Dec. 22 (UPI) — A San Diego County jury found Jade Janks, 39, guilty of first-degree murder in the December 2020 killing of her stepfather, 64-year-old Thomas Merriman.
Janks was convicted of killing her stepfather on New Year’s Eve, just days after finding a cache of nude photos of her on his computer. Janks then drugged Merriman and attempted to suffocate him. She faces up to 25 years in prison.
Merriman’s cause of death was listed as an overdose of prescription sleep aids.
The photos of Janks were taken by an ex-boyfriend years prior, then shared with her stepfather. Prosecutors alleged Janks found the photos when she was cleaning Merriman’s home. Merriman was in the hospital at the time. At that point she plotted out a way to kill and dispose of her stepfather.
The prosecution believed Janks conspired with others to kill Merriman by strangulation and suffocation with a plastic bag on his head, suggesting an unnamed person was in the home while Merriman was drugged. Janks asked the man to strangle Merriman, but the man “did not want to get involved and left.”
The defense argued that Merriman died as a result of his poor health and substance abuse. It claimed there was no evidence of strangulation or asphyxiation.
Janks claimed her stepfather was unable to walk into his house when she brought him home from the hospital due to being heavily medicated. She said she could not move him herself so she left him in the vehicle while he slept. When she returned later she found him dead.
A text message sent by Janks the day of Merriman’s death was shared as evidence.
“I just dosed the hell out of him,” the message said.
Prosecutor Jorge Del Portillo said the text message was a confession.
The trial began on Dec. 9.
