‘NO ACCIDENT’

Designer Found Guilty of Murdering Stepfather Who Had Her Nude Photos

Jade Janks, 39, had denied claims she drugged and strangled Thomas Merriman.

An interior designer was on Wednesday found guilty of murdering her former stepfather after she discovered over 100 nude photos of her on his computer. Jade Janks, 39, of Solana Beach, California, denied drugging and strangling Thomas Merriman, 64, on Dec. 31, 2020, arguing instead that he had died of an illness. “This was no accident,” Deputy District Attorney Jorge Del Portillo told jurors in the North County Superior Court in Vista, California. “This was murder by design.” It’s unclear how the nude photos of Janks—which were reportedly made consensually with an old boyfriend over a decade ago—ended up on Merriman’s computer. Prosecutors said Janks found them while cleaning Merriman’s home. At trial, Janks described the discovery as “the most violating, awful, gut-wrenching feeling ever,” but maintained her innocence in Merriman’s death. She now faces 25 years to life at a sentencing hearing scheduled for April.