from different ethnic backgrounds (according to Jennifer), or to go anywhere except for her piano-teaching job. The two still remained in discreet contact.
By 2009, Wong had grown weary of trying to pursue a relationship with Jennifer because of the restrictions imposed by her parents. Wong broke off the relationship and began to date another woman. After learning of this new relationship, Jennifer falsely informed Wong that a man had entered her house, showing what appeared to be a police badge, after which several men rushed in and gang-raped her. She claimed that after this a bullet was mailed to her, and that both of these events were arranged by Wong's new girlfriend.
Attack on the Pan household In spring 2010, Jennifer was in contact with Andrew Montemayor, a high school friend who, she claims, had boasted of robbing people at knifepoint (which he denies). He introduced her to Ricardo Duncan, a "goth kid," to whom Jennifer claims she paid $1,500 to kill her father in the parking lot at his workplace. Duncan said that she once gave him $200 for a night out, but he returned it, and rebuffed her entreaty to kill her parents.
Jennifer and Wong were back in contact at this time and, according to the police, they came up with a plan to hire a professional hitman for $10,000, calculating that she would then inherit $500,000. They planned to move in together. Wong connected Pan with Lenford Roy Crawford, a Jamaican-born man,Grimaldi, A Daughter's Deadly Deception, , 9781459735255, p. 81 . and gave her a SIM card and iPhone so that she could contact Crawford without using her usual cell phone. Crawford in turn contacted another man, Eric Shawn "Sniper" Carty, from Rexdale, who in turn contacted Montreal-born David Mylvaganam. At trial, the Crown (prosecution) argued Mylvaganam was one of the hitmen. Carty was later convicted of an unrelated 2009 murder.
The murder took place at the Pan house in Markham's Unionville neighbourhood. On November 8, 2010, Jennifer unlocked the front door of the family home when she went to bed, then spoke by phone to Mylvaganam. Shortly afterward, Mylvaganam and two other people entered the home through the front door, all armed. In the court testimony, the Crown did not establish the identity of the other two hitmen; Wong and Crawford were at work.
Carty stated that he was the driver for those who broke into the house; he also selected them and was involved in plotting the attack. The identity of the triggerman remains unknown.
After demanding all of the money in the house and ransacking the main bedroom, the three men took Bich and Hann to the basement and shot them several times. Bich died, and Hann survived. The three men then took $2,000 from Jennifer and left. Jennifer claimed that they tied her up, but she managed to dial 9-1-1. Hann was treated at Markham Stouffville Hospital, before being moved to a trauma unit at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, by air.
Investigation and arrests Police initially believed the family's wealth lured the perpetrators into the house, but they grew skeptical as numerous valuables had not been stolen. It also seemed unusual that Pan was left unharmed and had dialed 9-1-1 with her hands bound. The evening after the murder, police interviewed her. Hann later woke up from a coma, and he recalled to police that he saw Jennifer whispering to one of the hitmen in a friendly and soft manner. She was arrested on November 22, 2010, during her third interview.Grimaldi – Interview date: , 9781459735255 p. 66 . "During her third police interview, on November 22, 2016, Jennifer opens up to Detective Goetz[...]" – Arrest: , 9781459735255 p. 74 . Also , 9781459735262, Google Books PT 273 . "[...]Goetz returns before calmly stating, "[...]At this point of the investigation I will be arresting you for murder,[...]"" Jennifer admitted that she had hired the killers, but she claimed the plan was to kill her, not her parents. The interrogating officer, William "Bill" Goetz, used the Reid technique to obtain Pan's confession. – An excerpt of the book A Daughter's Deadly Deception. He falsely told Pan that he had computer software that could analyse untruths in statements and that there were satellites with infrared technology to analyse movements in buildings; in Canada, police are legally allowed to lie to those they are interrogating regarding the evidence they have allegedly collected, and the strategies they are using.
Mylvaganam was arrested at the Jane Finch Mall in North York in April 2011. Carty was arrested at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, Ontario, several days later.Grimaldi, , 9781459735262, PT89 . "Two days after speaking with Denise Brown, Detective Courtice gives the order to take David down.[...]The following day, police descend on Maplehurst Correctional[...]where Eric Carty is held, and charge him with the same." PT88 states: "[...]on April 12, when police finally get in touch with Denise Brown,[...]" Wong was arrested on April 26 at work. Crawford was the final suspect arrested, in Brampton the following month.Grimaldi, , 9781459735255, p. 109 . Also: , 9781459735262, PT 91 . "Lenford is arrested on May 4[...]Brampton driveway.[...]no further charges are laid in his case." Pan was held at Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario, while awaiting trial.
Trials