WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA: The mysterious case of Jennifer Pandos has left true crime lovers as well as investigators baffled for decades. Jennifer was a sophomore at her high school when she suddenly went missing from her family home in Williamsburg, Virginia, in February 1987. Since then no one knows where she is or even if she’s still alive?
Now, a documentary is releasing that explores her case. ‘Burden of Proof’ will premiere on June 6 on HBO Max, and will show the search for truth by the missing 15-year-old's elder brother, Stephen Pandos, who has reportedly claimed in the series, “I think my mother knows what happened and my father scared her to keep this a secret.”
Who are Jennifer Pandos’ parents?
The teenage girl, also called Jenny Lynn Pandos, was at home with her parents – Ron and Margie Pandos — when she went missing. Her brother, Stephen, was at college at the time. Following her disappearance, a letter was found by her parents in her room, which began, “Your daughter's with me. She's fine. She's having some problems and needs time away.”
The same letter also bizarrely added, “I'm fine, I just need time to think. Both of you please go to work tomorrow ‘cause I will try to call you. I won't call you at home, only at one of y'all's work. Do not call the police. I can easily find out if you do. I may never come back home. Don't tell my friends about this. Just tell them that I'm sick.”
However, in such an intense scenario, the Pandos reportedly waited for three days before approaching the James City Police Department. Jennifer’s childhood friend Woods Woolwine once told Dateline, “Everyone was just trying to figure out what happened and how she went missing. The adults were nervous in the neighborhood because there was a lot of uncertainty over what happened.”
Though not much information is available about her parents, Jennifer’s brother has claimed that their father suffers from major anger issues. He shared as per Boston Herald, that Ron is a Vietnam veteran, who is dealing with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Stephen also added, “Initially, my idea was to tell a story about the complications and nuances of trauma. Specifically about my mother, believing that she knew what happened but had compartmentalized it and put it away in a place where she couldn’t or didn’t want to access it.”
‘I think her parents are somehow involved’
Besides, in the four-part documentary, it was reportedly shown that Ronald scolded Jennifer for speaking on the phone with a friend the night before she disappeared. Stephen also alleged his father used to choke and hit him and his sister when they were young.
Now, it has been said that the parents are divorced and live separately after leaving Virginia in 1990. Jennifer’s father lives in Texas while her mother in Charlotte, North Carolina, which also seems mysterious as a user online pointed out once, “The note is strange I think her parents are somehow involved. Maybe they accidentally killed her in an argument. To just move away and divorce is just strange. I also think the note is to throw people off about don’t call the police.”
Also, a person claiming to be Jennifer’s cousin reportedly said, “Jennifer Pandos was my cousin. I live in PA and she would often come to visit her grandmother and we would have sleepovers and spend weeks together in the summer. Jennifer’s grandmother and my grandmother were sisters. From what we understand, her parents never even told her grandmother that she was missing because they didn’t want her to worry ( she was older at the time and passed away never knowing).”
“It is very strange. We heard from her father that there were possible sightings of her, but those leads never turned into any info. My sister and I remember her grandmother telling us that Jenny called her and asked if she could come live with her, but we couldn’t be sure of the exact time frame, whether it was before or after she went missing, because like I said…they never told her grandmother she was missing in the first place? I’m sorry you had to go through the loss of a friend at such a young age. We no longer have contact with her mother or father. It is a mystery…..” the person added.
