UNFORGETTABLE SAGAS, SCOOPS AND SCANDALS
 from Toronto Life’slong-form archives

Dear Reader,

Jennifer Pan grew up in a demanding household. Her parents, Bich Ha and Huei Hann Pan, were Vietnamese immigrants who had big dreams for their daughter—and pushed her hard to achieve them. Jennifer tried, but in high school, she felt herself frequently unable to measure up. Then she failed a class in her final year and had her university acceptance revoked. Unable to face the truth, she lied. Over the next four years, her fake life became increasingly elaborate. She concocted degrees, roommates, prestigious volunteer gigs. When her parents finally discovered the extent of her fabrication, they were angry and devastated. In “Jennifer Pan’s Revenge,” writer Karen K. Ho traces her former classmate’s made-up life, her inability to deal with the shame of being found out and, ultimately, her chilling decision to escape her parents’ control by having them murdered.

Jennifer Pan’s Revenge

The inside story of a golden child, the killers she hired and the parents she wanted dead

BY KAREN K. HO | JULY 22, 2015

At school, Jennifer Pan hid her feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt and shame behind a friendly, confident persona. She doctored report cards to convince her parents that she was an A student. And as she continued to fall short of their outsized expectations, her lies only grew more elaborate. Years later, her parents discovered the truth, but Jennifer couldn’t face it—or their reactions. This shocking feature by Karen K. Ho chronicles Pan’s unravelling from gifted child to murderer.

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