On January 1, 2021, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department received a disturbing call. A man claimed that his ex-girlfriend, Jade Janks, had killed her stepfather, Thomas Merriman — and that she had asked him to help move the body. Authorities quickly learned that Janks, an interior designer who had been close to Merriman since childhood, may have had a motive.
According to the report, “after authorities found Merriman’s body under a pile of trash in his driveway, they learned that Janks may have had a reason to murder him.”
A Long-Standing Relationship Turns Dark
Jade Janks, born on October 14, 1983, in Texas, came from a well-off family and had what seemed to be a normal upbringing. Her mother married Thomas Merriman during Janks’ teenage years. The couple had a turbulent relationship, filing for divorce three times — in 2002, 2006, and 2008.
Still, “Janks maintained a close relationship with Merriman, whom she considered her father.” She said, “He would call me his daughter and I would call him my dad,” as quoted by CBS.
Even into adulthood, their bond seemed strong. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, Janks moved next door to Merriman to be closer to him. “She spent a great deal of time with him, and even cooked him dinner most nights.”
A Horrifying Discovery
On December 15, 2020, Merriman suffered a serious fall and was admitted to Scripps Hospital in Encinitas, California. Janks went to clean up his home. What she found on December 23 would change everything.
“While tidying up his room, Janks bumped into Merriman’s home computer and awakened the screen saver. The image of a woman’s breasts caught Janks off guard — but then she realized who they belonged to.”
“I look and I’m like, those are my breasts,” she later said.
Upon logging into the computer, Janks found “hundreds of files containing nude images — of herself. All of the images were taken consensually with Janks’ former boyfriends, starting when Janks was 16, but Janks had no idea how Merriman had gotten his hands on them.”
“It was the most violating, just awful, gut-wrenching feeling ever,” Janks explained. “I remember I felt sick. I felt I couldn’t even touch my own skin.”
The Body Discovered
On January 1, 2021, Adam Siplyak called the police and reported that his ex-girlfriend, Jade Janks, might have killed her stepfather. He said that on December 31, Janks had texted him, asking for help moving the body.
Authorities attempted to contact Merriman’s family. No one had heard from him. They went to his home. “While pulling up the driveway, authorities found Janks driving away from her home.” She claimed she had last seen Merriman after picking him up from the hospital and dropping him off at home.
A search of the house revealed nothing — until the morning of January 2, when “one officer noticed a pile of trash in the home’s driveway. Upon investigation, they found the body of Tom Merriman, wrapped in a blanket and covered in trash.”
Jade Janks’ Version of Events
At her December 2022 trial, Jade Janks pleaded not guilty. “An autopsy of Merriman’s body found that he had high levels of Ambien in his system.” Merriman had a history of drug and alcohol abuse. Janks claimed his death was due to that.
Janks told the court that on December 31, 2020, Merriman had called her to confirm she would pick him up from the hospital. She did — stopping at CVS and a hardware store with him in the car.
She claimed Merriman “had become virtually incoherent from prescription medications he’d taken, including Ambien.” She said she tried to bring him back to the hospital, but no one came to help her. Eventually, she called Adam Siplyak.
Siplyak allegedly arrived but left quickly. According to Janks, she left Merriman in the car overnight, wrapped in a blanket. The next morning, he was dead. “Panicked, Jade moved his body under the pile of trash.”
As for the explicit photos, the defense team chose not to introduce them as evidence. “Janks reportedly destroyed the computer’s hard drive the day she found the images — making her the only person alive to have seen them.”
The Prosecution’s Case
The prosecution had a different story, and they brought forward compelling evidence.
They revealed that “Jade Janks had reached out to Alan Roach, a local security guard who she had met through a mutual friend, after discovering the photos of herself on Merriman’s computer.” Roach had once told her, “If you have a problem, I could fix it for you.”
Text messages sent by Janks on December 31 revealed a chilling sequence of events:
- “I just dosed the hell out of him.”
- “He’s waking up. I really don’t want to be the one to do this.”
- “I can’t carry him alone and I can’t keep a kicking body in my trunk.”
- “I am about to club him on the head as he is waking up.”
- “I’m not strong enough. He is very aware now and I am on my own.”
Security footage from the day shows Janks buying “red rope, gloves, towels, and other items” from CVS and the hardware store. Janks said these were for a painting project; prosecutors claimed it was a “murder kit.”
They also found “Jade Janks’ DNA on Tom Merriman’s Ambien prescription — and a plastic bag containing Merriman’s DNA inside of it,” suggesting attempted asphyxiation.
Guilty Verdict and Sentencing
With the combined evidence — “the text messages, security footage, and DNA findings” — the prosecution argued that Janks tried to asphyxiate Merriman, and when that failed, gave him a lethal dose of Ambien.
On December 21, 2022, “Jade Janks was found guilty of the first degree murder of her stepfather and received a sentence of 25 years to life.”
She will be eligible for parole when she turns 64 — “the same age Tom Merriman was at the time of his brutal murder
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