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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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