Inside Case of Teen Who Killed Stepdad After Finding Nude Photos of Herself: 'Violating, Gut-Wrenching Feeling'

A California woman convicted of murdering her stepfather did so after discovering that he had nude photos of her on his computer.

Jade Janks, 41, is currently serving a prison sentence after the 2020 murder of Thomas Merriman, 64, the co-founder of Butterfly Farms, a non-profit committed to butterfly conservation based in Encinitas, Calif., The Coast News, The San Diego Union-Tribune and KFMB reported.

On Jan. 1, 2021, Merriman was found dead in his driveway, under a pile of garbage, according to The Coast News. 

Authorities say that the night before, New Year’s Eve 2020, Janks, then 36, drugged Merriman with pain and sleeping pills before fatally suffocating him.

Merriman’s murder was preceded by Janks’ disturbing discovery. 

While her stepfather was in the hospital after a fall in December 2020, Janks was cleaning the man’s home when she stumbled across the photos on his laptop, The Coast News reported, citing prosecutors. 

Janks’ defense team would later claim, according to KFMB, that the photos on Merriman’s computer were sorted by body part.

“It was the most violating, awful, gut-wrenching feeling ever,” Janks testified, the outlet reported. “I felt sick, I felt I couldn’t… even touch my own skin. I don’t know if there [are] words, not even in a movie have I seen something so sick.”

Included in the photos were pictures of Janks in the shower, while some dated back to when she was a teenager, according to KFMB. 

The Union-Tribune reported that prosecutors claimed that the discovery “disturbed” Janks “to the core,” and that it drove her to orchestrate the murder. The Coast News reported that the photos had been taken consensually years earlier with Janks’ boyfriend at the time.

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“Jade Janks loved her stepfather,” defense attorney Marc Carlos said, according to The Coast News. “Tom Merriman loved Jade Janks. Unfortunately, Tom Merriman was a troubled individual, and he loved her in different ways.”

Prosecutors claimed that after drugging her stepfather, Janks texted a person, “I just dosed the hell out of him,” “I am about to club him on the head as he is waking up,” and “It’s going to be Weekend at Bernie’s.”

Janks was convicted of murder in 2023 and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. 

The Coast News reported that in October 2024, a California appellate judge upheld Janks’ conviction.