An insight into Jennifer Pan: the girl who hired hitmen to kill her parents
Bich Ha and Huei Hann Pan were both refugees who moved from Vietnam to Canada in search of a better life.
They met in their new home country, married and had two children – Jennifer in 1986 and Felix three years later.
Madam Ha and Mr Pan were labourers at an auto parts manufacturer, reported The Washington Post.
The duo worked hard to provide for the family and pushed their children to excel in school.
Frivolous events like parties or school dances were a big no-no in the Pan household.
And by all accounts and appearances, Jennifer was their "golden" child: A straight 'A's student who bagged a scholarship and got into a prestigious programme at a university.
Except these achievements were just part of a meticulously woven web of lies.
Jailed for life
Jennifer was a talented pianist who won multiple trophies at a young age, reported Toronto Life. But her secondary school grades were just average.
She never attended university, let alone obtained a scholarship.
In 2010, she and her boyfriend hired hitmen to kill her parents.
She was jailed for life earlier this year for the murder of her mother and the attempted murder of her father.
Her father and brother requested that she never speak to them again. The request was granted by the court.
Last week, Jennifer's former schoolmate Karen K. Ho gave an insight into her teenage years in a piece entitled "Jennifer Pan’s Revenge: the inside story of a golden child, the killers she hired, and the parents she wanted dead".
Ms Ho wrote: "The more I learned about Jennifer’s strict upbringing, the more I could relate to her. I grew up with immigrant parents who also came to Canada from Asia (in their case Hong Kong) with almost nothing, and a father who demanded a lot from me."
She added: "I felt like a hamster on a wheel, sprinting to meet some sort of expectation, solely determined by him, that was always just out of reach."
This is Jennifer's story.
Sources: Toronto Life, The Washington Post
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