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ON December 2022, a woman named Jade Janks was found guilty of first-degree murder.
She was found responsible for the death of her stepfather, Tom Merriman.
Who is Jade Janks?
Jade Janks was an interior designer based in Solana Beach, California.
Per her LinkedIn page, she studied in both San Diego Mesa College and MiraCosta College.
Janks worked in various design firms before opening her own in 2018.
Her business, Jade Janks Interiors, promises to “see to it you have all the tools to help you create a one-of-a-kind space you are proud to call home.”
What did Jade Janks do?
Jade Janks murdered her stepfather, Tom Merriman, after finding out that he was in possession of her intimate photos.
In December 2020, when Merriman was in a rehab center and Janks was cleaning his home, she chanced upon his computer which contained the photos, per CBS News.
“I look, and I’m like, those are my breasts,” she said.
Upon further investigation, she found more of those photos in his computer, all of which were never shared with Merriman.
She had reportedly sent them to her former partners in the past and had no idea how Merriman had gotten ahold of them.
“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.”
On New Year’s Day of 2021, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department received a call from Janks’ friend who claimed that Janks “might have possibly killed her stepdad.”
Janks initially cooperated during the investigation, but soon asked for a lawyer.
Authorities found Merriman’s remains outside his home a day later.
He was reportedly wrapped in a blanket and covered with garbage.
Janks was arrested for his murder, and during the murder trial, she pleaded not guilty.
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She claimed that Merriman overdosed on pills and let him sleep in her car after picking him up from the rehab center.
She said she found him dead the next morning and panicked, as she did not want to be blamed for his death.
She admitted to being the one wrapping him in a blanket and surrounding him with trash to try and hide him.
However, per the investigators, Janks sent a text to someone after picking up Merriman. It read: “I just dosed the hell out of him.”
What was her verdict?
Jade Janks was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
According to the prosecutors, Janks murdered Tom Merriman through strangulation, suffocation, and lethal doses of pills.
“I’m sorry I didn’t act the way I was supposed to that day. I think about it every day,” Janks said in court.
“And to Tom’s family, I understand you hate me for what you believe I did to Tom. However, there’s a lot more than you’ll never understand.”
She also said that when she met him when she was a little girl, his influence “manifested itself into inappropriate touch, coercion, reckless behavior, and complete violation as what I now realize years of psychological manipulation.”
“All of this came crashing down on me when I noticed hundreds of naked photos of myself on his computer and felt shattered.”
Meanwhile, Merriman’s brother, Terrence, said that Tom “didn’t deserve to die by the torture the killer put him through.”
“May Jade Janks find no peace in confinement, no rest in her hours, no false promise of forgiveness.
“It is because of her soulless actions that we must endure Tom’s absence forever.”
Where is Jade Janks now?
Jade Janks is currently serving her sentence at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California.
She will be available for parole in 2038.
She is also appealing her conviction.
