WATCHING her son Cody get arrested, Pandora Zan collapsed sobbing – her heart breaking as she realised his life was over before it had begun,
He was just 19, and he had brutally murdered Pandora’s husband Charles, slitting his throat and stabbing him over 50 times all over his body including through his eye.
It was a gruesome and horrifying crime, but perhaps equally shocking was the revelation Pandora actually coerced her son into carrying out the deadly plan – and then set him up in an undercover police sting.
Now, 15 years on from the gruesome murder, Pandora Zan and her son Cody Henderson have both opened up from prison on a new Hayu documentary series, Snapped: Behind Bars.
Incredibly despite everything, Cody, who is speaking for the first time ever, reveals he doesn’t blame him mum, even saying: “Mum, I love you like crazy, I miss you… It’s not your fault. I did what I did to protect you and I don’t regret that.
“I really believed at the time it was the only way to save my mum’s life.
“I made a conscious decision, 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 mum and I’m sorry for anybody I’ve hurt.”
‘We had a normal family’
Before meeting Charles, accounting specialist Pandora Henderson had been married and had two children, daughter Misty and son Cody.
She was a doting mum, saying: “Holding my kids for the first time was just amazing. I’d never felt love like that for anyone before.
“Cody as a child was super affectionate, it was nothing for him to come up and hug [me] and he always told me that he loved me.”
Speaking about his childhood before his parents split, Cody says: “We did a lot of stuff as a family.
“All the holidays were a big deal… We had a normal family dynamic.”
‘He swept me off my feet’
Unfortunately Pandora’s marriage didn’t last, and she filed for divorce in 2001, when Cody was 11.
That same year she started online dating, and met dad-of-one Charles Zan – a former marine turned corrections officer known as Chuck.
Pandora says: “When we first met and started dating he swept me off my feet. He cooked, and played music… and made me feel just very special.
“It sounds crazy but within a month of meeting him I’d moved me and my kids in with him.”
Cody says: “When my mum first introduced us to Chuck he seemed like a nice guy.
“We were always going out as a little family group, going out for dinner, and she seemed really happy so I was happy for her because that’s what I wanted to see – my mum happy.”
‘The abuse started slowly’
However Cody and Pandora claim things quickly began to change.
Cody says: “Starting out it was just normal stuff you know, do your homework before you go outside to play or clean up after yourself, and that was fine.
“But then with chores he was never satisfied with what we did – there was always something wrong.
“There were several times where the way he treated my mum or me or even my stepbrother got me into a fight with him.”
By 2009 Misty, Cody and their stepbrother Adrian had all moved out to start their own lives.
Pandora says: “After that I was totally dependent on Chuck.
“The abuse started slowly. I wish I’d been strong enough to leave him. If I could go back and change things I absolutely would.”
‘There was blood everywhere’
Finally things came to a head on October 17 2009, and Pandora made the frantic call to police just after 6am from their studio apartment.
“There’s blood everywhere and stab wounds everywhere,” she cried, claiming initially someone had broken in and attacked her husband, stabbing him over 50 times.
Within minutes the first officers arrived on the scene. Miamisburg police detective Tom Thompson says: “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 he had stab wounds all over his body, there had been a tremendous struggle.
“He died by bleeding out. It would have taken somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes.”
Describing the scene, police detective Jeff Muncy added: “In my 25 years this is probably the most gruesome thing I’ve ever seen.”
5 must-watch Hayu true crime shows
- Deadly Cults – In this series, investigators uncover and expose the dark world of cults that kill. Each episode focuses on a different cult, looking at the behaviour of their leaders and followers.
- Snapped: Killer Couples – Each episode reveals the shocking story of a couple who have committed murder together. A spin-off of series Snapped, which chronicled lives of women who lost control and were charged with murder, the show has aired 17 seasons, each with ten episodes.
- In Ice Cold Blood – Hosted by Ice-T, this series exposed outrageous tales and shocking true stories involving sex, money, murder and sometimes a fatal cocktail of all three.
- Charmed To Death – A series following the true stories of manipulative and deceptively dangerous criminals who use their charm to cheat, steal and lure unsuspecting victims into romantic relationships, ultimately leaving a wake of devastation and death.
- The Girl In The Box – Colleen Stan relives what it was like to be kidnapped, imprisoned in a box, and how she bravely escaped. The 20-year-old’s ordeal all started when she accepted a ride from Cameron Hooker, and she was kept captive for nearly a year…
‘I was living a lie’
Pandora later told police she’d been asleep and was startled awake by a noise, and was attacked..
She says now: “That started the first lie – ‘somebody broke in’ – because I didn’t know what else to say.
“I was basically living a lie. I was scared they would arrest me.”
She admitted during a police interview she’d been having marital problems, telling police Charles had cheated on her with a work colleague.
Police also interviewed Charles’ son Adrian and Cody – who suspiciously had scrapes on his face – and Pandora’s daughter Misty was also questioned, and revealed Charles had been abusive.
However, she also quickly began to suspect her mum and brother may have been involved.
Speaking previously in a 2019 documentary, Misty said: “The thought crossed my mind that [they] might have been involved and then I got mad at myself for thinking like that.”
She confronted her mother, who told her Cody had killed Charles, saying: “She told my brother she wanted out of her relationship with Chuck and she thought the only way out was to commit suicide because he would come after her if she left.
“My brother said ‘I’ll take care of it.'” She also said my brother told her that he was not going to get arrested. If it ever came down to it he was going to [kill himself].”
‘Thrown to the wolves’
Misty and Pandora returned to the police station, where Pandora told police Cody had carried out the attack.
Miamisburg police chief John Sedlak says: “At that point I think her purpose was clearly to put Cody in the spotlight and remove herself.”
I felt like she [threw] me to the wolves to save herself. She abandoned me after everything I did for her”
Cody Henderson
Fearing her son would take his own life, Pandora agreed to help police and recorded a call with Cody in which he confessed to stabbing Chuck “a bunch” of times, before arranging a meet him at a motel – where cops were waiting to arrest him.
Cody says: “I felt like she [threw] me to the wolves to save herself. She abandoned me after everything I did for her.
“I was shocked. I understand why she did it… but at the time it didn’t make it any easier.”
At the police station Cody immediately opened up and confessed.
“I was protecting my mum,” he told officers. “Sometimes you just got to do something you don’t want to do for a family member.”
‘I live with regret every day’
While Cody admitted the murder, police also discovered Pandora had a lot to gain from his death, as Charles had a life insurance policy – which Cody revealed she’d offered to split with him.
He also revealed she’d given him money to buy a hunting knife and set the date for the killing.
Six months later Pandora was arrested and charged with aggravated murder, saying: “When they finally came, it was a relief.”
In March 2011 Pandora was found guilty and sentenced to life without parole.
Cody plead guilty and was also sentenced to life without parole.
Pandora adds: “I wish I’d never involved [Cody] in this…
“He didn’t even get a chance to grow into a man and really have a life and a family… I live with regret everyday.”
It’s a crime that’s really had a lasting impact, and even now there are questions if the full truth has been revealed.
Police chief John Sedlak says: “There’s an indication that Pandora is not only a master manipulator, but she’s a pathological liar.
“Even though 15 years has passed I still think about [the] horrific event.”
Season two of Snapped: Behind Bars is available to stream on Hayu.
