California Woman Guilty Of Strangling Stepdad To Death For Hoarding Nude Photos Of Her

A 39-year-old California woman was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday for killing her 64-year-old former stepfather and hiding his dead body under a pile of boxes in her driveway after finding naked pictures of herself on his computer.

Jade Janks, an interior designer, maintained her innocence throughout the entire trial, claiming she did not kill her former stepfather Thomas Merriman, Law&Crime reported.

Janks testified that she had been panicking when she left Merriman under a pile of trash in their shared driveway on Dec. 31, 2020. She said she left him sleeping in her SUV that night because he was intoxicated after drinking whiskey and was too heavy for her to move on her own. Janks said she got help from a friend and brought him into her SUV.

She said the plan was to return Merriman to the medical facility where he was staying. but the staff refused to open their doors due to the pandemic. She then decided to let him sleep it off in her car. She said she returned the following day to check on him but found him dead.

The jurors apparently did not believe the story and convicted her of first-degree murder.

According to prosecutors, Janks drugged her former stepfather and strangled him to death for stealing and keeping nude images of her.

Janks' mother and Merriman had filed for divorce three times: in 2002, 2006 and 2008. But Janks and Merriman remained in contact and even lived next door and shared the same driveway in Solana Beach.

When Merriman stayed in a medical facility in December 2020, Janks took care of him and his house. She said that when she bumped into his computer while cleaning the home, a nude photo appeared as a screensaver.

Janks said that she recognized the image and testified that it was her.

Janks said she found hundreds of photos on her former stepfather's computer. Some dated back to when she was in her late teens and included photos she voluntarily took with her then-boyfriend.

She said she believed Merriman stole the pictures from her laptop and a missing digital camera.

The prosecutors saw it as a motive for the murder. She killed him and texted around for help, authorities said.

"I can't carry him alone and I can't keep a kicking body in my trunk," she wrote in one of the text messages found by authorities.

"I am about to club him on the head as he is waking up," she also allegedly wrote.

Merriman's cause of death was found to be acute intoxication of zolpidem, also known as the sleep aid Ambien, the New York Post reported. He was found dead under a pile of cardboard boxes in his driveway on Jan. 2, 2021.

Janks' defense attorneys argued that Merriman's poor health and past drug use had been contributing factors to his death.

"I wasn't planning to leave him there," Janks testified regarding putting his body in the driveway under the boxes, according to The Coast News Group. "I didn't really know what to do. I wasn't trying to dump his body."

Janks is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on April 3. She faces 25 years to life in prison.