Rotten Mango - #255: She Found Nude Photos Of Herself On Her Stepdad’s Computer - So She Killed Him (Case of Jade Janks)

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

Jade had always been a good stepdaughter. Ever since she was 12, she had respected, loved, and admired her stepfather. Even now, at 37 years old, she was his primary caretaker. Her stepdad struggled with his health and every time he was hospitalized, Jade wanted to do something nice for him. She would clean his entire house so that he wouldn’t have to come home to a messy place. She didn’t have to, but she wanted to. One fateful day in December 2020, she was cleaning his office when his computer screen came alive. She looked up to see the desktop photo was a picture of a woman’s nude breasts. She stumbled backward. She was shocked. Not because it was a nude photo - but because it was her nude photo. She searched his computer and found hundreds and hundreds of meticulously organized nude photos of herself. Some dating as far back as when she was 16 years old. This discovery would lead her down a path of destruction that would end in murder. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rambles. Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever we need it, download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier or pay to description starting at $12.99 per month. Better being better boo. We're talking about Jade Janks today.

Jade Janks had a lot on her plate, you know. She's working on her business full-time, dating, building meaningful connections with friends. And she's also taking care of her stepdad while he's struggled with his health. She was so close with her stepdad, she just referred to him as dad. She had known him since she was 12 years old, and now at the age of 37, they just... They developed this very special bond built on respect, love, and understanding for one another. Even after Jade and her mom stopped talking, her mom, her biological mom, they stopped talking, and her stepdad and her mom divorced, she still stayed in her stepdad's life.

That's how close they were. They would go on these really long walks together, go out to dinner, catch up. I mean, the way that they talked to each other was just really heartwarming. It's the type of relationship that a lot of people would look at and kind of be jealous of. You know, you have such a strong father figure in your life that can always give you really

good advice that you can always lean on like, I'm jealous of that. It's a big thing. So when he's hospitalized one day in 2020, she just wanted to do something nice for him. She felt like he should at least come home to a clean home. She went over to his place before he was discharged from the hospital. She starts cleaning it up. She's dusting all the surfaces. She would even lift up the family photos and dust underneath it. She's an interior designer so she's just very into detail. Then she would move into the kitchen, then the living room. And then finally, she goes to clean his office. She's dusting around his desk area

when she accidentally bumps in to the mouse of his PC computer. So she knocks the mouse to the side, and because she tapped on it, the computer screen lights up alive. She stood there for however many minutes, because there was just no way. Like there is no way in hell that she is seeing this right

It just doesn't make sense the screen saber the desktop lock screen for this man's computer The man that she called dad was a nude picture of a woman's breasts Just right there staring at her no face just yeah, just boobs. And this wasn't a picture that she had to open. It wasn't an image that the stepdad was being sent. It was his desktop image. It's a lock screen, if you will. That's like a prank, almost, right? Yeah.

Someone does that to prank someone. Exactly. But the nude photo wouldn't have bothered Jade at all. I mean, it's kind of weird to see that on your stepdad's computer. But the problem was, it was her nude photo wouldn't have bothered Jade at all. I mean, it's kind of weird to see that on your stuff that's computer, but the problem was, it was her nude photo. It was her breasts on his screen. There was no face included, but Jade knew instantly,

like that beauty mark, that's my beauty mark. She's like, I know my body. She did not understand. She said, I couldn't believe it. I was in complete shock. I mean, there was no way she grabs the mouse. And she knew if this was his background picture, there had to be more. So she squinted so that she couldn't see much of herself and she started going through his files,

his documents on his computer. She did not have to look very far. There were hundreds of pictures of her in various stages of undress, all meticulously organized into folders by categories. They would have file names like Jade Shower, or Jade insert derogatory term for female body part. So Jade starts scanning through the pictures

and she realized that these were screenshots of videos. So you know how you take a video and you can screenshot it and turn it into a picture? A video that she had taken with her boyfriend. She was engaging in various sexual activities. Some of them she was nude. I mean, she had never sent this to her stepdad. Is she crazy?

No, she's not. She would never send this to him. But then she's like, oh my god, this guy does have access to my computer and my camera. He must have secretly taken these video files and he took pictures of every single frame of the video. It's almost like he didn't want to miss a single second of it. He don't want to miss a single frame of it Every picture was categorized meticulously put into its own folder. It was so organized

It was so disgusting. Jade said standing there seeing this was the most violating awful Got-runching feeling that she's ever had in her life. She felt sick, she couldn't even touch her own skin, she said there's no words to describe how I felt. I've never even seen anything like this in a movie. She kept scrolling through the photos and videos, they came from a span of several years, so some of them were when Jade was 25, 26. Mind you, she's 37 now, but more sinister,

where some pictures dated back to and Jade was only 16 or 17. She was still a minor in some of the photos. As always full show notes are available at RottenMangoPodcast.com. This is a fairly recent case with the crime taking place in early 2021. We recently saw the trial proceedings back in March of 2023. I believe the defense is going to try to appeal the verdict. So it's it's technically solved but ongoing. So as always, I'm going to keep a look at for any updates, but let's get into the case. January 2nd 2021. Everyone was still slightly hung over. After all the New Year's festivities,

there's New Year new cases for the police. The San Diego Police Department were already spending the second day of 2021 on the hunt for a missing man. They tried contacting him, reaching out to all of his relatives, and now they're standing in front of this man's house to see if the guy is home. They're knocking on the door, no response. They're like peeping through the windows. They don't see anything. He doesn't seem to be home. They're like peeping through the windows. They don't see anything. He doesn't seem to be home So they're scanning the area for any clues and detective Martinez Just couldn't really shake the feeling that something was off about the neighbor's house

There was like a giant pile of garbage at the end of the driveway Just empty boxes piled on top of each other So it's not like they were broken down like you would normally dispose of boxes There were blankets even a freaking wheelbarrow, just there. All piled up at the end of the driveway. He's thinking, maybe, maybe it's a New Year cleaning session, New Year new home, trying to get rid of all of last year's trash. But detective Martinez intuition is telling him,

you gotta take a closer look. He walks over, he starts rummaging through the trash and under the pile of empty boxes and blankets, he discovers the missing man. He finds him. He's laying there underneath all the trash still wearing his hospital gown and his hospital bracelet. Good and bad news.

Good news. He's no longer missing. Bad news. He was dead Okay, this case is gonna get really complicated So I'm just gonna put this out here right now I think as a collective society we have a bit of an obsession with anti-heroes Even Taylor Swift has a song called anti-hero

They're complicated, they're captivating, mesmerizing, they're so dark Like we eat it up for breakfast on chantern movies and shows We're all familiar with the hero archetype, the morally upstanding individual that always does the right thing, makes the right choice, and personally, it's so boring. It's so stale. Where is the character development? Where is the character arc? Why am I following this person who is so moral to the point that it's almost exhausting for me to watch? There is something to be said about someone who does something so villainous But maybe they do it for a good reason the type of guy that's willing to kill everyone in order to save the only person

He loves or someone who does something bad But is otherwise a really good person? You know, they're anti-heroes because they're complex. They challenge us to even question our own values. So, myconic examples are Deadpool, Dexter, the serial killer that only targets serial killers or evil criminals. I mean, technically, he's the serial killer. They blur the line between hero and villain.

But that's just kind of in the movies, right? Like, what about in real life? If these people existed in real life, would we just call them villains? Would we just be like, no, that's actually just a criminal? Or would we think that they're evil? Mean, would we try to cancel them on social media? Or would we kind of root for them?

So this is where this case gets very complicated. A lot of people compare today's killer as an anti-hero in real life. Others disagree and think that she is just a cold killer who's evenly disposed of a human body and deserves to rot in prison for the rest of time. It's just really polarizing today. I've seen the 12 fights on Reddit and Twitter over this, but I'm just going to let you decide for yourself. Let's talk about the anti-hero, Jade Jakes. She spent most of her life in Solano Beach, Solano Beach.

I think I'm saying that right. It means sunny spot, but it's like this cute, little scenic coastal town in San Diego. I've only been to San Diego like once. It's so beautiful, right? It's, I mean, think of like your perfect, relaxed California beach town, that is San Diego. I cannot imagine growing up in a place like that.

I feel like you live there and no problems exist. I mean obviously that's not true, but Jade was actually born in Texas, October 14, 1983, to mom Jenny Smith and dad Steve Janks. These people are going to be very important, okay? I'm not entirely sure what happened, but Steve was, he very quickly filed for divorce from Jenny within like three months of Jade being born. He's like, here are the divorce papers. He gets full custody and he takes Jade. They leave Texas and moved to San Diego. So I'm not really sure what the reason is,

but we can kind of speculate that Jenny, the mom, wasn't in the headspace to be a good mom Jade would even later describe her own mom as being and I quote a bit of a wreck She seemed to have these really destructive behaviors. She would just get drunk Aggressive angry and then she would rinse and repeat the process. It was just very toxic Things were a lot better when Jade moved out with her dad Steve He's like the definition of stable. He's a native of South Africa and it's said that he's just got this big, boisterous personality.

The dude loves motorbikes, barbecues, and he loves doing these cute little road trips across the country. He has a successful construction business that he was so passionate about. He just seemed like one of those dads that would be really, really loud and maybe even a little bit scary, but then you get to know him and you're like, this is the cool dad of the group. This is the fun dad. They didn't really feel the absence of her mom too much because her dad was just super cool. So throughout most of her childhood, Jenny, the mom, is like in and out of her life,

and it seemed okay with Jade. She's happy, she's fine. And then she turns 12. She hasn't talked to her mom in. God knows how long her mom calls her out of the balloon and is like hey just so you know I got married and guess what I'm pregnant like you're finally gonna have a little sibling I'm sorry what that is a lot for a 12 year old I imagine if that were me I would feel sad that my mom just was never interested in me and now she's starting a whole new family first of, she didn't even tell me that she was married. And now she's just calling me to be like, you're gonna have a little sibling. I mean, that's just bizarre.

I feel like I would feel resentful. But Jade was so freaking excited. She didn't even really care about all of that. She was just excited to have a baby sibling. And maybe she thought this was a sign from the freaking universe that her mom is changing, that they would have this beautifully blended family that they would all come together. I mean, do you give me wrong? Jade does not expect her parents to get back together, like never in a million years.

But maybe they could all kind of meet each other's lives, right? So that very weekend after the call, Jade goes to stay with her mom and her new husband. They had moved to California. And I imagine it was a very emotional weekend for them. Like I imagine you haven't seen your mom in so long and the next time you see her, she's pregnant and has a new husband. Like it's just a lot to take it. Jade met her mom's new husband, so her stepdad for the first time.

His name is Thomas John Merriman. But he just went by Tom. So Tom, listen, this guy comes from a massive family. Tom's got four siblings, three half siblings, which isn't that bad, but he also had 19 cousins. It's like a huge family, but they were so close knit. And Tom was always described by family members as being very smart, kind, generous, just overall

a supportive guy. Like, you have a dream. Everyone might laugh at you, but Tom would be on the side. Like, no, I seriously think you should go for it. So Tom's a pretty well-loved guy. When Tom was nine, he probably faced one of the most traumatic things that a kid can go through at that age. He and his two brothers, they're playing outside.

Imagine their neighborhood with like a big street. His older brother Tim and his younger brother Michael. Michael's just six at this point. They're playing outside when I guess someone in the house is older brother Tim and his younger brother Michael. Michael's just six at this point. They're playing outside when I guess someone in the house had opened the door and their dog ran out and their dog sees them from across the street and the dog is so freaking excited.

And you know dogs, they don't know how to look both ways before they cross the street. So the dog starts running across the busy street, trying to get to them and six yearyear-old Michael let go of his brother's hands, runs to catch the family dog, and he was hit by oncoming traffic, and died in the hospital a few days after. Tom was rightfully traumatized, but he actually didn't retreat into his corner and become super depressed as a kid, which I don't think anyone would blame him, literally absolutely no one would.

But instead, Tom became super protective of the rest of his family members. The family were able to get through this tragic incident by leading on each other. They just came out, I don't want to say stronger because of it, but it didn't destroy them. They got closer. So Jade, initially, she doesn't see any of these things about Tom. She just kind of thought the guy's a little weird, not weird in the sense that you're thinking, not weird in the creepy stepdad sense.

No, no, no, no. He just had some, um, just kinda socially awkward. Just kinda like, kinda awkward. I don't know. Jade was always known to be bubbly, vibrant, and very, like a natural born networker.

Even at 12, she was so good at reading the room and peaking up social cues. She could tell right off the bat that Tom was very uncomfortable around her. Just very uncomfortable around people. Which is fine. Maybe he was just nervous. One straight gets to know him. She would later joke with him and say, perhaps Tom, you are too smart. You're so smart that you're stupid.

Meaning he's so smart of a guy that when it comes to things that other people think is so easy, like interacting with people, social interaction, social gatherings, it just goes over his head. Jade would even later save Tom's number on her phone as consultant, because he always knew the answers to everything. He just wasn't a small talker.

He didn't know casual conversation if it was waving a big neon sign at him So once the two got past this little awkward phase. They actually got along really really well Jade was grateful for Tom. It seemed like Tom made a positive impact on her mom She's like I see the difference After dating Tom my mom seems a lot more mellowed out So one month after Jade's 13th birthday, her half-brother Zachary Cash Meriman was born, and everyone just called him Cash growing up. Jade is so freaking excited. She's 13. I would imagine most 13-year-olds are trying to spend every opportunity that they

can have to go to the movies, hang out with friends, but Jade is like, I'm gonna go over to my mom's house and help change some dirty diapers. She was genuinely freaking stoked about it, okay? But history has a tendency to repeat itself, okay? The more that Jade was around to help her baby brother, the more that she sees her mom's fake facade crumbling. Her mom started slowly going back to her destructive behaviors. And I think deep down, it just really bothered Jade. She wasn't jealous of her baby brother, like others would think someone at her age would be. She genuinely wanted her baby brother to have a better childhood than she did,

to have a better mom than she did. But the disappointments, they just keep repeating itself, it is so frustrating for Jade to see. September of 2000 is like the perfect example. Little Cash, he's four now. He's about to start his first day at kindergarten I mean he had this he had this day marked on his calendar for months now since the beginning of summer If you run into this little kid you'd be like, oh got any plans for summer

He'd be like, I'm spending all summer prepping for kindergarten. That's coming up. My first day of kindergarten is going to be the best day of my freaking life Just telling anyone that would listen about kindergarten Finally the day comes around cash gets up before the alarm. He's getting ready No one's home his mom hard already left She had just forgot Forgot about him forgot about his big-day in kindergarten. It just slipped her mind. That's what she said So Jade realized that if her brother was gonna live a different childhood from her, she needed to step in and to help.

She was 18 now and she had the means. She was able to rent an apartment nearby, but halfway through the lease. She wanted to be even closer to cash. She asked her mom if she could move in. She even lied and was like, oh, I lost my apartment halfway through the lease. Which is not true. She ended up sub leasing it, but she just needed an excuse. She moves in and Jade starts fighting with her mom a lot more after she moves in. I mean, first of all, there's a lot of reasons, but first, they're moved in together. They're

constantly going to be butting heads. Second, Jade is older now, so she seems to have a clearer idea of what it means to be an adult and what it means to take care of a literal child and her mom is not hitting these standards. In third, she's just able to see up close and personal, her mom's behavioral issues coming back. Jenny was abusing alcohol, drugs, she would come home high and just go quote off the wall, screaming at whoever was convenient, it was usually Jade or typically Tom and she was just spiraling. She's sabotaging her relationships with her husband Tom, with her daughter Jade. The relationship between Jenny and

Tom was so toxic. The couple filed for divorce in 2002, 2006, and 2008. Like they left and got back together or? They filed for divorce and then they were like never mind. We don't want to go through with it. And then they would do it again and again and again and you know just how sometimes with fighting parents you kind of Kind of pick a side like especially if it's clearly one party's fault If it's so clear to you as a kid that this person is getting drunk and high and spending the family money on alcohol It's clear that maybe the other person is on the right, right? You start sympathizing with the other party. Jade and Tom become a lot closer at this stage.

They could actually relate to each other about Jenny and how frustrating it was to live with her and deal with her. Tom also started protecting Jade more, even though she was literally an adult at this point. They start calling each other daughter and dad. They would even run away together. So one day, Jenny gets drunk, gets arrested. When she was in jail, the rest of the family, Tom, Jaden, Cash decide it's time to leave. If we try to leave, while mom is home, it's going to be a toxic, potentially violent

fight. This is our chance. They pack their bags in the middle of the night and they disappear. All three of them would rent a new place in San Diego and live together for the next few years. It was kind of a weird setup but it worked. Jaden Tom had a cordial relationship with father and daughter. They were both focused on giving cash all of their attention and love. Jaden was also doing really well in her

professional life. She started working at her dad, her biological dad's construction company when she turned 18. Now look, I know, okay? Her boss is her dad. Of course, she's going to get employee of the month. But a lot of people that worked with Jade said, no, she really had an eye for design. Like, she really, yeah, she worked with her dad together and the company would win local kitchen and bath of the year award from San Diego Homelife's down magazine three times. Steve, the father was very proud of this, okay? It's a very incredible achievement. But there were these little fights here and there

between Tom, Jade, and Cash. Once Jade starts working with her biological dad, it seemed like Tom was getting jealous. I guess he was so used to viewing her as his daughter and her calling him dad. He didn't really think or like that she was so close with her biological father, Steve, even though this is the man that raised her, this is literally her father. But Tom would constantly say these little remarks, say these little things that just felt like

he was trying to get under her skin, create a rift between the two, create distance between Steve and Jade. Jade did not fall for it. She's like too smart for this. She felt like Tom was being jealous and manipulative, but maybe it was understandable. By 2008, Tom and Jenny are going through a very ugly final divorce and heated custody battle for Cash. Tom ends up losing in court. Jenny gets full custody of Cash. Jade is just trying to support this man whose life is falling apart. He is confused why the courts would even give Jenny full custody.

He is devastated at the ruins of his marriage and his personal life. So Jade is there and even when Cash moves out to be with his mom again, Jade does not leave. She doesn't abandon Tom. Even though technically she has no reason to stay. He was a wreck, so she's picking up some slack, she's doing the laundry, the housework, even made doctor supportments for Tom. She started seeing him spiraling out of control. This man was so sad,

he drank his sorrows and started getting curious about drugs. Eventually at 23 years old, Jade would finally move out, and her and Tom were on good terms, but there was just not that much reason for them to call each other, or even text each other. There was really nothing to talk about. They really only talked about cash, ever. So now that cash is gone, what are they going to do? They would see each other for Big Birthdays, special holidays, mainly Thanksgiving. That was always a tradition. Jade, Tom, and Cash had things giving together every year. But over time, their relationship just fizzles out.

But she still spoke more to Tom than she did her mom. Jade would actually never speak to her mom again. Now this is where things start getting complicated for people. Jade is objectively, before the crime, what people would consider a very good person, like a very respectable person, she worked as a senior art sales consultant at a fine art gallery after she quit working with her dad, and she was kind of perfect for the job. So she's very creative, which is probably why

she did so well with her dad, but she also used those skills and paired it with her ability to mingle with customers and different artists and buyers. She increased the gallery's profitability by over a million dollars just by working there. And after work, she was a bit of a social butterfly. Literally picture a California girl that's got this amazing career, works out in her free time, always has sunk his skin, hangs out at the beach,

she's constantly surrounded by friends, has this charismatic personality just networking everywhere she goes that's Jade I mean I guess you could call her like an it girl she was able to seamlessly crack jokes she's very charming very self-spoken very likable even during the trials very likable and she just has this big smile that everyone feels very comfortable with she she reminds me of a girl's girl so meanwhile Tom is finding himself after his divorce too. He wallowed in his self-pity for a while, but he's trying to pick himself back up,

and he finds a passion and butterflies. He meets a guy named Pat Flanagan, and he's a serial entrepreneur of this Pat guy, always open to new ideas, new businesses. They start teaming up to come up with a new business idea. Both of them are super into plants. It's like they're passion recently. So they're like, we should start a nursery. We could sell palm trees, you know? We're gonna plant some seeds, sell palm trees. But one Friday night, they're all sitting around. They've got a little

bonfire going on, they're cracking open some beers. They start getting real deep, you know? These are all middle aged men. Did you guys do what you wanted in life? I mean, what do you want to do with the rest of your life? I mean, it's now or never, right? And I don't know what it was. For some reason, the only thing that came into Tom's mind was butterflies. Freaking butterflies. Okay, they're so magical.

And he's thinking, it would be a dream to work with butterflies. The next day, Pat and Tom go to one of those butterfly conservation, and both of them felt like the minute that they walked in, it was a feeling of intense happiness, but also deep sadness. The butterflies were so beautiful, colorful. Just full of life, so free. Their formation, their existence was so utterly beautiful,

but the education center was dead. It was dead. They threw around these lifeless educational planplets that looked like they were imprinted in 1991 to kids who were losing interest in even something as magical as butterflies. They had dusty projectors, long technical educational material that couldn't even capture the essence of butterflies. It felt like a DMVV but it's a butterfly conservation how do you do that it's like the opposite of what you would expect

so they walk out go home and immediately file for a non-profit certificate and they were gonna set up their own butterfly conservation they wrote curriculum to provide entertaining and engaging ways to learn about butterflies. They wanted kids to be excited, not bored out of their minds. What you watch depends on what kind of major in. Sometimes you're craving comedies like friends or South Park and sometimes you're more into dramas like HBO's Succession and House of the Dragon. There's also cooking shows like Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay and even movies like The Lord of the Rings and Shazam, Fury of the Gods.

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He said, it's not every day you meet someone like Tom. Someone who is so driven and passionate who is ready to make use of every second to achieve a goal. In 2013, they opened up butterfly farms and it quickly became known as a local favorite, a hidden gem in San Diego. Tom and Pat were actually local celebrities. They were the butterfly guys. Schools from all over California would go down to San Diego to have these field trips and they would visit the butterfly farm. The kids learned a lot. They really liked it

there. I mean, mainly the passion was there. Pat even said, once you see a butterfly come out and see it fly, it's pretty magical. I think Tom and I just got caught up in the magic of it. They even helped the local community. So there was this hospice chaplain named Frank. So Frank would go around and provide spiritual and emotional support to families who were dealing with the loss. Tom and butterfly farms would educate Frank on different species of butterflies and what they symbolized, you know, emotionally. Tom would then even suggest Frank bring these grieving family members to the farm where he would place that symbolic butterfly on the tip of their finger.

And they would say some beautiful words and the family members would be instructed to let the butterfly fly. To... I'm gonna cry. It's really really smart. Yeah, too. I guess the let go of the grief, you know, and this really did help a lot of people. They were able to move on and connect with nature and connect with even just each other. And after going into business together, Tom and Pat, they didn't have any problems. Like there were no business wars. They were just very happy. They had similar passions. When Pat got a divorce, Tom was there to support him. It just, they were constantly together. Even Tom's son, Cash, ends up getting a job

at the nursery later. So they had very intertwined lives, which is interesting, because Pat never knew that Tom had a stepdaughter that he considered a daughter. Literally never spoke about Jade. So Jade and Tom, at this point, they're really living completely independent lives, and they both seem very happy. And then one day, Tom messages Jade to tell her that he's moved into a new house in Salona Beach. This is April of 2020, so very recently. Coincidentally, Jade's lease was up and she sees a house that's literally a hundred feet

away from Tom up for rent. It's almost like the stars were aligned. She's like, okay, this is perfect. She moves in down the street. And if you're watching the visuals on YouTube at RottenminglePod or on Spotify at Rottenmingle video, this is how close they were. If you're not watching the visuals, it's 100 feet away. And if you cut through trees, I could probably make that walk in one minute

two minutes. Just basically think of it as your next door neighbor, which of course means they're going to get a lot closer again. They would go on these long walks around the neighborhood with Jade's dog, Betty. Jade just, she just kind of felt this pull in her heart every time she saw Tom. You know, she hadn't seen him in so long and now... He just looks so old. Like, you know, when you... If you're a younger person, you see an older person, maybe a grandparent, and you haven't seen them in years.

She looks so old. They look like they had aged so many years, and she couldn't help but shake this feeling that he was really, really lonely. He's just always alone. He would make random excuses to come to our house and they would start having dinners together and Jade slowly became more like his caretaker again. Tom is still working at Butterfly Farms but he's taken more and more time off to focus on his health. He started developing a ton of medical problems, likely a result of his heavy drug and alcohol abuse. It got to the point where he signed over

power of attorney to Jade so that she could make any medical decisions for him if it ever came to that. Jade really was like a daughter he never had. She did everything for him. Bring him bandages, make him soup, deal with doctors, make sure that he stayed on top of meds. She spent countless hours taking him to hospitals, running errands for him, picking up his prescriptions. It was like a full-time job. By 2020, these are just some of the medical conditions Tom was suffering from.

Alcohol, hepatitis, liver dysfunction, and enlarged heart, congestive heart failure, swollen and congested lungs, 30 to 40% blockage in his arteries. This is pretty safe to say it's not a walk in the park taking care of Tom. And by all accounts, Jade didn't really get much help from anyone. Not cash, not Tom's family, and it really just, it was just her. And it's not like nobody else cared, it's just they're busy and COVID regulations, you know, it's 2020. Jade was all he had. But oddly enough, she did not resent him for her responsibilities. They actually grew's 2020. Jade was all he had. But oddly enough, she did not resent him for her responsibilities. They actually grew closer together. Jade said she never trusted anyone

as much as she trusted Tom. They just always had this bond, but now it was truly a father-daughter bond. Tom would text Jade all the time showing her gratitude. He would even say things like, no one will ever love you as much as I do. Which at the time is very sweet. I don't think he's saying it as I'm like, no one will ever love you like I do. I think it's just like, I love you so much, no one could ever love you like I do.

At the time, very, very sweet. But once she found folders upon folders of nude photos of herself in his computer, it took on a completely new sinister meaning. So let's talk about the big betrayal, the crashing and burning of their decades-long family bond that would end up in a murder trial. Do I think that there's more devastating things to happen in the world? Potentially.

But I also feel like there is a special kind of pain for women or men that feel like they had this true bond with someone. Maybe it's a family member, maybe it's a friendship, and then they realize that this person was just sexualizing them the whole time. It's just a bizarre kind of pain. I think most of us might have experienced different degrees of it with maybe friends. You know, this person is so kind to you, you feel like you have so much in common with them, and then you realize that this person has only been sticking around in hopes that you would sleep with them one day. It is just a weird type of pain.

Jade would feel that but so much worse and it all starts with a trip to Mexico. Jade is seeing this guy named Adam and the two of them plus Adam's son had this big trip to Mexico plant. Jade was even gonna bring her dog Betty along, but while Jade is in Mexico enjoying her time, she gets this really alarming phone call from Tom. He is muttering over the phone. They beat me up. They broke my ribs. She's instantly alarmed.

He's slurring his words. His speech isn't clear. She doesn't. What was this though? 2020, early 2012. Oh, that's recent. Yeah. His speech wasn't that clear, so she's confused.

Like, what did you just say? She's feeling worried and they hang up and he starts sending her photos of bloody tissues and bloody towels. Jade was a little bit less worried after receiving the pictures. In a lot of them she could see a bottle of Jack Daniels which was Tom's favorite in the back. I mean don't get me wrong she was still very concerned but she originally thought that he had been robbed, beaten up and, but it just seemed like he had gotten drunk and was not coherent. He called her back and reassured her, it's fine. There's no need to cut your Mexico short trip, like have a blast, I'll be here when you

get back. J degrees, especially because there wasn't a lot of blood on the towels and tissues anyway. So December 15th, 2020, J.D. comes back from Mexico. So very recent. Tom gets drunk again, he starts mixing alcohol with some pills, and he ends up falling and hurting himself really badly. Jade is really concerned. She rushes him to the hospital about 10 minutes away, and good thing she did because he

had broken ribs and a serious Xanax withdrawal. Side note, Xanax is a schedule for controlled substance in the US, meaning it hasn't accepted medical use, typically to treat anxiety and panic disorders, but it's high risk of misuse and dependence. Addiction. I mean, which Tom was clearly misusing, he was taking Xanax with alcohol frequently,

which is really not what you should be doing. And once you're taken off Xanax, you may start to feel withdrawal symptoms. Even if you aren't addicted or abusing Xanax, there's a Xanax withdrawal. They range from minor to very serious, so minor is anxiety. That's the minor panic attacks, tremors, muscle spasms, hypersensitivity, to light, sound, touch, and in very serious cases it can cause psychosis, hallucinations, delusions, and even seizures. So it's very safe to say that Tom is not having a good time with his annex withdrawal. He was sent to Aviera Health Care Center to complete his recovery. Tom needed

help stabilizing his heart and blood pressure. He even needed assistance walking. So Jade is really worried about Tom, but she's kind of relieved when she finds out that he's going to be taken into this facility because they're going to take good care of him. This care center was really nice. They told Jade, you know, you're stuck at, he's in good hands. But we don't know. We don't know when he's going to be back up and running as normal. It could be days, it could be several weeks. Truly, we don't know. Jade's like, okay, sure. I mean, that makes sense. You don't know. So she goes back home, and she writes on her schedule to go over to Tom's place, basically next door, and tidy up.

He had left it in a mess because he had been drinking before he was hospitalized. He was just doing all these things. And she had no idea when she was going to get a call that he's discharged. The last thing she wants is her dad, her stepdad, to come home to a messy home. And it's while she's in his office dusting. She moves the mouse to his computer. And it felt like her life had ended. She's now staring at her nude photo, which was saved as her stepdad's log screen.

And she had, of course, never given these to him. She realized that all of these files must have been on her computer or her camera, which, side note, she recently lost her camera along with the SD card inside and she's now thinking he stole it. The most alarming part I think is that the photo is spanned back from when she was a minor, when she was just 16 to 17 years old, and all of them were meticulously categorized. So we can only imagine that he had started these, these, these, these, these, because we've been collecting for decades

Decades, I don't know how I would react. I think that's far worse than a month or two ago Decades, my entire world I think would shatter. Like the feeling of betrayal would run so deep I don't even know how I would function. Jade starts panicking and she does the first thing that she can think of which is she calls her friend Mike. She's panicking and screaming over the phone telling him what she just found and he just calmly tells her just delete the photos. I just don't think that she was getting the support that she was looking for in this

moment. Jade said that she was too scared. Tom had a tendency to get very temperamental, especially when he's going through a drug withdrawal which is what he's literally in the hospital for right now. And Mike was of no use. She hangs up the phone, she calls another friend, Sarah. Sarah gave her a few better options, she said, call your landlord.

Show them so that he can get evicted and you don't have to live a hundred feet away from him anymore. Or just call the police, try to get him arrested. But Jade was scared. First of all, she felt betrayed. She felt confused on if she should turn her stepfather in, and even if she did, it doesn't look like he's going to get a lot of time for this type of crime.

Jade had no idea what to do. She made another call to a friend named The Fixer. That's what everyone called him. Jade had actually never met him before, but they ran in the same circles, and people always joked, if you need help with anything, anything, especially the things that you don't want cops to know about, Alan Roach is your guy. That was his reputation in this crowd. So she reaches out to Alan Roach via Facebook Messenger and she types, Alan, Sam's friend? Yes, is there something I can do for you? Sam gave me your number if I ever needed it.

Not sure if you can help me. Maybe we can meet for lunch and chat in person? If Sam referred you to me, then I'm sure I can fix it for you. So they switch over to texting and Jade says, Sam said if I ever needed actual help to call you, like actual, actual help, like should hit the fan and I need help and or discretion type of help.

The situation is one I'm not quite sure how to handle. It's quite personal. I would like to chat with you in person, Alan. So I'm not really sure what Jade had in mind or what she was thinking, but through the initial messages with Alan Roach, it's very clear that she doesn't want to talk about this over text. She wants to meet with him in person. Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2020. So Tom is still in the hospital. He hasn't been discharged yet. Jade and Alan Roach meet for the first time. It's assumed that Jade told Alan what was going on and she also seemed to be very nervous about what Tom was going to do. She felt like he was maybe watching her. So none of the photos were taken with a hidden camera. But still,

her life felt like it had been turned upside down. Allen said he advised her to get security cameras in her house, but she declined. Which side note, Allen would later testify that during the initial meeting they had an instant attraction towards each other and sparks were flying. And he claims that he slept with her during that period, but it was very casual. It's kind of pertinent to note later on in the text messages, but you just know that they had a sexual relationship going on. Some people think that they actually use this as evidence that Jade wasn't that traumatized by the fact that her stepdad had

her nudes. I don't agree with that sentiment, but there's that. The very next day on Christmas Day, Jade starts texting Alan again, and personally I see a little bit of unraveling happening with Jade's mental state. She starts texting him, I've been sleeping with a plastic tarp on the floor next to my bed, because it makes noise when someone walks on it. And who would attack a girl who has a plastic tarp laid out next to her bed? I've got a knife and an iron rod by the bed too, so I guess worst case, the tarp will make it easier for cleaning.

Incineating that if someone tries to attack her, she's going to kill them, and the tarp will make it easy for cleaning. Incineating that if someone tries to attack her, she's gonna kill them and the tarp will make it easy to clean up all the blood. She added some emojis into that text as well, such as the shrugging man emoji. And it was just a lot. The next day to December 26, Jade texts Alan again. Hopefully we can figure out a plan because I imagine you're too busy to watch me shower every day.

Side note, Alan agreed to stand guard while Jade would shower because she was terrified that Tom would be released without her being alerted and would just ambush her in her home. But as for the plan reference, it's hard to say what she was referring to. Prosecutors would later argue that she was referring to a plan to murder Tom. She would argue differently. The next day, Jade texted Alan again. This isn't something that I can take care of on my own. I'm losing it and spinning. I think everything else is best spoken in person, Alan. I'm beyond freaked out, so just so freaked out.

The next day, another text. Anyway, I'm waiting for the hospital to get back to me about his status. So far, it seems like he's getting a strength back. I think the time is coming up, so we got to come up with a plan fast. Again, a lot of references to taking care of it or a plan. The prosecutors would again argue that this points to the plot of a murder. Jade kept mentioning to Alan that her biggest fear was that Tom would be released from the care facility without her knowing. She said the hospital

wasn't the best of, at back and forth, communication, she just felt nervous. And Tom's medical insurance agreement would stop at the end of the year, so it makes sense that he would most likely be released by the end of the year. She's running out of time to figure out how she wants to handle this situation. It's already December 28th. Jade would later explain, since the day she found those photos, she could not function properly. She felt like she was a zombie, just throwing up whenever she was thinking about everything that she saw. She thought about what Tom was doing while he was looking at those pictures. Why he even had those pictures, she started overthinking every single interaction that they ever had. Tom was never outright

inappropriate with her. So if she had never found these photos, she would never in a million years think that Tom was sexualizing her in any way. But now looking back, there's just so much. And I wonder if there were instances where maybe Tom had said some weird things or not touched her in a way that's overly suggestive. But just, if it were me I would

be over thinking every single touch every single hug everything. Every conversation every dinner. Yes, every time I thought that he's looking at me with loving fatherly eyes. Every time he comes over. Yes, what is he doing? Yeah. Every time I went to the beach with him like they they live in San Diego, I mean, all of that. Yeah, I can't, I mean, it's something that I don't think

most people can even impact. Really, too. Yeah, like, and it's kind of worse in my opinion, because I think girls are taught at a young age to be very wary of men and just guys in general. And we kind of expect shitty dudes to appear in our life. But I think that's what makes Petraeel so much harder when it's family members. You don't expect that from your stepdad, your father, your uncle. Like these are the safe people that you would never,

ever expect them to do this to you. She said that she wanted to throw up 24-7. Her world was spinning. I mean, she knew this man for most of her life. Since she was 12, she's now 37. This man was a firm father figure in her life. She called him dad for crying out loud. And this whole time, he was probably masturbating to her. Even to photos of her when she was a minor. She said she could not function. Her world was crashing down,

and it's pretty evident in her text messages. Regardless of how you feel later about this crime or about Jade, I feel like it's pretty evident in her text messages. Regardless of how you feel later about this crime or about Jade, I feel like it's pretty evident that the state of mind that she was in after she found these pictures was just not good. She kept messaging her friend Mike. So remember the guy she initially called about the pictures, the very first call that she made.

She talked about how she was in a moral pickle, how she was debating between something. And then she texted him, but I will never not be looking over my shoulder, so I'm making the call. She never really elaborated on what she meant by that, but prosecutors would later theorize that she was talking about killing. The same day Jade starts messaging Alan again. My mind is spinning, but I've got a plan.

Alan responds, I need to have a clear mind now that the time is near. Which again, makes it seem like potentially they have come up with a plan to take care of Tom, and the deadline is coming soon. The deadline of whenever he's released from the hospital. Jade continues, I've given it some thought, Alan, and I have an easy solution. I do not need to speak with you tonight. I think it's time to tighten up a plan. The prosecutors again think the plan is to kill Tom.

Jade would later explain, no, no, no, no, that's not the plan. The plan was to pick up Tom from the hospital when he's discharged, bring him home where Alan would be there to confront him about the photos. We would stand there together, Alan would be the muscle, and we would demand that Tom get rid of every single photo on every device because we don't know if he's got it backed up somewhere. And if he does that, we would promise that we wouldn't go to the police with this. She said that was the plan. That was the plan that she keeps

referring to in the text messages. The prosecutors and most of the public do not believe that. Even the public that agrees that Jade should not get as much time as she ended up getting. But December 31st, 2020 rolls around the very last day of 2020. Jayden Allen meet up in Jade's neighborhood, and we're not really sure what they talked about or what they did, but we do know that Jade was collecting all the evidence.

She starts taking photos with her phone of Tom's computer screen of every single picture that was on there, capturing and documenting every single folder containing her private photos. When she was done, she removed all of the photos from his computer, pulled out what she believed to be his hard drive. This is like a PC. Jade had always been a Mac user, so she didn't feel super confident that she got rid of everything. She went the extra measure, the extra mile, of spilling liquids all over it. Then she jumped in her Toyota 4 runner, drove to the facility to pick up Tom. He's being discharged just as she predicted.

11.19 AM, he's discharged. His stepdaughter Jade, is there to pick him up? Oh, what is he at this point? I would say that again, is 60, 70s, he's quite old. The nurse that signed his discharge papers said that he was very alert and oriented times three. That's a medical term meaning Tom knows who he is, where he is, and approximate date and

time. He had normal vital signs, no difficulty breathing, could communicate clearly, he seemed to be very stable, and even in good spirits that he was getting out. But he did leave with a bag of goodies, if you will. A lot of meds. They were take as needed meds, but there were some controlled substances in the mix. And as Jade picked Tom up,

she joked to the nurses saying, see dad, and you say I don't love you. Now, we don't know for sure what happened on that car ride home, but it's not good. We have little bits and pieces of information and none of it looks good. On the way home, Jade stops at a Dixie line lumber and home center parking lot.

So it's like a home depot. It's like a loaase. In the same shopping plaza, next to it, there's a CVS, Bev Moe, which is a liquor store, Starbucks, and a Panda Express. We know that it takes eight minutes from the care facility where Tom was discharged to the shopping plaza. minutes from the care facility where Tom was discharged

to the shopping plaza. And from the shopping plaza, it would take another three minutes to get back home. So a total of 11 minutes, but 11 minutes after Tom was discharged, they should be home at least close to home now. Jade Text Allen Roach, I just dozed the hell out of him, stopping for whiskey, then stopping at Dixieland to stall.

Let me know. So I guess let me know when you're coming. The prosecutors believe this text is the smoking gun in this case. They use this message to argue that Jade drugged her stepfather on the right back home. Jade denies this. We do know that after sending that text message, Jade walks into the Beth mode, the liquor store, and purchases a large bottle of Jack Daniels. This is Tom's favorite. She also picks up some small-sized bottles of vodka, as well as chocolates. Police later find the Jack Daniels at Tom's

house on his table, and the two hotel-sized bottles of vodka, or the travel-sized bottles, they were found in Jade's car along with the receipt. So maybe she took it. Or he took it. After Bevmo, Jade walks into Dixie line and purchases what the prosecutors will they call a kill kit. Paper towels, a double lock cable tie, spray paint gloves, and some thicker towels like rags. The prosecutors argue that everything on the list

was used with the intention of committing murder minus the spray paint which they thought was a red herring. For her to act like, oh no, I'm just working on a design project with the spray paint. Side note, that was Jade's argument later. She said all these things were for a project she had been working on because she's an interior designer so she constantly buys weird things at a home depot. Sell tower logs indicate Jade went back to her car in the parking lot and sat around for a little while. They left the shopping plaza at 12.27 pm. They stayed in this plaza for an hour, but she was only shopping for like 27 minutes of it. On the way back home,

Jade Tech's Allen, checking in, I'll call you back later. I'm driving. It's loud in the truck. No need for your friend. I do need help getting him home. I'm not strong enough. So please call me. Side note, we don't know what friend she's referring to. Some argued that Alan had told her he had a literal human being friend that could help her with her plans. Other speculate online that she could have been referring to a gun. You know, she just dose the hell out of him. No need for your friend the gun. I just need to help get him inside. That's the speculation.

That's just what she's texting though. Her legal team will later say that on the way home, Tom started throwing a fit in the car, immediately out of the treatment facility. He was pissed. He was thrashing around. He kept reaching for her medicine box, which was in the center console of her car. He was allegedly ranting about how the treatment center was a shit hole, how upset he was

that he had to be locked up there during the holiday season. But at least he was out for a new year. Tom asked her to stop by the liquor store, get him a bottle of whiskey to celebrate. And Jade said that she felt so bad, she also bought him a box of chocolate too. Tell Chirma from a sourmode. And she said she goes into Bevmo, gets out,

and she's like, oh my god, there's a dixie line. This is perfect. I need to get a few things for work. Get's a few things goes back into the car. She claims during the 26 minutes that she took to shop. Tom was left in the car with all of his drugs next to him as well as some of Jade's own medicine that she kept in her glove compartment. So he allegedly made his own toxic cocktail. And she stated the text messages that she sent Alan Roach were absolutely not about murder. So she's just saying, when I said I'd dose the hell out of him, I just gave him like panic meds.

I just gave him the meds that they told me to give him so that he'd calm down. She claimed when she texted Alan that she wasn't strong enough, she didn't mean strong enough for murder, she meant strong enough to confront him about the pictures. When they finally arrived home, Tom was heavily medicated but still conscious. He could not make it out of the car. Why would you break into these apartments? For money, for drugs, whatever was in there. Weren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this?

No. Who's going to catch us? What a police. It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them. I would suit up in my uniform and we're gonna want some drug dealers, and I know how to do it really well. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100%.

I saved my soul, just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set, an Odyssey Originals documentary podcast series available now in the Odyssey app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. I'm not a big guy man, but I love being that dirty mother f***er. So they're in Jade's driveway and she opens the door and he's trying to get out, but he falls out of the car basically and he's just sprawled out on her driveway. Jade herself could not pick him back up. She couldn't even drag him back into the car, couldn't drag him inside the house. He was a heavier set man and because he was so unconscious,

he was practically just dead weight at this point. She immediately texts Alan, I can't carry him either back to the car or to his house. I'm not strong enough. Can you come like right now? Tom is laying in the driveway in the middle of the day. I mean, this is not looking good for anyone. A lot of people believe that she must have done something to him because if he genuinely took the drugs himself and fell, she should have no problem calling the paramedics to come get him off the driveway, but she didn't. Instead, she called Adam, the guy that she was briefly seeing. Remember the one that she went to Mexico with? So she's like, Adam, you need to come help me. I got like a 911 emergency situation. And he's like, sorry,

I can't do that because I'm getting a tattoo right now. But why don't you call her good buddy Chuckie? So then she's like, I've been talking to Chuckie in freaking years. You want me to call him to help me with the situation. Adam has no idea what situation she's talking about. So he's like, yeah, just call Chuckie. She ends up calling this Chuckie guy and we don't know much about him, but both he and Adam are very, very shady characters. Adam himself has a felony arrest for stalking an ex-girlfriend of his and just doing some really bizarre things. For example, his ex-girlfriend filed a restraining order against him. The cops arrested him for stalking, and he's like, I am not a stalker. I don't have a restraining order against me.

They look through his phone. He texted his ex-girlfriend. I will staple the restraining order to your forehead. So, all of it was a lie. So this guy is, um, kind of shady. We didn't know much about Charles Chucky other than that, but um, Jade hadn't spoken to him in years and it would be very bizarre to reach out to him now, but she does. She calls him and he says he's in the desert so he can't help.

Right as she hangs up with Chucky, Jade sees something that shakes her to her core. Her freaking neighbor, George, is approaching her, coming closer and closer, and he finally looks down. Well, he looks bad. He's staring at Tom, who's basically sprawled out on her driveway, not that conscious, apparently, because he's not even responding to George. Jade tries to explain saying something along the lines of, like, oh my god, yeah, he's totally fine.

He's just discharged from the hospital, but it must be the medications he's on, making him loopy, you know? George tries to act Tom directly like, hey, bud, you okay? Tom just mumbles something. George hesitates for a second, but he decides ultimately, I don't really want to get involved. So he walks off.

Jade realized that she was becoming panicked, and there were way too many people that had seen this situation, that she had talked to about this situation so she decides to open up a new notes on her notes app on her phone to take note of everyone and everything that she comes in contact with. She wanted to remember everyone who star that day so she writes down 1245 George Hamilton, 1255 Gardener.

From what we can gather, primarily from Jade's own phone records, she seems to be losing her mind with Tom in her driveway because Alan Roach is not coming to help her. He keeps evading her text messages. She's like, what are you going to be here? Are you going to be here? And he's just like, oh, I got something going on with my family. It's very clear. He's not going to come. So of course, she starts panic calling all of these other people that she thinks can help her with the situation and in her panic she ends up calling her friend Sarah Jacobs and Sarah's boyfriend Justin. I'm not sure how much she shared on the phone but after they hung up, Jade texted them. He's alive, please don't ask me questions, just help me get him into the house. They show up as she waits for a response from them, she opens up her notes app and writes

1pm, Justin. Then she texts Alan again. I had to call someone to help me carry him inside. I wish you were closer. Alan says, so is he at his place then? Nope. My truck. I don't think he's breathing well.

Jade sent the message and looked up to see Sarah and Justin arriving at her place. She ran to them and she starts explaining the situation, asking if Justin could help lift Tom up and put him back inside her car. to them and she starts explaining the situation, asking if Justin could help lift Tom up and put him back inside her car. Since he's literally just face-planning on her driveway right now. Justin helps Jade and there was no reason to doubt her story. She's saying, I just need to get him in the car so I can drive him straight back to the care facility.

The story checked out. Jade was very caring of Tom. She even went into the house to bring out a pillow so he could be more comfortable in the car. Nothing about the interaction, rang any red flags for Justin or Sarah. He didn't think anything was weird about it at all. After helping Tom inside the car,

Justin and Sarah watched Jade drive off, and she's on the phone. They thought that she was probably talking in the hospital to alert them that she's coming back. The police checked her phone records and no phone call was made around that time. They believe that Jade was faking a phone call as she pulled out of the driveway. Jade's phone would later ping next to the treatment care facility. According

to prosecutors, she never went in. It didn't seem like she ever really contemplated it. She just starts driving around aimlessly for the next few hours. Jade would argue, I actually went into the care facility, I guess nobody documented it, but I went in and I couldn't get an appointment because of COVID. The prosecutors believe Jade was aimlessly driving around waiting for Alan to come meet with her so that he could kill Tom for her. Tom was in dead yet, he was just heavily intoxicated.

She wanted him to die, but she didn't want to be the one to do it, is what the prosecutors argued. So she's driving around, Tom's drugs start to wear off, and he starts moving around. She panics grabs her phone text, Alan, he's waking up. I really didn't want to be the one to do this. Da, da, da. Alan just keeps making more and more excuses, and then finally he's like, you know what? I'm not close by, but a buddy of mine, Brian Solomon, he'd be more than happy to help you. Jade has never even heard of a Brian Solomon and now Alan is like, do you want this complete stranger to come over and be an accomplice to murder and help you with whatever you're

doing? She's getting frustrated. She had a freaking long notes list of people that she had talked to today and that knew what was going on, at least to a degree, she just fed up. She texted, I don't know, Alan. I just don't want to involve that many people. He doesn't respond. But do you trust him? Alan responds, definitely trust him. I told him to just help you get him in the house.

I'm super uncomfortable. I'm really trusting you with this. It's okay, don't worry, you're in good hands. My other buddy had a great idea just like I thought, so I'll tell you when I see you. It's pretty much done. I don't need to talk to anyone, but how soon do you think your friend will get there? It's going to be weekend at Bernies. This is another huge point of contention in the story.

The prosecutors believe Jade is referencing a movie called Weekend at Bernies. It's a dark comedy where Bernie, a man, is killed and is death is staged to look like an overdose, and the protagonist parade him is staged to look like an overdose, and the protagonist parade him around pretending like he's still alive, but he's actually just dead. Jade would later argue that the phrases used to describe someone who's super drunk or out of it, but personally I've never heard of it, but I also don't run in circles where there's a lot of drinking so maybe if you're more aware, is that a term or is it kind of, kind of iffy? So back to the situation in the car.

It's believed that Jade starts freaking out that Tom's drugs are wearing off and she decides to strangle him. It's debated whether or not she actually wanted to kill him by strangling him or if she just wanted him to stop moving. Evidence shows a lot of weird stuff. There was a plastic bag that had Tom's DNA on the inside of the bag and Jade's DNA

on the inside and outside. We can presume that Jade had tried to put the background, Tom's had on the inside of the bag, and Jade's DNA on the inside and outside, we can presume that Jade had tried to put the background, Tom's had to strangle him. There were plastic gloves that had Jade had bought at Dixie Line. Jade's DNA were on the inside, indicating she had worn them, and Tom's DNA was on the outside. There were also three towels on the dashboard of the car, the ones that she bought at Dixie Line, and they were tied together. Imagine you tied together a bunch of sheets to like get out of a fire, like that's where I see it most.

To make one single long piece of rope, and they had both their DNAs on them. Leaving prosecutors to believe she tied the ropes to, or the towels together to try and use to strangle Tom. Jade said, no, I tied the towels together to try and use it to hoist Tom back into the car the first time he fell down in my driveway. None of it mattered though. If Jade couldn't get Tom inside the house to make it look like a suicide slash overdose, if he was found in her car, she would be responsible.

She would have to answer a lot of tricky questions. 3 p.m. Jade's been driving around practically all morning, all afternoon. All afternoon. Alan is like, Brian's at your place. She rushes back home and sight-note, before Brian arrived at Jade's house, he was told by Alan to go buy some gloves at CBS.

His girlfriend Maria drove him to CBS and he just bought the gloves. He later said, I had no freaking idea what was going on, but it's the time of COVID, so seemed pretty normal to be wearing gloves. He gets dropped off at Jade's house by his girlfriend and his girlfriend drives off and he steps inside inside to Jades house. He doesn't look inside Jades car. That's parked outside. He just goes straight into the house and he immediately notices that this woman

doesn't look all there. She's not all there. He walks up to her and introduces himself. Hey, I'm Brian. I work with Alan. He said you need me to help someone out. Yeah, he's in the car. He is a pillowcase over his head and a rope around him. What? Brian's like, what? Alan did not tell me that. In fact, Alan told me that I was doing a good deed and your dad was very ill and you couldn't get him into the house and he couldn't get himself into the house. So I was coming over with some gloves because I don't want to get COVID and I was just going to help your elderly father into the house like hospice care.

Brian says Jade responded, no, I don't need you to just bring him into the house. I need you to strangle him and then bring him into the house and then I'll take care of the rest. Byron said at that moment, there was some massive miscommunication, okay? Because Alan told him he was helping someone not killing an elderly man. He didn't know that Alan had effectively signed him up from murder. He paused. And he said, ah, okay, hold on a minute. Let me make a call to my boy. He booked it. He booked it outside the house, booked it down the driveway, screaming, crying, on to the phone, calling his girlfriend Maria like, you better you turn and come pick me up mom, I'm scared.

Brian claimed that he never saw Tom's body. He didn't want to look. And when his girlfriend came to pick him up, his girlfriend was furious. She'd never liked Alan to begin with because he was known for lying and emitting important details. Unfortunately, Brian would not call the police. Even when he saw the reports of Tom's death, he never called the police. It wasn't until police reached out to him that he would tell them what happened.

He said he didn't want to be charged with murder when he didn't have anything to do with it. He didn't think that the police would believe him. I will also add, Brian is a very questionable character. There are several reports of domestic violence against him. He even pushed his ex-girlfriend out of a moving vehicle at one point. And his story about what happened changes a lot. So I don't know if he's a stark witness.

At first, Brian had told the police that Jade just asked him to bring Tom inside. Later, he said, oh, Jade asked me to strangle the man. I just think it's intriguing when someone's story goes from 0 to 100. Maybe he just felt more trust in the police to be honest, or maybe they offered him something in exchange for a more smoking gun statement. But after Brian leaves, Alan texts Jade like, I ordered Brian to leave, because I don't want my boy involved in that. Jade sends Alan a series of text messages, you know, and it's just her panicking that she's on her own. He's waking up, he's gonna get aggressive, he's super medicated, but she can't, she can't just keep a kick kickin' body and her truck she needs help, she's not strong enough to get him back into the car.

I mean, she's full on freaking out. Almost being like, I depended on you. You told me I could trust you and now you're backing out. Like, why are you not even responding? Please, just get back to me. Her text messages become so much more unhinged. I can't necessarily say that she was thinking rationally before all of this, but I think this is when all logic and fourth thought just go out the freaking window. Alan is ignoring her text messages and in her panic state she thinks that he has been arrested. She uses her phone to Google San Diego Sheriff's Crime website and in the search bar she writes, Who is in jail?

But right as she's getting the pages to see if there's another way to find out if Alan had been arrested, he texts her saying like, I got some family stuff going on. And finally, Adam texts her back. Now, Alan is the fixer. Adam is the man that she went to Mexico with. Remember, Adam is like, Hey, I just got done with my tattoo like what's going on. So he shows up at Jade's place and he said the first thing he remembers was that Jade's energy was so off. It felt so weird. She felt unpredictable. It was bizarre. He didn't know what was going to happen next. He walked in and he greets Jade's dog Betty. Then he went to the bathroom to wash his hands. It was just so tense. He shoved his hand in his pockets and was trying to come up with some sort of small talk.

He saw a bunch of computer gear laying around so he said, oh, like you're using webcans now for the interior design business? Like how's that going? Jade stairs at him. Now I found naked photos of myself on Tom's computer. Okay? Yeah, okay. That's not the bad part. I killed him. I drugged him. I suffocated him with a towel with a bag and I choked him. He shined out bruises on his neck because it wasn't that hard, but he may have marks on his hands. I just have to get his body in the wheelbarrow and then over to his house and then get him into his bed.

This is what Adam claims, Jadehood said. So he starts stumbling just like Brian and he straight up tells her, I don't want anything to do with this. Like, I've got a life, I've got a son, I wish I could help you, I really wish. But I mean, you should have called me beforehand so that I could have told you all to the phone that I can't help you And she's like, that's why I didn't call you. It's gonna look like an overdose I gave him a bunch of drugs and he may have bruises on his hands from struggling with me

But I don't really think so. I just need to help him get home. Can you please just help me get him home He said that he couldn't help and he ran out of there Side note jade's attorneys would later argue that Adam had a strong incentive to lie about this conversation. So Jade is saying this conversation never freaking happened. Adam has an ex-girlfriend that he was accused of stalking. She was very jealous of Jade and refused to get back together with Adam because of Jade.

Maybe if he testified against Jade that proved his love for his ex and Adam had a tendency to lie about things, you know, remember he lied about the whole restraining order and stapling it to his ex girlfriend's forehead? We don't know if this conversation took place or not. But we do know no one came to Jade's rescue that night. Tom was kept in her car overnight, who is still alive. The next morning, Jade decides I got to do something. But she wasn't the only one.

Adam decides the next morning, new year new me, I got to do something. He ends up calling the police and reporting everything. So now the police are on the hunt for a missing man named Tom. Jade, on the other hand, she is driving back to the care facility with Tom in the backseat of her car. She picks up a wheelchair thinking that she could get Tom from the car to the wheelchair and then wheelchair to the home.

That was her plan. She literally throws the wheelchair on top of Tom in the car, drives back to her driveway. And now the police haven't really caught up with this case yet. It's New Year's Day. There's a lot going on. A lot of people need help. A lot of people are in trouble. There have been crazy bar crimes like there was an uptick of crime, right? So they're a little bit busy. Meanwhile, Jad is trying to get Tom

out and put his body in the wheelchair. She claims she did not know if Tom was alive or dead at this point, but when she went to grab his legs, they were cold. She tries to drag him out of the car, so he would land on the wheelchair, but it doesn't work. He was on the ground, and in the end, all she could do was drag his lifeless body across her driveway towards the end, where she had a pile of empty boxes in trash, and she just buried him under it, until hopefully maybe Alan could come get her. This isn't broad daylight. At around 3.30 p.m., her neighbor George testified that he saw Jade loading some things in her car and he offered to help but Jade declined.

George didn't think too much of it but she did seem to be not doing great like she looked very stressed out. She would even apologize, hey sorry, I made a mess in the driveway but I'll clean it up sooner I promise. So I don't know what her plan was. But the next day, the police would find Tom's dead body, and she would be driving. They would pull her over. She was brought into the police station questioned,

and while the police were working on the search warrant for her house and vehicle, like I said, they found Tom's body, and Jade was arrested. The police didn't initially tell Jade it was all things to Adam's call, but she would later find out in court. So let's briefly talk about the autopsy. Tom's cause of death was revealed to be an acute intoxication with contributing factors of enlargement of the heart and liver. So the drugs found in a system were all his prescription pills with the exception of one, a medicine

that is used to treat seizures, which was prescribed to Jade, which Jade claimed he took in her car because it was in her glove compartment. Now the drugs that were found in his system were not enough to kill him, but because Tom had severe liver dysfunction already, his body could not cleanse the effects of the meds. There was no evidence of strangulation, asphyxiation, or suffocation, which I was like, wait, what? But what about the plastic bag, the ropes, and all of that? An expert in forensic pathology said that if a victim is already intoxicated, it only takes 11 pounds of pressure to kill them, which could easily not leave any marks. Because they're not resisting.

They're not even fighting to keep breathing. 11 pounds of pressure sounds like a lot, right? But for a reference, it takes 12 pounds of pressure to pop open a beer can. Wow, okay. Jade was arrested and released on a $1 million bond. She was made to wear an ankle monitor. The Sheriff's Office was very concerned about her fleeing to South Africa. Where she was released on the $1 million bond? Yeah. And during her time waiting for her trial, she told anyone that would listen that Tom actually died of cancer.

She even told Tom's family members this. She celebrated her birthday, worked on her business, and even posted on Facebook, Hi friends, if anyone knows of a granny flat type place in Salona Beach, West of the freeway for rent, please let me know. Betty and I need to find a new home looking long-term. So kind of implying that she thought that she would get away with it. Meanwhile, Tom's family said that they were heartbroken. Their mom was elderly and sick, so they tried to keep as much of the news away from her. But it was inevitable.

Tom's family said the media was particularly gross about his death. There were even whispers and, like, loud rumors circulating that Tom wanted to open up the butterfly farm so that he could be in closer proximity to younger children. Tom's family was pretty upset about this. They said that the news of what he did overshadows his death. They are arguing that regardless of those pictures found on his computer, nobody deserves to be murdered. Now, I do agree on that point. Nobody deserves to be murdered, but I do think that his... The photos are pertinent to the story and the case, and it should be talked about in court, which it was, in my opinion.

However, I don't think it's like the feeling of good riddance, we shouldn't even care about this case because he was a bad person, too. I don't think he deserved it, but I do see why it was such a big conversation. I think if you were to just say, woman woman murders stepdad in anger, it's a completely different narrative. It's very complicated. So March 6, 2023, Jade Janks was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. She said a few words for Tom and his family. It's on YouTube and she said, Tom came into my life when I was just a little girl. He started influencing my life at an early stage of development when I was still figuring

things out. Unfortunately, that influence manifested itself into inappropriate touch, coercion, reckless behavior, and complete violation of what I now realize was years of psychological manipulation. All this came crashing down on me when I found hundreds of naked photos of me on his computer. I'm still trying to pick up the pieces with the sincere hope that over the next few years, I can put the pieces back and heal from this trauma. I'm sorry that I didn't act the way I was supposed to that day. I think about it every day since then.

And to Tom's family, I understand you hate me for what you believe I did to Tom, but there is more than you will ever understand. So with this and the fact that she said inappropriate touch, coercion, psychological manipulation, a lot of netizens believe that there is more to the story than just those photos. Maybe those photos brought up memories of things that had happened that at the time she human's are really good at trying to be like, no, that didn't mean anything, that didn't mean anything. But maybe now it was kind of more of connecting the dots

and she feels like that meant something. I was trying to tell myself that that wasn't creepy and everyone does that, but do you know what I mean? There was just a lot of speculation that maybe more had happened. Since then, Jade and her legal team have appealed this decision. But another sad situation to come out of this

is the butterfly farms had to close down. All the allegations of the perverted intentions with the butterfly farms just caused so much outrage. Pat had no choice but to close the business. So just a lot of grief. And it's really complicated, you know? I think anywhere you go online, people are having heated debates about this.

Is Jade Janks a cold-blooded killer? Or is she an anti-hero? Or maybe she's something in between. My question is, you know, why didn't you go to the police? Maybe she felt the police couldn't do anything to her. Maybe it was like a collection of all these little incidents that technically aren't red flags,

but collectively it's this big mountain. Maybe there was no crazy crime in the photos that could lock him up for a long time. Maybe she was genuinely scared of him. I mean, she always looked up to him to be this consultant that knew everything and they had known each other for so long. I don't know.

What are your thoughts on this case? So where are we at right now? She's in prison for life with a chance of parole in 25 years, but she is appealing that decision. So it's solved, but not really solved. It's just kind of complicated. But what are your thoughts on this? Do you think she deserve that much time? Less time? Do you think she doesn't even deserve parole? Let me know in the comments. And please stay safe, and I will see you guys on Sunday for the mini-sode. Bye!

Bye.