VISTA — The trial of a Solana Beach woman accused of murdering her former stepfather around New Year’s of 2021 continued this week at the Vista courthouse with key DNA evidence and autopsy findings.
Jade Janks, 39, is charged with drugging, suffocating and strangling Thomas Merriman, 64, on New Year’s Eve of 2020 at her Nardo Avenue home bordering the victim’s residence. Janks has pleaded not guilty.
San Diego County forensic pathologist Greg Pizarro hypothesized in his testimony that when Merriman’s body was discovered under a pile of trash in his driveway on the morning of Jan. 2, 2021, he had already been dead for between 12 and 15 hours.
Photos of Merriman at the crime scene showed him lying on his side in pajama bottoms and a red t-shirt. Livor mortis, or skin discoloration caused by blood pooling in the area of lowest gravity, in Merriman’s face indicated that he was facing downward for some time after dying, Pizarro testified.
While the prosecution has argued that Janks strangled her stepfather at some point, Pizarro said he did not find evidence of strangulation. However, he determined Merriman’s cause of death to be acute intoxication from zoldipem, also known as Ambien.
“It was a level far beyond therapeutic levels that you would give for a sleep aid,” Pizarro said, noting that the Zoldipem levels in his blood were at 0.39 milligrams per liter, falling within the range of a toxic dose.
Two criminologists with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department also shared their findings related to physical evidence in the case on Tuesday, including pillows and pillowcases from Janks’s car and stains in the vehicle that appeared to be blood.
Criminologist Darren Bowles noted that many factors determine whether someone’s DNA can be detected on an object they’ve touched, including the level of skin cells they shed and how long or how often they were in contact with the object.
“Some people are known as shedders, [meaning] some shed way more than others and leave a trail behind, while others not so much,” Bowles said.
Criminologist Kelly Ledbetter testified that testing of blood stains on the pillows, pillow cases and interior car seats all indicated a very strong likelihood of containing DNA matching Merriman.
Janks often acted as Merriman’s caretaker, and it was not uncommon for him to be in her car, defense attorney Marc Carlos noted.
Testing of a red rope found in Janks’ car indicated that the inner section of the cordage was a very strong match to Merriman’s DNA, while the ends of the rope were a strong match to the defendant.
Receipts and store footage from the Dixieline in Solana Beach show that Janks purchased the red cord, along with black plastic gloves and a pack of white terry cloth hand towels, on Dec. 31, the day before Merriman disappeared.
DNA testing of the hand towels, three of which were discovered in Janks’ car tied into a chain with two knots, showed strong possible matches with Janks, Merriman, and a man named Alan Roach, who Janks contacted the same day.
Body discovery
The previous day in court, jurors heard from Detective Alex Martinez, who was part of the team that performed a welfare check at Merriman’s residence and later executed a search warrant at Janks’ residence on Jan. 1, 2021.
After Adam Siplyak contacted law enforcement to report that Janks had confessed to killing Merriman and sought his help moving the body, Martinez said he conducted a welfare check at Merriman’s residence around 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 1 but could not locate him.
Around the same time, deputies arrested Janks as she was leaving her home in her vehicle and detained her at the North Coastal Station in Encinitas, at which point she said she was “gonna be in for a long night,” according to Martinez.
Deputies then obtained a search warrant for Janks’ home and vehicle and searched for Merriman at those locations throughout the night of Jan. 1.
Homicide detective Matthew Moser testified that inside Janks’ car, they discovered the red rope cord and three white hand towels tied together into a chain.
Martinez said detectives also noticed a large pile of cardboard boxes and trash on the driveway soon after arriving but chose not to search outside until daylight the next day.
“A pile of trash the week of Christmas didn’t seem that awkward,” he recalled.
Detective Rosa Patron, another search team member, testified that she discovered Merriman’s body under the pile of trash at around 7 a.m. on Dec. 2, covered in two blankets. Deputies shortly after arrested Janks, who had been released to her father’s home in Solana Beach at around 4:30 a.m.
George Hamilton, a neighbor of Merriman and Janks who also lives on Nardo Avenue, testified that he was aware of the pile of trash on Jan. 1 but thought nothing of it. He said Janks came to his door to inform him that she had left a pile of cardboard boxes and trash in the driveway but would be clearing it soon.
“She told me she made a mess in the driveway with the cartons and boxes and that they would clean it up later. I wasn’t too concerned about it,” Hamilton recalled.
Terence Merriman, the brother of Thomas Merriman, also testified on Monday in Janks’ trial about his interactions with deputies and the defendant after Thomas went missing.
After being contacted via phone by San Diego Sheriff’s deputies and informed that they were trying to locate his brother on Dec. 1, Terence Merriman said he called his brother’s phone but got no answer.
Later, he said he got a call back from Thomas Merriman’s phone number but that it was Janks on the phone, telling him his brother was unavailable.
“I wanted to talk to my brother, and she said he wasn’t available,” Terence Merriman said, adding that he became more insistent. “She said he was unavailable and was sleeping, that he was suffering from Xanax and alcohol withdrawal … I asked her to ask him to call me when he was available.”
Prosecutors later exhibited photos of Merriman’s body where it was found in the driveway, at which point Janks began crying. Terence Merriman looked down at his hands from the court audience.
The jury also heard from Maria Bravo, whose ex-boyfriend Brian Salomon was allegedly asked by Janks to strangle her stepfather on Dec. 31. Bravo said she dropped off Salomon at Janks’ home that day after Janks said she needed help with something.
Within 20 minutes after being dropped off, Salomon told Bravo to pick him up “quickly.” When he was back in the car, he told her that Janks had asked him to strangle and kill her stepfather, which he refused.
“I didn’t believe him. It was crazy; it was something crazy to believe,” Bravo said, adding that she believed him a couple of days later when she saw an article about a body being found in Solana Beach.
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