The Girl Who Staged a Home Invasion to Kill Her Parents

What Jennifer Did revisits the horrifying tale of Jennifer Pan, who became the subject of Canadian headlines when she survived a home invasion that took the life of her mother Bich and left her father Hann in critical condition. Nonetheless, American Murder: The Family Next Door writer/director Jenny Popplewell’s Netflix documentary (April 10) is a clumsy addition to the ever-expanding true-crime canon, tipping off its central twist with its title, leaving out key details that might have enriched its drama, and sidestepping a discussion of the larger socio-economic forces underscoring its tragedy. It’s consistently engaging, but also not much more revealing than a quick perusal of Jennifer’s Wikipedia page, and the fact that its real-life saga may not be over only amplifies the impression that it’s less than the full story.

On Nov. 8, 2010 (a date that isn’t provided by these proceedings), 24-year-old Jennifer (whose age isn’t relayed) called 911, frantically reporting that a trio of gunmen (all Black, one with a Jamaican accent, and another with dreadlocks) had broken into her Markham, Ontario, home looking for money. In this recording, Jennifer—who claims that the intruders have tied her to an upstairs banister as they assault her parents—is heard yelling to her father, who audibly moans in the background. When police arrived, they discovered a grisly scene: the house was ransacked, Bich was dead, and Hann had suffered a grave gunshot wound to the eye that compelled doctors to place him in a medically induced coma.

Much of this is recounted by homicide detectives Bill Courtice and Alan Cooke, who were initially baffled by the crime. The Pans were one of many immigrant families in the neighborhood, and known to be hard-working and unremarkable. Originally from Vietnam, Bich was a car parts supervisor and Hann was a machinist at the same auto parts manufacturer, and though they owned nice sedans (a Mercedes and a Lexus), they lived a modest middle-class life. The idea that intruders had targeted them for their wealth thus seemed off from the outset. More puzzling still, valuables remained in the house, including a wallet filled with $20 bills, a nice watch, and a pricey camera kept in a closet safe, suggesting that if these men had intended to make off with a bounty, they’d failed miserably—and resorted to unnecessary murder.

Read more at The Daily Beast.