♪
- In 2019,
"snapped" featured the story of pandora zan,
Whose husband charles was murdered
In horrific fashion.
- Fifty-some stab wounds all over the body.
- She lets her son in, knowing he's coming there
To kill her husband.
- Following her conviction for murder,
Pandora sought to justify
Her and her son cody henderson's actions.
- There was years and years and years of abuse.
Mental, emotional, physical, sexual.
It would be natural that cody would wanna protect me.
- She still tried to minimize her involvement.
- Now, 13 years into her life sentence,
Pandora zan returns to offer a new perspective
And remorse.
- I knew what was gonna happen.
If I could go back and change things,
I absolutely would.
- In an exclusive interview,
Cody henderson speaks out for the first time,
Sharing his regrets
And his journey toward forgiveness.
- I did what I thought I had to do to protect my mom.
I felt like she abandoned me
After everything I did for her.
I mean, I've been sitting here for 15 years almost,
Thinking that I would never get to tell my story.
- If I could say anything,
It would just be that I'm really sorry
That I made the decisions that I made.
I deserve to be in prison.
♪
My name is pandora zan, and I'm doing this interview
So that I can share my truth.
I didn't take responsibility back then.
I wasn't honest in my part in everything.
It was easier to act like I didn't know anything,
Because admitting that I knew what was gonna happen,
And I didn't stop it, that sounds so much worse.
- My name is cody henderson.
I wanted to do the interview,
Because I never got a chance to tell my side of things.
I realize my actions hurt a lot of people,
But I hope they know
That I never meant for any of this to happen.
I made a conscious decision, and-and it was terrible,
And I didn't have the right to make it,
But I did what I did out of love for my mom,
And I'm sorry for anybody that I've hurt.
- It took a lot of years of being incarcerated
Before I would take responsibility
For my part in everything.
And once I was able to take responsibility,
Then, um, it let me start healing and growing.
- I can only assume
That her not taking accountability back then
Is a way that she has to protect herself,
Because that would break me down as a mom
To know that my son is in prison because of me,
Because of a choice that I made.
- There's indication that pandora
Is not only a master manipulator,
But she's a, uh, pathological liar.
There's indication she has lived her whole life that way.
There's no indication that that will change.
Even though, uh, going on fifteen years has passed,
I still think about such a horrific event.
- October 17th, 2009. Miamisburg, ohio.
At 6:13am, police receive a frantic 911 call
From a studio apartment on springboro pike.
- She said somebody had done a--
Essentially done a home invasion
And had, um, stabbed her husband.
- Dispatch had her go outside to wait on officers to arrive.
- Within minutes, the first responding officers arrive.
- The individual who called in the crime
Was at the scene, in a bathrobe.
Officers spoke briefly with her.
- The woman identifies herself as pandora zan.
And the victim inside is her husband,
Charles zan.
- There was blood all over the bed,
All over the walls, blood everywhere.
I observed a man laying on a bed
That folds out from the couch.
It appeared that he had stab wounds all over his body.
There had been a tremendous struggle.
- In my 25 years, this is probably
The most gruesome thing that I've ever seen.
♪
- Originally from lorain, ohio, charles steven zan ii
Was a proud member of the u.S. Military.
- Everybody called him chuck. He was a marine.
Chuck lived and breathed marine.
Even though, you know, most people know
When you get outta the marines, you're never outta the marines.
And that was chuck.
- While stationed in california,
Charles got married and had a son.
After leaving the marines,
Charles moved his family to miamisburg, ohio,
Where he started working as a corrections officer.
- At work, he always did the job right.
He treated everybody basically the same.
Firm, fair and consistent, that was him.
- In 2001, charles and his first wife separated.
In November of that year,
Charles met 36-year-old accounting specialist,
Pandora henderson.
- I grew up in franklin, ohio.
Growing up, I was outside a lot.
Uh, we worked in the garden, and then we had five acres.
So, I was always outside, in the woods, or in the creek.
- After college, pandora got married and had two children,
A daughter named misty and a son named cody.
- Being a mom, it was scary, but holding my kids
For the first time was just amazing.
I just-- I'd never felt
Love like that for anyone before.
Cody as a child, he was super affectionate.
It was nothing for him to come up
And just, like, hug on me,
And he always told me that he loved me.
- We did a lot of stuff as a family.
You know, all the holidays were-were kind of a big deal.
I was in sports and had--
One parent or the other was always there,
Like, at my wrestling meets or when I did little league.
We had a normal family dynamic.
- Unfortunately, pandora's marriage
To her first husband wouldn't last.
In 2001, pandora filed for divorce.
- My mom and dad were together until I was probably eleven.
When she told us that she was unhappy
And that we were moving out, I was confused,
Because I'd never really seen any indication
That things were serious, like, wrong with my parents,
But I-I took it the best I could.
- Five months later, 36-year-old pandora
Decided to try finding a new love on the internet.
It was there that she met charles zan.
- When we first met and started dating,
He swept me off my feet.
He cooked a romantic dinner for me
And played music, and it was candlelit,
And, you know, opened car doors for me
And made me feel just very special.
It sounds crazy, but within a month of meeting him,
I moved me and my kids in with him.
- When my mom first introduced us to chuck,
He seemed like a-a nice guy, and he had a kid around my age,
And I'd always wanted a brother.
We were always going out as a little family group,
Going out to dinner, and she seemed really happy.
So, I was-- I was happy for her,
Because that's what I wanted to see,
Was my mom happy.
- As the couple's blended family
Grew up under the same roof,
Charles became a strict disciplinarian.
- Starting out, it was just normal stuff.
You know, do your homework before you go outside to play,
Or, you know, clean up after yourself,
And that was fine.
But then, you know, the chores,
He was never satisfied with what we did.
There was always something wrong.
I mean, there were several times
Where the way he treated my mom or me
Or even my stepbrother got me in a fight with him.
By 2009, misty, cody, and their stepbrother adrian
Had grown up, moved out,
And pursued careers and families of their own.
- After that, I was totally dependent on chuck.
The abuse started slowly.
I wish I'd been strong enough to leave him and stay gone.
If I could go back and change things,
I absolutely would.
- On the morning of October 17th, 2009,
Police are called to pandora and charles' home
Altering the course of pandora's life forever.
- I got a call from sergeant tom thompson
Informing that, uh, there was a homicide
At an apartment in miamisburg.
Charles ended up being stabbed nearly 50 times.
There were wounds on his entire body
From legs to his head.
I've been in policework for 48 years now.
You see a lot of horrific crime scenes.
And I certainly have seen my share.
But this would be one of the ones
That really stands in your mind for how horrific
And how bloody, um, this scene was.
It leaves an imprint.
- Coming up...
Detectives hear pandora's version of events.
- That started the first lie.
"oh, somebody broke in and, you know,"
Because I didn't know what to say.
Even when I made my statement,
It still wasn't the whole truth.
♪
- On the morning of October 17th, 2009,
Police in miamisburg, ohio, are investigating
The murder of 45-year-old charles zan,
After he was found stabbed to death in his own home.
- Mr. Zan was found in bed.
He had stab wounds covering his body,
Nearly 50 of them.
There was blood virtually all over the room.
It was clear that there was one heck of a tussle
That had gone on between mr. Zan
And, uh, whoever perpetrated the offense.
- When questioned, charles' wife, pandora,
Tells detectives that she'd been asleep
And was startled awake by a noise.
When she got out of bed to investigate,
Someone attacked her.
- And that started the first lie,
"oh, somebody broke in,"
Because I didn't know what to say.
- The story was that the individual
Entered the apartment through that window.
She had indicated that she was hit on the head.
Pandora had indicated to officers initially
When the crime had occurred,
That the intruders, she believed,
Were african american males.
- Pandora explains that, after a loud struggle,
She heard one of the attackers say, "let's go,"
And the assault ended as quickly as it began.
- They got up and ran out the door,
And she got her phone and called 911.
- Pandora was released.
She was the wife of a victim.
She was a victim herself.
And so she was free to go.
As detectives begin to process the scene,
They find no sign of forced entry
At the front door.
But something else catches their attention
Near the bed.
- It was pandora zan herself that first indicated
That they had entered through the window
And that the-- they had cut the screen.
Officers examined that screen
And found that, in fact, it had been sliced.
But it had not been sliced to the degree
That we felt anybody would have been able
To enter into that apartment.
It became suspicious fairly quickly.
- Moving to the bed,
Detectives discover a crucial piece of evidence.
- In this case, there was a rubber glove
That was found at the crime scene.
And it's likely that the perpetrator
May have been wearing that glove.
- There was one more thing that was interesting,
That really stood out.
There was a small nightstand next to the bed.
The top drawer of that nightstand was opened up,
And there was blood inside the nightstand.
- Knowing that charles was a guard
At a correctional facility,
I just assumed he was probably going for his gun.
But we did not find a gun at the scene at the time.
- Detectives also search for the blade,
Or blades, used to murder charles.
- Some of the wounds were large,
Like it had been a large knife,
And some of them were small,
Like a smaller knife had been used.
- There were lots of knives in the residence,
And it was very possible that one of those knives
Could have been used, cleaned off,
And put back in a drawer or a block.
So, we took all the knives in the residence.
The coroner responded, came, picked up charles zan
For an autopsy.
- After giving pandora time
To collect herself from the shock,
Detectives invite her to the miamisburg police station
For more detailed questioning.
When asked about their relationship,
Pandora admits that she and charles
Had struggled through some marital problems.
- 14 months before all this happened,
Chuck had gotten involved in a relationship.
So, he had a girlfriend.
She was a c.O. At another prison.
So, he left a couple of times and went and stayed with her.
And I was like, okay, that's-that's cool.
We're done, you know?
Let's move on.
Um, when he realized that maybe I was moving on,
He wanted to come back.
- We thought there was a possibility
That perhaps the girlfriend
Might have something to do with it,
Because she might have felt mistreated
That he had left her and went back to his wife.
- Just hours into the investigation,
Pandora has supplied detectives with two angles to examine.
- It could've been the two perpetrators
That pandora described.
It could be a lover.
We're just trying to figure out
Who would've done this.
- I was basically living a lie.
I was scared that they would end up arresting me.
It was really hard, um, trying to pretend
That I didn't know what had happened.
♪
- In miamisburg, ohio, police are investigating
The ultra-violent stabbing death of charles zan.
The terrible news spreads through family and friends.
- I mean it was a shocker.
It just-- you know, it's just something
You just never ever thought in a million years, you know?
- I was kind of, like, numb at first.
- I gave my mom a hug as soon as I got there,
And then, I was just like, "what happened?"
My mom was just sitting there.
She looked blank.
- I think I was just grieving everything.
I was grieving the loss of him.
Seeking more information about their list
Of persons of interest,
Detectives track down the woman who dated charles
While he was separated from his wife, pandora.
- And so we had the opportunity
To speak with her about that time,
And about her relationship with charles.
She had been intimate with him.
- The woman claims she has not been romantically involved
With charles since February, eight months earlier.
- She had a pretty good alibi
And was quickly ruled out.
- After giving the family time to process the news,
Detectives begin interviewing the children...
Starting with charles's 18-year-old son, adrian,
And 19-year-old stepson, cody.
- They just happened to be at the same place,
So we talked to each of them individually.
Adrian was pretty upset
When we spoke with him.
He was wracking his brain,
Trying to think of who could have been involved,
But he just didn't know.
- After we interviewed adrian,
We interviewed cody.
What was interesting about cody is,
He had scrapes and scuffs
Near one of his eyes, on his face,
That could indicate someone was involved
In some type of an altercation.
- Certainly, officers were curious
As if he may not have been in an altercation,
And that altercation may have been with, uh, mr. Zan,
That he may have had involvement in it.
- After we were completing the interview with cody,
Even though there were some suspicions
Because of the visible scrapes
And abrasions that he had,
There wasn't enough really to hold him at that time,
So he was allowed to go.
- The day after the deadly home invasion,
The montgomery county coroner delivers the autopsy results.
- The coroner described 50-some stab wounds
All over the body.
A slit to his throat.
A knife had been shoved into one of his eyes.
There was knife wounds all over his head,
His torso, his back,
His arms, his hands, his legs.
- He died by bleeding out.
And it would have taken somewhere
Between 15 and 25 minutes, based on all the stab wounds.
When a victim has been that abused,
Most would consider that
This is someone who was close to him
Or knew him.
This would be considered a crime of passion.
- With leads running dry,
Detectives bring charles's stepdaughter, misty,
In for questioning.
She immediately makes a surprising claim.
- Chuck had been physically aggressive towards us.
- The abuse wasn't just towards me.
He also was abusive towards my children
And his son, physically.
Not so much towards misty,
But she suffered the verbal abuse.
I mean, it was-- it was rough.
I couldn't understand how somebody could act like that,
Like how chuck treated us.
- When you're dealing with something
Like this particular crime scene
Where it's so horrific,
One of the first things that you think of
Is it's somebody that had a vendetta,
Somebody that had a lot of emotion,
And probably hatred, perhaps, of the individual,
Certainly a lot of passion involved.
That would automatically bring in a spouse
That had difficulties in their marriage
That she may be harboring some of those feelings
And may have acted on them.
- I didn't protect myself. I didn't protect my children.
But I'd had enough.
I knew that I had to do something.
- Coming up:
Pandora suddenly has a new story
And presents a new suspect.
- I was like, "what am I gonna tell people?"
And cody was like, "I don't know.
You better think of something."
- It hurt that out of all the people,
That she was the one that set me up.
♪
- Two days after the murder of charles zan,
Detectives request to speak with charles' wife, pandora,
For a second interview.
- After her first interview,
She believed police were suspecting her
Of possibly involvement in this crime.
So she didn't really wanna participate
In any further interviews
Without having a support system.
And her support system was misty.
- Monday afternoon, pandora comes
To our police department with her daughter, misty.
- We start questioning her about the timeline,
And the things that weren't making sense to us.
- We talked to her about the fact
That someone could not have made entrance
Through that screen without tearing it.
- It was during that interview that misty,
Based on the questioning of the investigators,
Started to think that investigators may believe
That her mom is a suspect in this offense
And that misty herself
Started to become a little suspicious about it.
- With no hard evidence against pandora,
Detectives cannot hold her.
After leaving the police station,
Misty has a difficult realization.
- The thought crossed my mind that my mom or--
And/or my brother had-- might had been involved.
And then I got mad at myself for thinking like that.
- Misty summons the courage to confront her mother
And presents a theory of her own.
- I said, "let me give you a hypothetical situation,
And I want you to tell me if--
If it's possible I'm right."
The gist of it was, my brother did it,
My mom knew my brother did it,
And they were trying to cover it up.
And she said, "you... Wouldn't be wrong."
She had told my brother
That she wanted out of her relationship with chuck,
And that she thought the only way out
Was to commit suicide,
Because he would come after her if she left,
And my brother said, "I'll take care of it."
- It would be natural
That cody would want to protect me.
- I really at the time believed
It was the only way to save my mom's life,
And I would save her in a heartbeat anytime.
- She also said that my brother told her
That he was not gonna get arrested
If it ever came down to it.
He was gonna do suicide by cop.
And he had chuck's gun.
That evening, misty and pandora return
To the police station.
- Pandora tells detectives
That on the morning of the murder,
A noise woke her up around 5:50am.
- She then opened the door,
And cody was standing there with a knife in his hand.
And he said, "I'm telling you, get out now."
He sent me and the dog outside,
And I could still hear what was going on though.
- And then, after it was over with,
I was like, "what am I gonna tell people?"
And cody was like, "I don't know.
You better think of something."
- When I came in, I don't think
That chuck spoke to me directly.
He was almost gone, dead, um...
But he was still trying to fight.
And then...
And then he just stopped fighting,
And he was gone.
Even though I was the one
That precipitated what happened,
He still lost his life,
And there was still times that he was good, you know?
And so I was torn between
The position that I was in
And grieving for him.
- At that point,
I think her purpose was clearly
To put cody in the spotlight
And remove herself.
- And at some point in the interview,
She had indicated to investigators
That she had just received a text from cody.
- Detectives ask pandora if she'll help them
Try to get a confession from her son.
- And I helped the police set him up
To get him arrested.
- I felt like she kind of throwed me to the wolves
To try and save herself.
She abandoned me after everything I did for her.
♪
- With the help of pandora zan, police in miamisburg, ohio,
Have just heard her son, cody henderson,
Admit over the phone
To stabbing his stepfather, charles zan.
- Cody indicated after that
That he wasn't comfortable
Speaking about it on the phone any longer.
And, uh, it was arranged
That she would meet him at a hotel,
And they could talk about it further.
Police quickly set up a sting at the hotel.
- Officers were waiting inside the hotel room
For cody to arrive,
And they had pandora's car parked in front,
So he would think that she was inside.
He finally arrived around 3:00am.
- I went to a motel room
Thinking I was going to stay with her for the night,
And I went to knock on the motel room door,
And it flew open, and there was the detectives
And multiple cops with guns,
And I was shocked.
She worked with them,
And I understand why she did it, you know,
She didn't want me to hurt myself or to get hurt,
But I mean, at the time
It didn't make it any easier knowing that,
That out of all the people,
That she was the one that set me up.
- I was across from where they had told him--
Where I had told him to go.
I just collapsed, sobbing,
When I seen them arresting him.
He was so shocked,
And he didn't know--
He just looked so scared.
And it just hurt me so bad.
I wished I would have just called him
And say, "run".
Back then, I was still grieving.
I think I was just grieving everything.
I was grieving cody being arrested.
I was grieving all the changes that was gonna happen,
You know, down the road.
- Authorities take cody back to the station
For interrogation.
He immediately opens up
And confesses to killing his stepfather, charles zan.
- I told them I went inside.
He was asleep,
And I was telling myself, like, man,
You can't do this. This isn't you.
And he rolled over and started to wake up,
And, like, a light switch went off.
You know, I was-- I wasn't behind the wheel no more.
I mean, it was scary.
- When it comes down to it,
It was either take his life or probably lose mine
And know that my mom will follow me shortly after,
And that gave me strength, and I just--
I-I finished what I went there to do.
- Ultimately, cody admits
That when he lost the knife during this offense,
That he also lost his glove,
And that the glove that police found
Was in fact his glove.
- Cody was charged with a variety of charges,
Up to and including aggravated murder.
He was taken to montgomery county jail
In dayton, ohio.
- Although charles's stepson, cody, admitted to the murder,
It's clear to detectives
That he hasn't told the entire story.
When talking to charles' friends,
They uncover evidence
That pandora had a lot to gain from his death.
- The military has insurance
On all of their military people,
Because technically you belong to the military.
So, they had a big insurance on him.
I think it was, like, $500,000.
- There was life insurance,
But that had no bearing on what happened.
I would have been okay with money.
- After spending nearly two months behind bars,
Cody is ready to reveal the truth
Behind who masterminded the plot to kill charles zan.
- He said his mom had approached him
With the idea of the insurance policies,
Getting a large sum of money
And then sharing it after the crime.
- According to cody, pandora gave him money
To buy a hunting knife
And set the date for the slaying.
- She knows that she can get the son
To do this for her,
Where she doesn't necessarily have to get her hands dirty.
- On the morning of October 17th,
Cody arrived at the apartment
As instructed.
- I went there knowing
What I was going there to do.
And I mean, at the last minute, I almost chickened out,
But the door opens, and my mom comes out,
And I look over at her,
And she sees me and kind of freezes.
Now she's seen me.
If I leave now, she's gonna think that I--
I'm not gonna help her.
So I kind of pushed past her
And went inside.
- She remained standing outside
While cody was in with charles zan.
She heard the altercation occurring.
She heard charles screaming for help.
- At some point,
Cody came out,
And he said, "I lost a knife.
You need to help me look for the knife."
And then cody went into the kitchen,
Grabbed a kitchen knife,
And then went back to charles and continued stabbing him
With the kitchen knife, which--
Which she was present for.
- After everything happened,
I took some stuff from the house
And told my mom, like, "you have to call the cops,
"but if you could, you know,
"tell them you didn't see who it was
"and tell 'em that somebody stole some stuff
And that's all you know and give me a head start."
- Detectives now face the challenge
Of corroborating cody's new story.
- They didn't have enough to charge her,
Even after my brother had told them
That she offered to pay him.
It was just his word against hers.
- That's why we wanted to do
A last interview with pandora.
- I knew eventually they were gonna come for me,
And I knew they were working on cody really hard,
Trying to get him to say something.
I didn't get arrested for six months.
And honestly, and it's gonna sound crazy,
But when they finally came, it was a relief,
Because I'd been looking over my shoulder,
Trying to live a life and act like nothing was wrong,
And it was just... It was a relief.
- I think she was very rattled,
Knowing her son had told the truth,
And she just couldn't keep herself
From telling the truth anymore.
- I feel like the reason that I finally snapped was
There was years and years and years of abuse.
Mental, emotional, physical, sexual.
- It was parts of the truth,
But it still wasn't the whole truth.
I knew what was gonna happen.
♪
- Six months after the murder of charles zan,
Pandora zan finally admits
She knew her son, cody henderson, was responsible,
But claims his actions were justified.
- I was taking cody somewhere,
Maybe to the dentist or something another,
And I just told him, I said, "I can't do this anymore.
"one of two things is gonna happen,
"I'm either gonna kill myself,
Or I'm gonna kill him."
And cody said, "no, you're not.
I'll take care of it."
- I think that you would have to lack empathy,
Not just for the victim, for charles,
But also to lack empathy for your son.
Because you would have to know that at some point
Someone is going to find out,
And cody has to live with this.
- Authorities arrest pandora and charge her
With tampering with evidence, obstructing justice,
Aggravated robbery. And aggravated murder.
For many, pandora's claims are hard to believe.
- Chuck was not the perfect man,
But he did not deserve what he got.
As far as him physically hurting her,
I don't think he ever did.
- We were never able to corroborate it.
Certainly, there was indication
That charles was strict,
But not abusive.
- In March 2011, pandora heads to trial.
- When the trial came, I expected the guilty verdict.
A couple reasons, my mental health and the abuse
Were not allowed to be part of my trial.
Pandora is found guilty of eight felony counts
Related to the murder
And sentenced to life without parole,
With an additional 25 years.
- I believe I deserve to be in prison.
I've never said that I haven't. I do.
I did something wrong.
I participated in someone losing their life
The way that I did.
- Less than three months later,
Cody pleads guilty to multiple charges,
Including aggravated murder.
He is sentenced to life without parole,
Plus 15 years.
- I knew what was coming,
But it still knocked the wind out of me
Hearing it all official like that.
I can't tell you what that feels like
When you're getting told, like, your life is forfeit.
You belong to the state until you die.
- I wish that I'd never involved him in this,
That I'd never said anything to him,
That I'd just a done whatever it is I was gonna do.
He was 19 when this happened.
So he didn't even get a chance to grow into a man
And really have a life and a family,
And I hate that for him.
- For those who loved charles,
The sentences bring little closure.
- The thing that pandora and cody did,
They should have gotten more than life in prison.
- I miss chuck.
I really do.
He was a good guy; he was fun to be around.
He just got cut short in life.
It's not fair. It's really not fair.
- I live with regret every day.
Every day that I wake up, I live with regret.
I regret that he didn't get a chance to be a grandpa
Or that he didn't get to see the men
That his sons turned into.
There's a lot of people that suffered because of this.
- I've grown up a lot
In the last almost 15 years.
I mean, I've had to.
But I-I try to be a good person.
I don't wanna spend the rest of my life in prison,
But that's my reality now.
- I just hope that at some point...
In his incarceration,
That cody finds some peace with all of this
And that he finds something in his life
To give his life purpose
Because he hasn't found that yet,
And that hurts my heart for him.
- Mom, I-I love you like crazy.
I miss you.
Uh, I just hope that, that you don't let this,
You know, beat you up.
It's not your fault.
I did what I did to protect you,
And I don't regret that.
I wish we could change things, but I'm--
I'm just happy that you're okay.
♪