Jade Janks, 39, is accused of killing stepdad after plying him with sleeping pills and then strangling and suffocating him on New Year’s Eve 2020, in San Diego, CA

According to prosecutors, Janks, a San Diego interior designer, planned the murder after she discovered that her stepdad, Thomas Merriman, was in possession of her nude photos

Her defense lawyer described Merriman as a ‘troubled individual’ who loved Janks in ‘different ways’

She maintains her innocence and says that Merriman died due to his own overdose of sleeping pills

Prosecutors said: ‘This was no accident. This was murder by design’

In court, it was alleged that Janks suffocated Merriman with a plastic bag

Searching for help to stage the death as an OD, a male friend who originally answered her call for help, later said that he couldn’t help and went to the police to report Janks 

Janks’ mother divorced Merriman in 2008 but she had remained close to her stepdad

A 39-year-old San Diego interior designer is on trial for murdering her butterfly farm-owning ex-stepdad after catching him using her pilfered nude photo as his screensaver.
Jade Janks was 37 when she allegedly drugged, suffocated and strangled Thomas Merriman, 64, in San Diego on New Year’s Eve 2020.
Jade Sasha Janks, the owner of the home was arrested immediately on first-degree murder – She denies the murder.
For motive, prosecutors said the suspect, who runs a successful interior design firm, ‘beyond freaked out’ after she found multiple naked images of herself in her stepdad’s home, one of which he was even using as a computer screensaver. 

Police found the body of local butterfly keeper, Thomas ‘Tom, Merriman, was found on New Year’s Day, 2021 in a Solana Beach home. Cops were responding to a call about a welfare check.
Merriman had been recovering from a fall he had following eye surgery
According to police, the killing had taken place the day before, on New Year’s Eve. Police arrested his stepdaughter Jade Sasha Janks who was at the home at the time, charging her with his murder.
Records show that Janks’ mother divorced Merriman in 2008 after multiple instances of domestic abuse, although Janks and Merriman maintained a relationship. 
Deputy District Attorney Jorge Del Portillo said: ‘This was no accident. This was murder by design.’ In court, it was alleged that Janks suffocated Merriman with a plastic bag.
However, Janks’ attorney, Marc Carlos, says that Thomas Merriman, 64, the co-founder of a popular butterfly farm in Encinitas, died due to ill health and his own cocktail of sleeping pills. His body was found under a pile of trash outside of his home on January 2.
She has pleaded not guilty to murder. If convicted, Janks could face life in prison.

Carlos said: ‘The medical examiner will not tell you it was strangulation. The science does not support strangulation.’ The official cause of death was acute intoxication, reports the San Diego Union Tribune. 
The attorney went on to say accuse Merriman of being an alcoholic who was addicted to pills. 
Carlos also said: ‘Jade Janks loved her stepfather. Tom Merriman loved Jade Janks. Unfortunately, Tom Merriman was a troubled individual, and he loved her in different ways.’  
Merriman’s body was found under trash bags by police outside of his home in Solano Beach. Officers had gone to the home to conduct a welfare check. 
Prosecutors say that Janks told others that she killed Merriman.

Despite the fact that her mother had long since divorced Merriman, the pair were still close. The 64-year-old was returning home on New Year’s Eve after he was hospitalized due to a fall.
Janks had picked him from a care facility. Her lawyer said that when he left the facility, he was given a supply of various pills. 
A few days earlier, Janks was cleaning in Merriman’s apartment when she bumped into his computer, waking it. That’s when she saw a nude photo that she had taken years previously as his screensaver.
The prosecutor said that the discovery of the pics left her ‘distraught’ and ‘disturbed to the core.’ 
A former friend of Janks’, Sarah Jacobs, testified that the suspect told her about the photo but said that didn’t indicate that Merriman would face any repercussions. Jacobs described the photo as showing Janks ‘scantily clad.’
Her lawyers say that the pictures were taken consensually with a boyfriend years previously. It’s not clear how Merriman obtained the photos. From that point prosecutors allege, Janks began hatching a plot to kill her stepdad. 

In court this week, prosecutors introduced into evidence text messages Janks sent to various friends. 
They read: ‘I just dosed the hell out of him. Stopping for whiskey at Dixieland to stall. LMK.’
‘He’s waking up. I really don’t want to be the one to do this.’
‘I can’t carry him alone and I can’t keep a kicking body in my trunk.’
‘I am about to club him on the head as he is waking up.’ 
‘I’m not strong enough. He is very aware now and I am on my own.’
According to the Union Tribune, the prosecutor called one of those contacted a ‘fixer-of-sorts.’ 
A friend who did answer her call for help, Adam Siplyak, went to the home on New Year’s Eve but said he would not help her to get rid of the body. The following day, he went to the police to report what happened. 

Janks originally told him that she needed help getting Merriman home because he was high on pills. However, when Siplyak showed up, she confessed what happened. 
The lead detective in the case, Lisa Brannan said in court this week: ‘Ms. Janks told Mr. Siplyak that she killed her stepfather and she said, ‘I suffocated him with a bag and I choked him.” She also said that she gave him a bunch of drugs.’

The detective continued: ‘She wanted his help with getting the body out of her car. She wanted to take her stepfather to his home and put him in his bed. She wanted to stage the incident like Merriman ‘had overdosed while in his bed, and he had died in his bed.’
After refusing to help her, Siplyak said: ‘I have a son to raise.’
The pair then had a cigarette and kissed before he left. The suspect’s lawyer said that Siplyak is a recovering drug addict who has a crush on Janks. 
The lawyer conceded that the pair have cuddled and kissed in the past but have not had a sexual relationship. 
The arresting officer, San Diego Sheriff’s deputy Matthew Gibson, would testify that Janks was calm when she was arrested.
Another witness, Toxicologist Raymond Gary, testified that Merriman had high levels of the sleeping drug zolpidem in his system. 

Since her arrest, Janks has been free on a $1 million bail albeit with a GPS anklet. At the time her bail was set, prosecutors argued that the suspect has the financial resources to flee and connections in South Africa. 
Janks’ biological father, Steve Janks, is a native of South Africa and now lives in Southern California.  
She owner of a start-up interior design business, Jank Janks Interiors. On the website for the company, she writes: ‘Your home is a reflection of you and Jade will help you express your personal style through a process easy and fun!’ 
A bio also says: ‘You can count on Jade to hold your hand and make your project a fun one!’ Janks also says that she got her start in interior design through working for her dad’s kitchen design company. 

Merriman and Janks’ mother Jeni married in July 1995. The couple had a son together, Cash. The victim had another daughter from a previous relationship. 
Online records show that there were multiple instances of domestic abuse in the marriage between 2002 and 2008.
The couple filed for divorce on multiple occasions during that time, finally doing so in 2008. 
Merriman founded the Butterfly Farm, a nonprofit, in 2013 alongside his friend Pat Flanagan.