It was Jan. 1, 2021, when the San Diego Sheriff's Department got a call from a man saying his friend, Jade Janks, might have killed her stepfather, Tom Merriman. Assistant district attorneys Jorge Del Portillo and Teresa Pham tell '48 Hours' correspondent Tracy Smith that the caller 'told sheriff's deputies she confessed to drugging him, suffocating him and strangling him to death.'The call triggered a search for Merriman.
He just got released from the hospital yesterday. No … what can you tell me other than he's just missing? There was a rolling screen, like a slideshow of pictures of me that was taken over the years. I mean, did you ever show him naked photos of yourself?JADE JANKS : No.Tracy Smith: And how did he get these photos?Marc Carlos: Jade doesn't know.Tracy Smith: These were photos that Jade had taken of herself?Marc Carlos: Jade and various boyfriends.
No. Yes. Yes.And that's why Jade says she got in touch with Alan Roach, who worked in security, the day she found those photos. When you say, 'I needed to do something,' did you need to kill him? He kept saying things, 'did you have any painkillers, is thi,s it? Oh, here' and then he just kind of took it.Jade says Tom seemed fine when she stopped at a shopping plaza and texted Alan Roach to come meet her. She went into a couple of stores while she waited to hear back.
And had you ever met Brian Salomon before? Did you touch Mr. Merriman? I knew he was.JADE JANKS' INCRIMINATING TEXTSAfter Jade told the jury how she found Tom's body, her own attorney challenged her. I mean, did you want your stepfather dead? Would you — would you ever have done that to … Tom Merriman?
I guess it's a poor phrasing.Del Portillo thinks Jade's explanation is nonsense.He says, first, she drugged Tom, and then she needed to stall for a bit and her texts even say that.JADA JANKS TEXT: Stopping at Dixieland to stall.Jorge Del Portillo: She was stalling for the drugs — to really kick in and make him asleep and unaware of what she was about to do.Jorge Del Portillo: She's stalling to see if this guy, Alan Roach, can come by and help her commit the murder.
Oh, yeah.Jade texts Alan again: 'I can't keep a kicking body in my truck.' JORGE DEL PORTILLO: Now that we know Tom was found dead in his driveway under a pile of trash that you put together, that this text message looks very suspicious. You'd agree with me, right?
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