New details are being revealed about Jade Janks, the California woman convicted of killing her stepfather after finding explicit photos of herself on his computer.
Tom Merriman was found dead in his driveway under a mound of trash in January of 2021.
Merriman and Janks' mother got married when she was 14. She stayed close to her stepdad, even after he and her mom got divorced, CBS News reported.
"He would call me his daughter and I would call him my dad," Janks said following Merriman's death.
Janks was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. She is currently serving her sentence in the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla.
48 Hours correspondent Tracy Smith investigated what happened to the stepfather in an encore of "Jade Janks and the Secret Photos," which aired June 22 and is streaming on Paramount+.
Marc Carlos, the defense attorney for Janks, said they are seeking an appeal in a statement to Newsweek.
"A notice of appeal has been filed in the case and briefs are currently being prepared by her appellate counsel," Carlos said. "As for the trial, Ms. Janks has maintained her innocence since her arrest. Ms. Janks found her privacy and familial relationship violated by Mr. Merriman. As a result, her conduct on the date of Mr. Merriman's death was irrational and confusing. Jade insists, and the Medical Examiner supports, that Mr. Merriman died as a result of Zolpidem intoxication and his own health issues."
How the murder unfolded
She moved next door to Merriman in Solana Beach during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He suffered a bad fall in his home and was admitted to a hospital on December 15, 2020. He was later moved to a rehabilitation center.
While Merriman was at the rehabilitation center, Janks cleaned his house. She saw Merriman's computer monitor turn on and an image of a woman's breasts was on the screen.
"I look," Janks said. "And I'm like, those are my breasts."
Janks said she then logged into the computer and found hundreds of explicit photos of herself. She claimed she never shared these photos with Merriman and they were taken consensually with partners. She said she was "in complete shock" after finding the pictures.
"It was the most violating, just awful, gut-wrenching feeling ever. I remember I felt sick. I felt I couldn't even touch my own skin," Janks said in court.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department received a call from Adam Siplyak, a friend of Janks, on New Year's Day in 2021. Siplyak told authorities that Janks "might have possibly killed her stepdad."
Siplyak claimed that Janks confessed to the crime and asked him to help move the body. He left Janks' home after the conversation and he never saw the body.
Officials saw Janks leaving Merriman's home and asked her to come in for questioning, which she agreed to do willingly. She claimed she picked Merriman up from the rehabilitation center, but she did not know where he was now. She then requested a lawyer and stopped answering questions.
Deputies searched both Janks' and Merriman's apartments but they did not find Merriman.
San Diego Sheriff's Detective Rosa Patron found the body the next day in the driveway, wrapped in a blanket and covered with trash, tools and a stack of empty cardboard boxes.
Janks was arrested and later charged with first-degree murder. She pleaded not guilty.
The Jada Janks murder trial
Her trial began in December of 2022. Her defense team argued she did not kill Merriman and he instead died of poor health and off-label use of prescription drugs.
During the trial, Janks said she picked Merriman up and he had taken pills that caused him to have difficulty walking. She said she was unable to get help so she decided to let him sleep it off. When she woke up the next morning and realized he died, she panicked and did not want to get blamed for his death, so she tried to hide his body.
However, text messages between Janks and Alan Roach, a freelance security guard she met on Facebook, showed a different version of events.
Janks' texts to Roach included "I just dosed the hell out of him" and "He's waking up. I'm about ready to club him."
Her last text to him before her arrest was, "Lose my number. I'm getting pulled over."
Roach never came to assist Janks, he did not appear at the trial and he was not charged in the incident.
Janks took the stand at her trial. She spoke about her close relationship with her father and discovering the photos on Merriman's computer. She also detailed how she met Roach.
She said she wanted Roach to protect her while she showered because she felt "vulnerable." She also said they came up with a plan where Roach would confront Merriman about the photos and demand he delete them.
Janks maintained that she did not kill her stepfather, just moved the body after he died.
"I was scared. I didn't want to get blamed. I was the one who had just picked him up; I had destroyed his computer... I didn't want to be blamed for killing him," Janks said.
After a trial lasting 10 days, the jury deliberated for a little over a day before reaching the guilty verdict.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
");jQuery(this).remove()})jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')}if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})
