Jade Janks left a trail of clues in the murder of Tom Merriman. A look at the evidence.

Jade Janks, 39, and Tom Merriman, 64, were stepdaughter and stepfather living in Solana Beach, California. Janks worked as an interior designer and Merriman was the CEO of a nonprofit called Butterfly Farms. Prosecutors say in December 2020, Janks found explicit photos of herself on Merriman’s computer. Soon after, he’s found dead and Janks is arrested for Merriman’s murder. Was it revenge?

1995: Jade Janks becomes Tom Merriman’s stepdaughter

Janks and Merriman met when Jade was 14 and Tom married Jade’s mother. They stayed close even after that marriage ended. Merrriman called Janks his daughter and she called him her dad.

April 2020: Janks and Merriman become neighbors

In April 2020, Janks and Merriman became next door neighbors on a quiet street less than a mile from the ocean in Solana Beach. Janks would later tell a jury about her relationship with Merriman: “It’s hard to come by somebody you just feel that you can trust completely. And I did feel that way.”    

Merriman’s neighbors, the Hamiltons

As the COVID lockdown continued, Janks said she and Merriman saw a lot of each other. Merriman’s neighbors, George and Ramona Hamilton, spoke to CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith in 2023. Ramona Hamilton said Merriman and Janks were close and said Merriman told her Janks cooked him dinner every night.

Dec. 15, 2020: Merriman is admitted to the hospital

On Dec. 15, 2020,  Merriman had a bad fall at home. He was brought to Scripps Hospital in Encinitas, California, to get his injuries checked and be treated for alcohol withdrawal. Merriman had suffered from heart and liver problems and had a pacemaker.

Dec. 23, 2020: Janks finds explicit photos

While Merriman was in the hospital, Janks says she was cleaning his apartment when she discovered that Merriman had nude photos of her saved on his computer. Janks looked further and found there were hundreds of photos, some in folders with explicit titles. She said, “It was the most violating, just awful, gut-wrenching feeling ever. I felt sick. I felt like, I couldn’t even touch my own skin.”  

Dec. 23, 2020: Janks goes on Facebook for help

The day Janks found those photos she was introduced to Alan Roach through a mutual friend on Facebook. Roach worked in private security, and Janks later told a jury she wanted to find “somebody to look out for [her] and make sure that [she] was safe.” In one of his Facebook messages to Janks, Roach said, “If you have a problem, I can fix it for you.”

Alan Roach was not charged with any crime in connection to this case.   

Jan. 1, 2021: A curious phone call to police

On the morning of Jan. 1, 2021, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department got a phone call from a man named Adam Siplyak. Siplyak  identified himself as a friend of Janks’ and told police “she might have possibly killed her stepdad.”

Jan. 1, 2021: Where’s Tom Merriman?

Following that phone call, police arrived at Merriman’s house in the afternoon to look for him but had no success. They also called friends and family members, but no one had heard from Merriman.    

Jan. 1, 2021: Janks talks to police

While investigators were at Merriman’s home looking for him, they saw Janks heading out of the driveway in her SUV. Detectives brought Janks into the station to answer questions. Janks said she didn’t know where Merriman went and invoked her right to an attorney.

Jan. 2, 2021 | Approximately 7 a.m.: Merriman is found

With no sign of Merriman and no information from Janks about his whereabouts, police got a search warrant and spent the early morning hours of Jan. 2, 2021, combing Merriman and Janks’ homes for clues. Later that morning, Detective Rosa Patron took a closer look at this pile of garbage in Merriman’s driveway and realized his body was lying underneath it, wrapped in a blanket with trash stacked on top of him.

Jan. 2, 2021 7:15 a.m.: Jade Janks is arrested

As soon as investigators found Merriman’s body, they placed Janks under arrest for his murder. 

Jan. 3, 2021:  Autopsy reveals prescription drugs in Merriman’s blood

At his autopsy, the medical examiner found Merriman had high levels of the prescription sleeping medication Zolpidem, commonly known as Ambien, in his system, along with several other prescription medications. 

Clues in Janks’ car

Investigators found numerous clues inside Janks’ vehicle, including items she purchased at the store for what prosecutors would later call a “murder kit.” 

Janks goes shopping

After Janks picked Merriman up on Dec. 31, 2020, she stopped at a shopping plaza near where she and Merriman lived. Janks went into CVS, a liquor store, and then a hardware store, where she purchased gloves, towels, and a nylon cord.

A “murder kit”?

Prosecutors would later refer to the items Janks purchased after picking Merriman up as a “murder kit,” including this red nylon rope. 

Gloves to hide evidence of a crime?

Janks also purchased gloves at the store that same day. Prosecutors believe Janks strangled Merriman inside her car in the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2020. 

A makeshift gag?

Prosecutor Jorge Del Portillo showed a jury how the towels Janks purchased on Dec. 31, 2020, could have been used to gag Merriman.

Janks’ phone a “gold mine” say prosecutors

When detectives unlocked Janks’ phone, they found a wealth of evidence including numerous text messages which prosecutors Jorge Del Portillo and Teresa Pham called “a gold mine” of incriminating evidence against Janks. 

Janks sent to a text to Alan Roach soon after she picked Merriman up from the rehab center on Dec. 31, 2020 saying, “I just dosed the hell out of him.”

Dec. 7, 2022: The people v. Jade Janks

Almost two years after Tom Merriman’s death, prosecutors Jorge Del Portillo and Teresa Pham made the case against Jade Janks for Merriman’s murder.

Dec. 21, 2022: “Guilty”

Janks testified at trial in her own defense, saying she did not kill Merriman. She did admit to covering up his body, saying she had found him lifeless in her vehicle on the morning of Jan. 1, 2021, and panicked, thinking she would be blamed for his death. Here she appears stunned as the jury delivered a guilty verdict in the case.

March 6, 2023: Janks’ sentencing

At her sentencing, Janks told the court that Merriman’s influence “manifested itself into inappropriate touch, coercion, reckless behavior, and complete violation of what I now realize was years of psychological manipulation.” She says it all came crashing down when she discovered those nude photos of herself on Merriman’s computer. 

Janks did not tell this story during the trial, and “48 Hours” cannot verify if it is true. Despite her statement, the judge sentenced Janks to serve 25 years to life in prison for Merriman’s murder.