Woman Convicted of Murdering Stepfather After Discovering Nude Photos of Herself on His Computer

Mar. 15, 2025

A California woman who killed her former stepfatherafter discovering hundreds of nude images of herself on his computer was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder.

The murderer, Jade Janks, murdered Thomas Merriman, who was one of the founders of Butterfly Farms, a research and education non-profit dedicated to the conservation of butterflies located in Encinitas, Calif., according toThe San Diego Union-Tribune.

Janks faces life in prison.

During a weeks-long trial, prosecutors argued Janks, a 39-year-old Solana Beach interior designer, drugged, strangled and suffocated Merriman, 64, with a plastic bag on New Year’s Eve 2020, after she stumbled upon racy photos of herself on his computer while cleaning his bedroom following his hospitalization for a fall,The Coast Newsreports.

“It was the most violating, awful, gut-wrenching feeling ever,” Janks testified, according to the station. “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.”

Jade Janks.Jade Janks Interiors Facebook

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Prosecutors argued the discovery left Janks “disturbed to the core” and prompted her to orchestrate his murder, which was executed after she picked him up from the care facility he was receiving treatment at, per theUnion-Tribune.

Prosecutors said Janks admitted to Merriman’s slaying to at least two individuals, including a “fixer,” whom she turned to for assistance.

Prosecutor Jorge Del Portillo told the courtroom, per KNSD, “The motive is the photographs she found, the means were all the items found inside her car, the opportunity was that she was the one who picked him up … the confession is the text messages: ‘I just dosed the hell out of him.'”

Janks’ attorney, Marc Carlos, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 3.

source: people.com