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Jade Janks was a hip and fashionable young woman who had a vibrant and wholesome style that made her a favorite with family and friends, and fueled her successful career as an interior decorator in California. 

Even though her mom had divorced her stepdad, Tom Merriman, Jade remained close with the co-founder of a butterfly farm and dutifully agreed to help take care of him as his health deteriorated. 

Merriman’s health issues left him an invalid and Jade lived next door to help him. He relied on the young woman heavily and she even had dinner with him every night. She considered him family. 

That’s why Jade vomited when she inadvertently discovered Merriman had nude photos of her on his computer in 2020. Jade didn’t confront her former stepdad, but she told friends what happened saying the experience had left her in shock and disgust, to the point she couldn’t even shower or touch her own skin. 

Not long after she found the photos, 64-year-old Tom Merriman died. Police found him in the driveway under a wheelbarrow and pile of boxes and wrapping paper left over from Christmas.

What happened to Merriman depends on who you ask. 

Police say Jade was angry at him because of the photos, strangled him and tried to hide his body until she could move it. 

Jade admits she was upset with Merriman but adamantly denied killing him. 

Merriman, who was addicted to opioids and Ambien, was often intoxicated. The night he died, Jade had just picked him up from the hospital after he had been sick again. She said he was out of it and the people she had called to help her move him inside didn’t show up, so she decided to let him sleep it off in the car. 

She said she later found Merriman had died and she tried to move him back inside his house, but she couldn’t, so she covered his body in the driveway, worried she would be blamed for his death.

So, did she, or didn’t she kill her stepfather? 

Listen to see, in the next episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Secret stache of nudes leads Jade Janks to kill her stepdad.”

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Alabama’s oldest, active cold case is a wild, real-life tale of three cousins who disappeared one night in 1956 after heading off to a party in the moonshining, mountain country of northern Jefferson County, Alabama. 

Their family never saw them again.

The theories as to what happened to Robert Earl Dye, Billy Howard, and Dan Brasher are believed to be part truth, part gossip, and part urban legend. 

Did they get caught stealing from a bootlegger? 

Were they thrown down an abandoned mine shaft? 

Shot in a cave? 

Or are they buried in their truck somewhere underneath Highway 79?

The young men were last seen leaving a relative’s home in Billy’s 1947 green, Ford truck headed for the party. The cousins worked hard and partied harder, so no one was too concerned when they failed to show up for a couple of days. 

Folks got worried, though, when they missed payday at their construction job and a search began that would last decades. All they ever found was a few tantalizing clues and wild theories, but most agree moonshine was involved.

Members of their family died searching for answers and a tip line for the case is still open nearly 70 years later.  

Join us for a trip into the rural backwoods of Alabama in the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Moonshine, Murder, and Missing Men in the Mountains: the Unsolved Mystery of The Brasher-Dye Disappearance.”

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Money is no object, especially when it’s not yours. That seemed to be the philosophy of former Indiana Sheriff Jamey Nole who was also once the star of his own reality television show on prisons, “60 Days In.” 

Even though he was the highest paid public official in his county at just under $200,000 a year, he was living like he made $2 million a year because he was misappropriating money meant for the community like EMS ambulance service, and the fire department, as well as using county resources, like inmate labor, to work on his home and rental properties, and collection of classic cars. 

Noel was so brazen about his corruption, he even paid his mistress’s child support with the stolen money, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on vacations and shopping sprees for his wife and daughter, who are also implicated in the fraudulent scheme. 

Before Noel was finally busted most people were afraid to confront the politically powerful sheriff who had been besties with the governor and thought he was untouchable, until he wasn’t. 

Join us for details on how he was caught in the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Reverse Robin Hood Jamey Noel: The Sheriff who Stole from the People to get His.”

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Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of assassinating the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare on the streets of New York, is being hailed as a hero by some who, like him, have experienced the pain, stress, and outrage over deteriorating health and stuck in a quagmire of what will and won’t be covered by insurance.  

Police and others say he’s a murdering menace - a calculating killer who ambushed 50-year-old Brian Thompson, a husband and father of two teenage sons, and was lying in wait for the executive who never him coming until it was too late.  

Mangione has since been extradited back to New York and has pleaded not guilty to murdering Thompson. It’s the start of a case that’s about more than murder for many.

It has struck a nerve with folks across the country who feel that people’s lives and quality of life are just the cost of doing business for the healthcare insurance industry.  

A media circus surrounds the accused killer to the point that it took a small army for his “perp walk” and even Mangione and his lawyer appear to be “twinning,” in near matching outfits at his court hearing.  

He has become such a pop icon that even universities and other countries are having look-like-Luigi contests and the prisoners incarcerated with him adore him.

It’s a hard to pill to swallow when a killer becomes a rock star. 

Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast “Sick to death: Luigi Mangione guns down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson streets of New York.”

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Why Christian Ketchup was armed at a bar the night he ran into her sister, Tierra Binion, Diamond Jordan doesn’t know. What she does know is that she wants him to be held accountable for the murder he is accused of committing. 

Investigators say Christian gunned down the 25-year-old mother of twin boys in the parking lot of Mugs ‘n Jugs, a Pensacola bar popular with people around college-age. 

According to deputies, Tierra and Christian’s girlfriend, Rachel DeRise, had words and the two women fought until Christian stepped in and punched several times, knocking her to the ground. 

DeRise then jumped on Tierra, who was already dazed, and began punching her, witnesses say, and that’s when Christian allegedly “unloaded” his gun into the possibly unconscious woman, hitting her 10 times, the victim’s sister said. 

Ketchup is charged with second degree murder and has pleaded not guilty. In the latest court filings, he is asking for more time to raise money to find a self-defense expert. His next court hearing is today, and Tierra’s sister plans to be there for the case status check.

Losing her sister is heartbreaking enough, but staying on top of the case makes it even more emotionally grueling for Diamond, especially after Christian’s co-defendant, Rachel, received a “slap on the wrist” from the court in Diamond’s opinion for her role in what happened.

No matter what, Diamond is determined to speak up for her sister and fight for her since Tierra can no longer fight for herself.

Join us and listen in on the conversation in this latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “New to murder: Christian Ketchup accused of killing Tierra Binion in cold blood; Victim’s sister is her voice.”  

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The morning that she died, Laken Riley did everything right. The University of Georgia nursing student let her friends and her mom know she was going for a run on campus. She even shared her location on her smartwatch and told her roommates where she would be. 

Despite making every effort to stay safe, the 22-year-old rule follower crossed paths with someone who broke every rule, including crossing the border illegally. 

Jose Ibarra wasn’t supposed to be in the United States much less in Athens, Georgia, but he didn’t let laws stand in the way of what he wanted and when he saw Laken Riley jogging past, he decided he wanted to her, too.

Ibarra seemed to always take what he wanted. Just a couple of hours before he attacked and tried to sexually assault Laken, he had been spotted peeping in the window and trying the doorknob of the apartment of another coed, apparently on the prowl for his next victim. 

Laken fought for him fiercely for nearly twenty minutes. Prosecutors say she was determined he wouldn’t rape her. Her smartwatch, meant to help keep her safe, ended up recording the evidence of her murder. 

Although Laken did everything she was supposed to do, she paid the price for others who didn’t. 

Join us for the latest episode of Gulf Coast Confidential on this crime of opportunity for a criminal who should never have even been here in the first place. 

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Pastor Jeff Brown was doing more than just preaching to the choir when he began a love triangle with church Choir Director Cindy Reese, and tragically for Cindy’s husband, Michael, he was on the losing end. 

What started as a small-town scandal escalated into a murder investigation and the trail of evidence lead from the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store and favorite burger joint to the church and eventually the Julia Tutwiler prison. 

The illicit lovers thought their affair was a secret, but everybody in the tiny Alabama town knew about it, even the deacons. Everybody, that is, except for Michael Reese. Even after Jeff and Cindy were caught, they never did seek forgiveness.

The devil is in the details even to the point where they were trying to blame Michael’s murder on each other. 

You’ll want to sit on the front pew for this latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast “The Pig, the Pastor and the Music Director: Unholy Love Triangle Ends in Execution-Style Murder.”

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Phil Hartman was one of Hollywood’s leading funny men. There was no impression he couldn’t make, no character he couldn’t bring to life on screen, from appearances on The Simpsons to skits on Saturday Night Live and roles in dozens of movies. 

Hartman was popular and loved, on and off screen, by fans, friends, and family alike, for his easy-going ways and ability to make people laugh.  

But there was nothing funny about what happened to the comedian in 1998. His wife of 11 years, Brynn, shot him to death in his sleep with their young children in the house.

According to police, friends, and witnesses, Brynn, who was also an actor and model, struggled with drinking and drugs and had a hard time playing second fiddle, in her mind, to her famous husband’s success. 

She could be a supportive, and loving wife and mother when she was sober, and a jealous, spiteful woman in a rage when she was not – which was often.    

Phil typically retreated into their bedroom after one of her rages. The confrontations were so contrary to his personality he usually went to sleep. Only this time Brynn refused to let it go and she shot him three times in the throat, head, and chest in a drunken fury, before driving to a friend’s house and confessing.

It wasn’t until they returned to the crime scene and the Hartman’s sleeping children that Brynn’s friends believed her and called police. Before anyone could stop her, she took her own life too.  

Join us for more on the tragic, behind the scenes drama in the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Heartless Hollywood Murder-Suicide: Phil and Brynn Hartman.”

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Some people can handle temptation, but apparently Ashley McArthur isn’t one of them. When her friend, police officer turned private investigator Taylor Wright, asked her to hold onto some cash, she did. Then Ashley refused to let it go.

Taylor didn’t know at the time Ashley had a lying problem, and that men, money, and friendships were simply the cost of doing business.

No matter how many times Taylor asked for her cash back, Ashley always had an excuse why she couldn’t get it to her. Finally, she agreed to go to the bank with Taylor to retrieve it. And then Taylor all but vanished. 

Fortunately for investigators, Ashley left a trail of lies and deceit from Milton to Cantonment to Pensacola, and she faced an array of charges including arson, racketeering, and murder. 

Police didn’t have to dig far to find the truth. Follow the corruption with us in the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Taylor Wright was dead wrong about Ashley McArthur: PI killed for cash, found in shallow grave.”

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Toby Madden couldn’t commit to his longtime girlfriend when it comes to marriage, but when it comes to murder, he committed to stabbing her 55 times. 

Rachelle Brewsaugh was used to Toby Madden’s meltdowns. They had been a couple for nearly thirty years and even had a daughter together. 

Rachelle’s family testified that he regularly threatened her, telling her more than once he was going to “cut off her head and put it in her mother’s lap so the whole family would suffer.” 

Most of the time Rachelle could appease him during one of his temper tantrums, often drug-fueled, but in October of 2022, he made good on his threat and attacked her with a knife, stabbing the 50-year-old woman all over her chest, abdomen, head, back, knees, arms, shoulders, and hands.

Her gruesome, unprovoked murder was awful enough, but Madden’s behavior at his murder trial was unhinged. 

Join us for more on the next episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Whiny Toby Madden says he ‘didn’t mean’ to stab common law wife 55 times: Meltdown Madden.”

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