Murder With My Husband - 208. The Betrayed Daughter: Jade Janks & Tom Merriman

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

In this episode, Payton and Garrett delve into the case of Jade Janks. When she uncovers a family secret, a chain reaction of events culminates in tragedy. As the trial unfolds, secrets unravel, blurring the lines between victim and perpetrator, prompting the question: where does justice truly lie? Live Show Tickets: https://www.murderwithmyhusband.com/live-shows Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intothedarkpod/ Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case Sources: 48 Hours on CBS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmXWb8ouzAY CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jade-janks-tom-merriman-murder-explicit-photos-stepdads-computer-48-hours/ CBS8.com - https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/solana-beach-woman-to-be-sentenced-for-murdering-stepfather/509-90b5b26d-c786-420d-85e4-686918dee1b1 NBCSanDiego.com - https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/solana-beach-woman-gets-25-years-to-life-for-stepfathers-murder/3180663/ TheSun.com - https://www.the-sun.com/news/9333133/jade-janks-san-diego-verdict/ LawAndCrime.com - https://lawandcrime.com/crime/woman-convicted-of-murdering-former-stepfather-over-stash-of-her-nude-teenage-photos-expresses-few-regrets-when-sentenced-for-his-murder/ TheCoastNews.com - https://thecoastnews.com/janks-gets-life-sentence-for-former-stepfathers-murder/ TimesOfSanDiego.com- https://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2022/12/07/murder-trial-begins-for-stepdaughter-39-accused-of-killing-butterfly-farms-co-founder/ SanDiegoTribune.com - https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2022-12-21/solana-beach-interior-designer-stepfather-death-verdict SanDiego.org - https://www.sandiego.org/articles/north-county/solana-beach.aspx Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi there, my name is Alameen Abdelmahmoud. I am the host of the CBC podcast, Commotion. You need to drop by, okay, because that's where we talk about all things pop culture. We talk about what people are watching, what people are listening to, like how the Smiths got on a Trump rally playlist, or how Elmo became the internet's therapist, or how DadTV got so darn popular. Commotion with Alameen Abou Mahmoud, available now on Spotify. Want visibly glowing skin in 14 days?

With new Olay Indulgent Moisture Body Wash, you can lather and glow. The 24-hour moisturizing body wash is infused with vitamin B3 complex and has notes of rose and cherry crème for a rich indulgent experience. Treat your senses with new Olay Indulgent Moisture Body Wash. Buy it today at major retailers. You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murdo My Husband. I'm Peyton Morland.

And I'm Garrett Morland. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. And boy oh boy, do we have an announcement for you. Murder With My Husband is officially going on a little spring live show tour. Woo! This is true. We are doing just a couple of shows.

It's kind of all we can do. Four to five shows. and we are doing Arizona, California, Utah, and Tennessee, Nashville. I am hoping, trust me, the first thing that we wanna do with Murder With My Husband is take this on a world tour. But for now, this is what we're doing. So stay patient if you can't make it, but if you can, we are so, so freaking excited.

Information should be in the links. If you follow us on our social media, we always keep it updated over there. So yeah, watch out for tickets, a reminder that Patrons get special advantages when it comes to these things. So yeah, just check out everything to see what's going on. But yeah, we are so excited to announce our live tour. Again, if you want tickets, they'll be in

description. They'll be everywhere, whether you're listening on YouTube or the podcast. We're super excited. Yeah, this is all we could do. And just for some more information, it's Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Southern California, and then Nashville. And that's what we got. We're trying to see if maybe we can add another show, but it's just scheduling and everything is really tough. And that's all we can kind of do right now.

And we hope to see you there. Before we get into Garrett's 10 seconds, I'm going to quickly shamelessly plug our Twitch streams every single Thursday, 5.30 PT. We get on, we talk true crime, we watch interrogation footage, it's live, it's fun, it's me and Garrett, so check it out. There's more information available on that

over on our social media. Okay, Garrett, what is your 10 seconds? You know, this, lately I've been getting the bug slash itch and like it's some sort of game, because it's not a game, but to just go full farm country homestead except I don't want to like butcher cows or anything myself because I was being honest I couldn't handle that don't think I could do it I don't know

something about just living in the middle of nowhere, just chilling. If I say that, and I know that I could probably do it for a month or so, and then I'd get a little bit of like island cabin fever. But just letting everyone know that that's what's kind of been running through my mind lately. What do you think about that, babe? Is that on your horizon?

That maybe it's on my horizon. Maybe a couple of horses, a couple of fox trotters, maybe some quarter horses just hanging out and me and the farm. Okay, well, I'm along for the ride, but me and Daisy still need a comfy bed. Okay, well, we can get a comfy bed. That's the easy part.

All right, sounds like you're on board. Well, keep an eye out. Peyton and I might be moving to middle of nowhere, just doing our thing. I'll keep everyone updated. Other than that, for my 10 seconds, Payton and I might be moving to middle of nowhere, just doing our thing. I'll keep everyone updated. Other than that, for my 10 seconds, don't have anything crazy. We've been kind of just busy getting prepared for getting ready to announce the tour, recording episodes.

Working on new merch. Working on new merch. Again, if you haven't seen Dune 2, go and see it. I can't decide. It seems like it's got a lot of people up in arms about what is the best like trilogy or just series ever. Is it Star Wars? Is it Lord of the Rings?

Is it Dune? Is it Twilight? No, nope. Can't say that during my 10 seconds. Yeah, so let me know what you guys think about doing Lord of the Rings, Star Wars. Let's hop into today's case. Our sources for this episode are 48 hours on CBS,

CBS News, CBS8.com, NBC, San Diego.com, The Sun.com, LongCrime.com, TheCoastNews.com, Times of San Diego, San Diego Tribune.com, and SanDiego.org. You wanna guess? Yeah, this case is inribune.com and sandiego.org. You wanna guess? Yeah, this case is in Los Angeles, right? Yep. Okay. So there's a fine line between feeling violated by someone and feeling like you may be in critical

danger. Whether that's a creepy look up and down from a stranger, a date that puts their hands in the wrong place, an older colleague who makes inappropriate jokes at your expense. And sometimes it's hard to discern whether it was an honest mistake or if that was someone showing their true colors, maybe even testing the waters until they can make their next move. These are the thoughts that many women, even men, have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. But the question in today's case is,

how violated does one person have to fill to warrant self-defense? So it's December, 2020. We are 10 months into the pandemic, and most of the world is still pretty masked up, only socializing with their little pods, staying home, maybe praying that the new year will finally lead to a turning point to that long year. And while much of America is forced inside under harsh winter conditions,

it still feels like spring in the little coastal town of Solana Beach, California. Only 20 miles north of San Diego, Salana Beach is that idyllic seaside town that many tourists manage to skip. It's lined with expensive beachfront real estate. It gives that resort town feel with the intimacy of always spotting one of your neighbors on a night out. And it's here that 37-year-old interior designer designer, Jade Jenks has spent most of her life. According to friends of Jade, she was always considered the popular girl in school.

She had elements of a tomboy, but could also be quite a girly girl, allowing her to fit in with several different social circles throughout her youth. And as she got older, Jade actually found a way to sort of mesh these two sides of her personality together. She loved being creative and found a passion for interior design, which often required some heavy lifting on her part. Jade was never afraid to get her hands dirty

loading heavy furniture or decorative rocks into the bed of her truck. So after studying at San Diego, Mesa College, and Mira Costa College, Jade worked at a handful of different design studios before deciding to open her own in 2018. She called it Jade Jenks Interiors and promised a quote, unique custom tailored experience to remodel,

refurnish, and restyle. Are you still kind of not understand interior designers, but I understand it now. Oh, you have to have an eye, it's a talent. And I know some people think, oh, well I have an eye and I'm good at this, sure, but there's people that are professionals for a reason, and I get it, other interior designers are better

than others, and it is expensive. And there are people who are just naturally gifted, but it's not their profession. And naturally gifted, not their profession, true. But I don't know, it seems like I'd like to build a house one day with an interior designer. Right. So Jade's target demographic was many of the wealthy homeowners in the Solana Beach area, as well as the rest of San Diego County. And Jade stood out amongst her competitors, not just because she offered the unique experience

as a design concierge, as she liked to call it, but because according to her friends, she was charismatic, she was kind, and she genuinely did care about her clients and everyone who entered her life for that matter, especially her stepdad, Tom Merriman. Their relationship was certainly unconventional, but everyone knew Jade loved Tom like he was her own father. Jade was actually 14 when her mother first met Tom, and while her biological father was also still in the picture, it was Tom that had the most influence over her upbringing. Having practically raised Jade, she found it hard to cut him off when her mother filed

for divorce against him years later. She said it was important for Tom to stick around because he was one of the few people in her life that she could trust completely. She told him everything that was going on with work, her friends, her love life. I mean, after all, Jade called Tom Dad, and he referred to her as his own daughter. As Jade got older, she found herself taking care of Tom as his health declined. He really didn't have anyone else in his life after her mother divorced him, and it was important for Jade to give back what he'd given her over the years. So by December 2020, the now 64-year-old Tom had moved into a little house right next door

to Jade. At that point, he was working at a non-profit butterfly sanctuary, a job that he felt passionately about, with good colleagues who quickly became his friends. And meanwhile, Jade went to Tom's house almost every night to cook him dinner. And with the pandemic still raging and social contact limited, Tom and Jade had formed their own little pod. They spent a ton of time together, getting even closer, which helped Jade see that Tom was in worse shape than ever before.

For years, Tom had battled with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, but 2020 took a toll on Tom like it had a lot of people. It seemed the situation had spiraled out of control because on December 15th, 2020, Jade got a call that really scared her. Her stepfather, Tom, had fallen in his home and needed to go to the emergency room. So that afternoon, she rushed him to a hospital in California. So while Tom's accident wasn't necessarily life threatening, it was clear that his drug and alcohol use were.

While recovering from the fall, Tom was admitted to a rehab facility where he stayed for the next two weeks. Now Jade continued to visit him, even taking the time to go over to his house to cook, clean, and prepare for his return. But on the afternoon of December 23rd, Jade discovered something at Tom's house that would turn her entire world upside down. A body. So that day Jade let herself into Tom's house just to tidy up around the place, but as she was cleaning around Tom's desk, she accidentally bumped the mouse, which woke up his computer screen.

Okay, here we go. And that's when Jade noticed Tom's screensaver was a snapshot of a pair of women's boobs. All right, I mean, not the craziest thing out there, you know? But it is a screensaver. That's kind of crazy. I guess, I mean, he probably, yeah, no, it's kind of wild. So Jade's obviously a little grossed out by it, but she doesn't think too much of it right away.

I mean, well, men will be men, he's single, you know, this kind of thing in her head. That is until she has a second look at the boobs. No way they're her boobs. And she realizes those just aren't anyone's boobs. Those are a close up of her boobs. No freaking way. How did he get that? So her heart begins racing and Jade takes a seat at Tom's computer

and begins searching through other files on his desktop. Like as she should, this is weird. And the more she digs, the worse the nightmare becomes. There are hundreds of images of her naked on her stepdad Tom's computer. Why would he have it as the screensaver on his computer if he knew that? What? Well, he's in rehab. Oh, true.

So he has pictures of her in the shower, folders categorized with specific titles. Oh, my gosh. Some have even been organized into slideshows. And a lot of the images Jade recognizes because she shared them with an ex-boyfriend of hers years ago. He is 100% selling them. So she's like, how do my pictures that I took of myself that I shared with an ex-boyfriend

end up on my stepdad's computer? Yeah. Well, that part is an absolute mystery to Jade. She has no idea. She's like, I literally don't know how this happened. An emotionally disturbing mystery that must have left a deafening ringing in her ears. I mean, she calls this man dad.

He has taken care of her. Oh, that's so gross. She looks up to him. He practically raised her. Disgusting. And suddenly she's learning that this father figure did not see her in the same way that she saw him. Violated probably wasn't a strong enough word

to describe how Jade felt in that moment. In fact, she claimed the revelation left her sick to her stomach. She couldn't even touch her own skin. And it only got worse over the next week while Jade dreaded Tom's homecoming. You have to remember they have been quarantining together. Like they have spent a lot of this pandemic together. She's been taking care of him. He moved next door to her so she could cook dinner for him every night. And he's about to get out of rehab and come home. She had have told someone else though, right?

Did she call anyone else? We'll get there. Okay. So she's like, oh, just dreading Tom coming home. And it's in this weird time period that her mind begins to kind of take a toll. Like it becomes hard for her to be alone, to take a shower, change her clothes without remembering what she found on his computer.

But this experience also unlocked some hidden memories for Jade. Suddenly, this happening, she begins to recall times in her youth when maybe Tom had treated her inappropriately, maybe touched her, coerced her, psychologically manipulated her. Okay.

Um, Jade didn't go into details nor should she have to, but as she was counting down the seconds until Tom's return, she began to fear for her life. And we know that this happens with trauma, right? Sometimes trauma can be locked in and then it takes just one thing for that memory to blood open. Yes. And so she's like, oh my gosh, like I think this man is dangerous. She claimed she slept with a knife under her pillow,

terrified of what might happen if Tom came home early and realized she has found his explicit stash. How would he react? And that's when Jade decided to reach out to someone for protection. So Jade had come across a profile on Facebook for a man named Alan Roach. Now Alan advertised himself as a sort of security guard, something Jade now felt she needed for when Tom came home. So she claimed her initial idea was to have Alan over to help her confront Tom about the images.

So just like a third person there, see if he might confess, maybe turn himself in. So she sends Alan a message to which Alan replied, if you have a problem, I can fix it for you. So on December 31st, 2020, the day Jade had been dreading finally arrived. And that afternoon, she picked Tom up from rehab. Remember he has no one else. Don't miss the 2024 Juneau Awards live from Halifax, Sunday, March 24th at 8 Eastern on CBC and CBC Gem. Hey, I just got us a new Coca-Cola spice. Nice. What's it taste like?

It's like barefoot water skiing while dolphins click with glee. Whoa, let me try. Nah, it's like gliding on a gondola through waving waters is a mermaid thing. Whoa, let me try. Nah, it's like gliding on a gondola through waving waters is a mermaid thing. Nah, it's like Coca-Cola with a refreshing burst of raspberry and spiced flavors.

Yeah. Try new Coca-Cola spiced today. Tom was none the wiser to what had happened in his absence, but Tom was also in bad shape when he arrived home, according to their neighbors, Ramona and George Hamilton. That day, they saw Tom arrive in the passenger seat of Jade's SUV. But when the Hamiltons said hi to Tom,

they could tell he just wasn't himself. He was hardly able to even get out of the car. He looked like he'd been sent home, heavily sedated. But not wanting to pry into their business, the Hamiltons didn't ask many questions. They just said hi to Jade, figured Tom was in good hands and that she'd take care of him like she always had. But on the following day, January 1st, 2021, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department gets a really bizarre phone call. So the caller said he needed to tell the police about a situation that had

happened the night before at his ex girlfriend's house. She had called him over earlier in the night saying she needed his help. She believed her stepfather had overdosed on pills. The tipster was a man named Adam Siplyak and the woman he was referring to, of course, was Jade. And he was the one that had these pictures as well, I assume, correct? It didn't clarify whether this is the ex-boyfriend she sent pictures to, but we just know that it is an ex-boyfriend of hers.

So she calls her ex-boyfriend and is like, I think my stepdad Tom has overdosed on pills. So Adam shows up atboyfriend and is like, I think my stepdad, Tom, has overdosed on pills. So Adam shows up at the house and he says, once he gets there, Jade changed her tune. She told Adam that she had suffocated her stepfather with a bag after dosing him with a bunch of drugs. What the? Now she needed help getting him out of her car

and into his own house so she could make it look like he had overdosed. Now, Adam told the police he refused to help Jade and left. He was like, I'm getting out of here. He claimed he never saw the body that night but was confident that Tom was now dead. And it was only a matter of time before Jade did something with his remains.

So he calls police immediately and is like, hey, I didn't see the body, but I'm pretty sure he's dead and you guys should go check into this. I'm surprised she killed him. Like what is going on right now? So less than an hour later police responded to the call and arrived at Tom's home. They knocked on his door. They went inside only There's no Tom. But as they're leaving they see Jade pulling out of her driveway. Remember they live next door. they see Jade pulling out of her driveway. Remember, they live next door. They pull her over and ask if she'd be willing

to come down to the station for some questioning, and Jade fully cooperates. Now, police have zero evidence that a crime has even been committed at this point. They only have the tip. So they start by asking Jade if she's seen her stepfather over the last 24 hours, and she admits, yeah, I picked him up

from the rehab center yesterday and dropped him off at home, but I have no idea where he is today. In fact, Jade turns the tables on the police asking them, what can you tell me other than he's missing? And she actually seems like genuinely concerned to the point where police let her go and offer to keep her updated on any new developments. Oh, that's so, that's so tough because police get a call from somebody else. Right.

She killed the, I don't. And now she's like, wait, what do you mean he's missing? So now she's like, and I'm also surprised in that moment, she didn't bring up the pictures as well. Right. Cause I'm sure that would even, that would have thrown them for even more of a little. Right. So that evening police returned to Tom's house, searching every square inch for any evidence of foul play or any sign of where Tom might have disappeared to.

And they stayed there until the sun started to come up on the morning of January 2nd. But just as one of the officers was leaving, she spotted a pile of trash outside of Tom's home. Amongst it was a wheelbarrow, a bunch of boxes, some plastic bags, and when she starts moving some of these pieces around, she sees the silhouette of a man wrapped in blankets, and inside was the deceased body of Tom Merriman. In his own property. Yes, he was buried beneath a mound of trash.

So it doesn't sound like they were trying to hide him. So Tom was still wearing his hospital bracelet and the same set of clothes he'd been sent home in two days before. Now, like, obviously, if you're a detective, you're thinking timeline, he probably died that day because he didn't have a chance to change his clothes. So between the recovered body and the incriminating phone call, there's only one person on police's suspect list. That afternoon, Jade Jenks was arrested and charged for the murder of Tom.

I mean, I mean, it kind of makes sense because they get this call. He's like, I didn't see a body, but you should go check. And then they go find his body. You know what I mean? Yeah. So Jade's trial began in December of 2022, almost two years to the date of her stepfather's death. And she went into that trial maintaining her innocence. She was not responsible for the death of her stepfather. Now the prosecution knew they were going to have a hard time convincing

the jury otherwise. A lot of people who knew Tom were well aware that he had struggled with alcohol and substance abuse. The 64 year old's health was already on the decline. In fact, it's what led to that fall to begin with and was the catalyst for all the events that followed. The prosecution also knew they had a pretty sympathetic defendant on their hands. Jade was attractive. She was a career-minded woman who everyone said took care of this man, right? Like she spent her life taking care of this guy. And also, I'm curious to see what happens with these pictures because I'm sure that's going to be a huge play in all of this. I will say this case, we're going to dive into the trial a lot more than we normally would because it's important.

There's so much to it. Yeah. So they're going to go to trial, right? Jade's this this career driven woman. She's attractive. And then the jury is going to sympathize with the fact that she finds out that Tom has got a computer full of her naked photos, which he'd seemingly stolen from Jade or her ex-boyfriend.

And while the timing of his death certainly doesn't look great for Jade, her defense paints a really convincing argument that Tom maybe simply did overdose. Yeah, also he was in rehab. It would be so sad as it is easy to say, hey, he overdosed. Well, and the defense can be like, well, he overdosed. Jade went over there, found him, has no idea how to handle this. She's also angry at him. Oh, I don't know how I feel about this because you don't kill someone. him. Oh, I don't know. She's mad. Feel about this because you don't kill someone. But also, he's literally the pictures, the naked pictures. What, what is going on? So here's her side of the story, a trial. Okay. So on the morning of December 31st, this is all according to her and her defense

team. Okay. Tom began calling Jade around 6 45 a.m. to confirm that she is in fact picking him up from the rehab center. We know all that's happened before this. She decided by that point that she was going to put her feelings about Tom aside, bring him home, let him recover, and then she would eventually confront him about the photos that she found. Only during that conversation, Tom seemed preoccupied with one thing. He needed Jade to get him codeine,

claiming he was still in severe pain. So he calls her and is like, are you picking me up? She says, yeah. She's decided to put her feelings aside, but on the phone, Tom is like, okay, I need you to show up with codeine. Like I'm in severe pain, I really, really need it. And I imagine that opioids weren't something

the rehab facility was just willingly giving Tom, considering his history of substance abuse. And I don't know if Jade actually ended up getting him the painkillers, the rehab facility was just willingly giving Tom considering his history of substance abuse. And I don't know if Jade actually ended up getting him the painkillers, but when she went to pick him up at around 11 a.m. that day, she said Tom did leave with a prescription, only it was for Ambien, a sedative to help him sleep.

So on their way home, Jade told Tom she had to stop somewhere to pick up supplies for a design project. She went into a hardware store in town and grabbed a few things like gloves, towels, and some spray paint. So not like the typical thing we see from the Home Depot run in these cases we cover,

but still there's a Home Depot run, which is always a red flag. Which could also be used for her design stuff. Right. I'm not saying she didn't do it. No, no, no. But you know, so when she got back in the car, she found that Tom was completely out

of it. He'd taken a bunch of the Ambien and she began to worry that she'd not be able to get him out of her car and into the house. So Jade said she took Tom back to the rehab center, only they wouldn't readmit him. So she goes back. Interesting. So in fact, Jade said they wouldn't even let her inside to explain the situation. And this is because of COVID protocols. So that's when Jade

felt like she had no other option, but just to try and take Tom back home. But when she got there, Tom was still completely out of it. Remember a statement that was corroborated by their neighbors, the Hamilton's, if you recall from earlier. Now Jade said this is when she really starts to panic. She didn't want to leave Tom sitting in her car in this state, so she made a call and it's not to 911, like it absolutely probably should have been. Instead, it's a call to that security guard that she'd been speaking to about maybe coming with her

to speak to Tom. So she calls Alan Roach, but she's not calling him to come speak to Tom. She says, hey, can you come over and like physically help me move Tom from the car to the house? Okay. Only Alan tells her he's unavailable. So he'll send one of his friends instead.

Oh my gosh, whatever that means. So Alan sends a complete stranger over to Jade's house. It's a man named Brian Solomon and Brian Well, he takes one look at Tom State and is like there's no way I'm getting involved in this like this guy is so out Of it. I'm not gonna help you and he takes off. I thought he was I thought someone crazy was gonna happen So this is then when according to Jade she calls Adam her ex the one who made that 911 call a day later. Jade says once Adam arrived at her house, she asked if he could help her move Tom inside

rather than leave him in the car overnight. But here's where their stories differ, obviously. She says that Adam did see Tom. He took one look at the guy and had the same reaction as Solomon. He refused to help her. He says at the time that it looked like Tom was already dead. And so Adam took off scared. But if you recall, Adam told the police a different story. He said that Jade had told him she'd strangled Tom and now needed Adam's help bringing him into a house so she could stage an overdose. So it's kind of the same movements, but the details in the story are like importantly different. Well, it's a very big difference. If he was already dead in the car, I mean, she did nothing wrong. If, well, maybe she's already killed him. Yes. Unless yes. But if he's just passed out in the

car and looks like a dead body, but if he he if someone is saying that she physically suffocated him, I mean that changes everything well And also the fact that in one story he sees the body Yes, and the other story he doesn't yes And remember according to her he's not dead yet Either way as we know once Adam left Jade claimed she was out of options Apparently calling 9-1-1 just still wasn't an option in her mind, particularly because Jade said she didn't want to be blamed for drugging her stepfather. She knew he had taken a bunch of Ambien. So she was scared. She says she was scared to call the cops because she was scared. They were

going to say that she did it. So instead she brought Tom some blankets and a pillow and decided the only thing left to do was just let him sleep it off in the car. So she's like, I'm just gonna let him sleep in here overnight. She figured he would be better by the following morning. But when she went out to check him the next day, that wasn't the case. Tom was dead. He was cold to the touch.

He had died in the middle of the night. It was at that point, Jade realizes he's dead. But again, instead of calling the police, Jade did the strangest thing. She drove to a hospital with, instead of calling the police, Jade did the strangest thing. She drove to a hospital with a deceased Tom in the car, but she didn't get out and ask for help. She goes, picks up a wheelchair, throws it in her trunk, and drives back home.

Then she finds the strength to get Tom into the wheelchair, where she then wheeled him over to his driveway and left him under that pile of trash until she could figure out her next move. But time was clearly not on her side because, as we know, police had already arrested Jade the next afternoon. Now, having heard it, it's obvious that there are a lot of loose ends in Jade's story at trial, but there's one thing that gets the jury thinking. Jade's story might be more accurate than Adam's because right now it's basically

her word against his. Interesting. OK. And here's why. The official cause of death from Tom's autopsy says acute zolpidem intoxication. So not strangulation. No, it's a... Or suffocation. Zolpidem is the generic, I hope I'm saying that right, is the generic form of Ambien.

Yeah. So literally he overdosed on Ambien. He had a prescription for Ambien, which is true. I mean, if he just popped a bunch of those all of a sudden, it would also make sense why the neighbors saw him and he couldn't move and yada, yada, yada. There's zero evidence actually of strangulation. They find zero evidence that anyone put their hands

or anything over him. So right away now Adam becomes. Well, this is just what, this is the hard part of the trial. Yeah. So. What's up Adam? Like how, how does that happen?

Well, and the jury's thinking, okay, maybe Tom did overdose on the way home and Jade had just found out this awful news about her stepfather and handled the situation horribly. Like just did not do the right thing, was scared of being blamed, but maybe she actually didn't do this. So here's the argument, a trial, right?

But the prosecution is hanging on to this part of the case. Like a dog with a bone, they aren't letting go of the possibility that Jade did the drugging and the strangling. So even though nothing is found, the prosecution still comes to trial and is like, no, no, no, she strangled him. And they point to a good reason for how this might've been missed during the autopsy. Now, if someone is strangled to death, there's typically markings or bruises around the victim's neck to indicate such trauma, unless that person is already unconscious. According to the prosecution on Jade's case, when someone is already sedated, it requires very little force on the attacker's part to keep someone from breathing.

Only about four pounds of pressure, which is about as much as a handshake. Hardly enough to leave a bruise or break any cartilage in the neck because no one's fighting you, right? But there's another thing that could explain the lack of bruising. Jade might have just used a plastic bag to suffocate Tom to death. In fact, detectives found a bag in Jade's car that had her DNA on the outside and Tom's DNA on the inside. So they have a possible murder weapon. They also discovered that Jade's DNA was all over that pack of Ambien, while they found very little DNA belonging to Tom on it.

So suddenly when the prosecution comes forward at trial, it's all of a sudden turned around. It's not looking so good for Jade. Confusing. But it gets even worse when the prosecution presents one giant piece of evidence. This is like their bombshell at trial. Yeah. And it's some very damning text messages.

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the happy stack only at Kudo. Conditions apply. So I've brought up this Alan Roach character a few times. Remember, he's the security guard who Jade reached out asking for protection against Tom. Well, it turns out Alan is a little bit more than a security guard. He advertised himself as a sort of fixer, or at least that's how Jade interpreted it. Shortly after finding those images on Tom's computer, Jade and Alan took their conversation from Facebook to text messages. And I'm not sure what their exchanges were like over the next week or so, but I do know for a fact that shortly after Jade picked Tom up from the rehab center, she sent Alan a text saying, I just dosed

the hell out of him. What the freak? So this was a message that came through no more than 20 minutes after Tom was discharged. And saying that you think you can win in court after sending text messages like this. But here's the thing, Alan doesn't text her back. The plan was supposed to be for him to meet up and help her with whatever scheme she's trying to pull off. Like this is what the prosecution is saying. And here she was initiating the plan, but her right-hand man is just like not showing up. So Jade goes to the hardware store to stall for a bit. She buys some supplies for a design project or what the prosecution is saying was actually a murder kit. Items they confirm to also be gloves, maybe towels, and she's hoping by the

time she returns to the car, Alan will be on his way to her. Only that's not happening. By 12 PM that day, with still no word from Alan, Jade begins to panic. The prosecution shows that she was sending Alan a series of texts around this time, including quote, I can't carry him either back to my car to his house. I'm not strong enough. Can you come like right now? And eventually Alan does message back, but it's not what Jade wants to hear. Remember he says he's sending his friend Brian over and Brian tells police that when he got there, Jade demanded that he bring Tom inside, strangle him to death, and that Jade said she'd take care of the rest. So.

That's what Brian said? Brian then comes forward and says, okay, when I showed up, he was knocked out, but she also was demanding that I kill him. So we have Brian and Adam both saying. Kind of the same thing. Kind of the same thing. So now we're getting somewhere.

According to Brian at trial, he shows up, he's like, what have I gotten myself into? He refuses and leaves. So what does Jade do? She texts Alan again. At 3 p.m., she says, says quote he's waking up and I'm not sure how much longer I can control my temper Then she continues with things like I can't keep a kicking body in my truck Also, by the way, he's waking up and getting more aggressive. He's very aware and I am on my own Meanwhile Alan continued to ghost Jade, but it was clear at this point she

was scrambling, unsure of how to deal with her stepfather who was seemingly catching onto her. Then the text between Jade and Alan went quiet the rest of the evening, but around 5 30 p.m. on January 1st, Jade sent one final text to Alan just as police were stopping her as she left her driveway. She typed, lose my number, I'm getting pulled over. So there you have it. Okay. In writing, Jade confessed to drugging her stepfather and needing the help of a fixer to complete the job for her

or basically a hit man. It's so hard, all the evidence is right there. It's open and shut, right? Right, and when that didn't pan out, it appeared Jade just took matters into her own hands, eventually taking the life of 64 year old Tom, according to the prosecution, with that garbage bag. So in wrapping up the hearing,

the prosecution reminded the jury that Tom was not the one on trial here, that Jade had become his judge, jury, and executioner, and for that, she should have to pay her own price. But the defense is like, hey, this guy has raised her and then might have actually been abusing her and has all of these explicit photos of her. Okay. So kind of like a Ruby, um, sorry, kind of like a, what's her name? That got out of prison, gypsy kind of like a gypsy rose situation, a little, not exactly, but similarities. I mean, they're just, they're just pointing flaws in the

victim. Yes. Like they're saying, you know, he wasn't a perfect guy. He could have been grooming her. I mean, there's so many things, which is why the state then gets up and says, Hey, he's not on trial. Like we don't care about that. Like we're worried about what actually happened this day. Okay. But I mean, if there's always more to it when you have humans judging it than just did she kill him or not? Right. And while the entire scenario was definitely out of character for Jade, this is a 39-year-old

woman who'd never been arrested and had no history of violence. It was clear she'd be receiving no remorse for the trauma she suffered prior to Tom's death. The jury deliberated at 9 a.m. and were back in the courtroom 15 minutes later. Wow. They announced they had found Jade Jenks guilty of first degree murder and she looked absolutely stunned by the verdict. Her sentencing hearing took place in March of 2023. And one of the bigger topics of conversation was

why didn't Jade's defense team bring up the possible years of abuse that she suffered at the hands of Tom? Like, why didn't they focus on this more? Because if you remember, Jade mentioned that after she saw those pictures, a lot of the inappropriate behavior Tom showed her in her childhood came flooding back to her. So it was a valid question, one that might have gained her more sympathy from a jury had the defense argued that case harder. But her lawyers maintained, they didn't accentuate it because Jade did nothing to cause Tom's death. She didn't need to explain a motive to a crime she didn't commit. She was still maintaining her innocence. So Jade's biological father, Steven Jenks, was also at her sentencing hearing to testify on her behalf.

Standing before the judge, he said, quote, I can only imagine what she went through when she found out that Tom, her stepfather, a person she trusted that she called dad, was a sick perverted individual. So you're saying maybe they should have taken the, not saying. Self defense route. Yes, but if they went self defense, maybe the situation would turn out differently. I think that's what people are questioning about this case. He continues on saying, all I can say is this fight is not over.

I truly believe that an injustice has taken place. So her dad comes forward and says, it doesn't really matter what happened. She's also a victim in this. In the end, the 39 year old Jade was sentenced to 25 years to life for killing Tom. She- I was gonna say, we both talked about before that, victims can be guilty, but still be victims.

Right. You know what I'm saying? So she will be eligible for parole in 2048 and is currently working to appeal her conviction. But there's one thing I didn't mention in this case, a frustrating detail that says a lot about why some women maybe choose to defend themselves in scenarios like this rather than turn to law enforcement.

Supposedly there was a lot of doubt around how those naked photos came to be on Tom's computer in the first place. Like when all this comes out, people even questioned whether they ever existed at all. It's because of doubts like this that people have a hard time reaching out for help. Like this all happens and people are like,

well, maybe she's lying. Now, obviously Jade was wrong to have taken matters into her own hands. Like that is black and white. But when we live in a world that questions this truth, it can force people to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do. Should Jade have gone to the police

to report her stepfather? 100%. Absolutely. But would anyone have listened? Probably not. It's hard to say. More important. Because it would have been like, oh, well,

you sent these to your boyfriend, and you sent these out there, and you're a 39-year-old woman, and sorry, too bad for you. She expressed before he got out that she was scared. So is this revenge, or is this a woman who's traumatized and took matters into her own hands? I don't know if I can answer that. And I'm not, in no way am I taking away the responsibility of this crime.

It's just there's a lot of layers, man, layers of the onion when it comes to true. There's layer to some of these cases when it's not just a completely insane psychopath that kills someone out of being a serial killer and cases like this. This is where murder, first-degree murder, manslaughter, that's when everything starts intertwining and getting very tricky. Also think about every single episode we've recorded of this podcast. And then let me say this more importantly, would it have put her in more danger had Tom learned the truth about what she discovered

had she gone to the police? That's a question we may never have the answer to. Good question. Because how many times do we see a woman try to get help and then end up dead? I don't, oh gosh, I think I have a lot of opinions on these but some of them I won't share. I don't know. Um, I feel like we should do like a Separate segment or podcast or channel where I just share my actual opinions on things

Well, you can share your opinions. It's just no, but there's no right or wrong getting into it more Right than just kind of surface level sometimes I tend to I get into a little bit But sometimes I don't go full in because I mean people are gonna different opinions some people are gonna think who cares Right prison for life and some people are gonna think who cares she should be able to kill her dad and should have good her prison right we're gonna have opposite spectrums on each end yeah and crazy, that's that's hard I Feel like I've been kind of covering these controversial, not controversial, that's not the right word,

but just like cases that are making you think a little bit harder because this is kind of more the reality of true crime. Like it's not always black and white. It's not always Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer. Like a lot of times there are these complicated relationships behind these murders, especially domestic murders. And I just am like, this is true crime. This is what we're trying to figure out. And there's so many layers to it. All right, you guys. So that is our case for this week and we will see you next time with another episode. I love it.

I hate it. Goodbye.