Jade Janks and the Secret Photos | Full Episode

[Music] Sheriff's communication dispatcher 5538 well I've got a situation Last Night A friend of mine asked me to come over she said that she had possibly killed her stepdads I don't know if she really did this what exactly are you trying to report it sounds like she killed this guy it was the first day of a new year the sheriff's department received a call from a guy that said she confessed to drugging him suffocating him and strangling him to death Jade was very cool very popular I could not believe what they were saying that Jade did Tom marman is Jade's stepdad and 100% she loved Tom she took care of him they lived next door to each other she made him dinner she was always there for [Music] him detectives knew they had a phone call from her good friend that she confessed to murdering Tom marman so they got a search warrant we don't have to prove motive but we want to show a motive the photos the photos she accidentally bumped his computer and the screen saver came out the screen saver is a nude photograph of her in the shower she was able to find a lot more nude photos of her hundreds hundreds it was the most violating just awful gut-wrenching feeling ever I felt sick I I couldn't even touch my own skin she was beyond freaked out she's sleeping with a knife she is scared for her life did you love Tom Tom love you yeah I mean did you want your stepfather dead did you stand over him with a plastic bag and pull tight to keep him from breathing to wrap a cord around his neck and strangle him no so you have this supposed confession of her saying she she strangled him but no evidence of strangulation your own strangulation expert said it's not strangulation that's right so your big bomb fizzled it was gone [Music] [Music] San Diego County California an idilic Place most of the time I stewed on this all night I barely slept and I'm scared to death I don't want to be a part of this I didn't have anything to do with her that frightened phone call came in New Year's Day 2021 the caller said his one-time girlfriend may have committed a murder the sheriff's department received a call from a guy that said my friend confessed to me last night that she murdered her stepfather San Diego County Deputy da Jorge Del Portillo he told deputies hey I I don't know if what she's saying is true I didn't see him but this is something I had to tell the police the alleged victim was a 64-year-old man named Tom maramman he lived here I liked him I thought he was very nice Ramona Hamilton and her husband George were Tom's neighbors Ramona knew him better and she found out Tom also ran an unusual business miled more milked more milked a butterfly farm I'm a gardener and I love love uh butterflies Pat Flanigan also likes butterflies he was Tom maran's business partner out at the farm he was my best friend did he become kind of a butterfly expert oh he is a butterfly expert you say he is yeah you still talk about him in the present tense yeah I do it was right here on December 31st 2020 that Tom maramman was last seen alive Ramona and George saw him in his stepdaughter's SUV in the driveway and he was sitting on this side the passenger side with his feet out and this walker out in front of him and he looked like hell Tom had just spent more than two weeks in the hospital and a rehab center after a bad fall he also had heart and liver problems he looked awful I don't even know if he knew me but at the time it just seemed like maybe he got sent home from the hospital heavily drugged I that's all we knew that's all we knew hi sweetie and then George saw Tom's stepdaughter 37-year-old Jade Janks Tom maramman had come into Jade's life when she was 14 marrying her mom Jade and Tom were apparently close she lived right next door on this day Jade had just driven him home and he called her his daughter he called Jade his daughter right they seemed close and they seemed very close she was fixing dinner for him every night she seemed to take care of him what' you think of Jade I thought she was a very pretty woman Jade had done some work in Ramona's apartment she was an interior decorator that's Jade she can be a tomboy and a girly girl all in the same day she can get herself dirty for work carrying rocks and concrete in her pickup truck and we're dressed up ready to go to like a nice fancy dinner Heather Pierce grew up next door door to Jade in San Diego County Jade was very cool I loved being around her Jade was 13 years older she's definitely a little more than a big sister and a little less than a mom her energy is just very strong loving and caring and genuine and so when you're around her like you feel good she also knew Jade's stepdad Tom maramman I think she always just loved him and cared about him back at Tom's Place in salana Beach it was now January 1st the day after he'd gotten back from the hospital the day after George and Romona had seen him looking so poorly in the driveway this time they only saw Jade in the driveway she was standing by a pile of trash and boxes I saw her out at the side here with the boxes and cartons a little while later I was a knock on the door and she come to the door to tell me that she'd made a mess down here but she cleaned it up later where was the pile what about here see where that dirt is right there yeah like right in this area here right there it was a few hours later when law enforcement pulled into their driveway I'm scared to death I don't want to be a part of this they came to investigate that strange phone call the one that claimed Tom maramman had been murdered they were trying to find Tom where is Tom they walked by this pile of trash in the driveway they knocked on his door they went inside they didn't find Tom but they did see his stepdaughter when they saw J Jinx driving out of her driveway they pulled her over brought her in for questioning and asked that very question where is Tom Jade said she was cold so they gave her a blank it we're trying to find Tom do you know where Tom is no his family hasn't seen him for over 48 hours so J he just got released from a hospital yesterday okay did you see him yesterday yeah I picked him up from the hospital okay do you know where he went no well can you tell me other than he's just missing we don't know where he's at we're trying to find him eventually they let Jade go but there was still no sign of Tom officers spent all night combing through his apartment looking for Clues then just after the first morning light one of the officers was walking down the driveway toward Tom's apartment when she saw that pile of trash it was just about here I have a picture of it here there's a wheelbarrow there some boxes some bags she moved a trash bag from that trash and immediately saw the silhouette of a man and there he was Tom maramman Tom maramman laid dead and buried never seen that I've never seen a case where a body was buried under a pile of trash in the driveway the apparent crime scene was smack in the middle of the driveway of this Lush compound just a mile from the beach he was wearing the hospital bracelet that he was just in the hospital the same t-shirt and the same pajamas that he was discharged as soon as they found the body they knew we have our suspect and they may the arrest on the morning of January 2nd 2021 Jay Janks was arrested and charged with Tom maran's murder but things were about to get complicated she lawyered up and didn't want to answer any more questions so authorities continued to work the case starting with that phone call it sounds like she killed this guy that call had come from that friend of Jades a man named Adam zlac he told police she'd called him to her apartment and then she asked him for a favor and asked me to move the body with her and I can't help you and I never saw the body Adam cipac may not have seen the body that night but eventually he did tell police that Jade confessed to him that she knocked Tom out with an overdose of medicine and then strangled him it was a pretty dramatic story and authorities were confident that the autopsy would confirm it that there'd be physical evidence that Tom maramman was strangled to death but that's not what happened I was actually there for the autopsy assistant DA Teresa fam who led the investigation talked to the medical examiner so what they found was unfortunately not a lot of physical evidence right so you have this supposed conf confession of her saying she she strangled him but no evidence of strangulation that's right the final autopsy report created even more of a challenge for the prosecutors it said that the cause of Tom maran's death was acute zulem intoxication zadam is the generic name for the sleeping pill ambian is it possible that Tom marman died by accident he was in poor health it's not that many pills that he took certainly it's possible but the evidence lii that notion this was no accident but even if the autopsy didn't point to strangulation investigators say other evidence clearly pointed to murder Jade's cell phone was a gold mine it was a gold mine Jade's phone was full of texts how would you categorize those text messages suspicious incriminating a plan according to prosecutors that plan was to get rid of Tom maramman one way or another investigators say it all started on December 23rd that's about a week before Tom's body was found Tom was in the hospital after that bad fall Jade says she was cleaning up his apartment when she found something so she's at Tom's apartment and his laptop I guess it must have been in sleep mode or something like that but she knocked into it and it woke up and on the screen saver is a nude photograph of her in the shower and there was more much more she must have had his password so once she was able to get into his laptop was when she was able to find a lot more nude photos of her hundreds hundreds these were photos that she took willingly with her partner at the time somewhere of her in the shower naked authorities don't know how maramman got those pictures but but Jade says she never gave them to him and prosecutors say she panicked in her words she was beyond freaked out that's what she wrote to a friend that she couldn't shower alone and she was vomiting at just the idea of looking at a shower based on what she had discovered she's sleeping with a knife on the nightstand just in case he comes early home from the hospital according to prosecutors that's when Jade launches her plan how one of her friends connects her with a guy a guy the prosecutors called the fixer there's a text message where he tells Jade if you have a problem I can fix it for you and that's how we came up with the label the fixer the so-called fixer was a man named Alan roach who is Alan roach Alan roach is a guy he's a security guard that's what he does but I think he makes himself out to be someone else that he's not we were thinking Jade views him as the character in Pulp Fiction someone that you reach out to when you want one of your problems fixed and that's what he was he was the fixer he was the fixer is Ellen a Hitman he is not a Hitman what's important is what does Jade think Allen is prosecutors say Jade wanted her fixer to help her get rid of Tom she had a plan that she stuck to the plan was murder the plan was [Music] murder it was December 2022 2 years after Tom maran's body was found under that pile of garbage and Jay jenss was about to stand trial for his murder and let me just ask you flat out did Jade jenss murder her stepfather Tom marman Jade has maintained her inocence throughout this entire uh incident Jade's attorney Mark Carlos he insists this was not a murder and says Jade had no reason to kill her stepfather finding nude photos of yourself on a stepfather's computer would make you angry you know might make you break off relationships with him but enough to kill somebody I don't think so he says Tom's death was an unfortunate accident brought on by his poor health and self-administered prescription drugs I think he took the medication himself he had multiple substances in his system I think he made a cocktail of the drugs that he had with him and had a bad reaction to it and caused his his death at trial Jade was supported by family and friends including her biological father Steve jenss and her longtime friend Heather Pierce Tom was a mess an ABS absolute mess for a long time there's no way that she had like a plan and first degree and all of that I was like there's no way because that's not Jade prosecutors Jorge Del Portillo and Teresa fam were worried the jury might feel that Jade herself was the victim she's a sympathetic defendant she is I mean she found naked photos of herself on her stepdad's computer called Jade JS Jade takes the stand to tell the jury what happened in her own words my name is Jade JS Jade says that ever since she met Tom when she was a teenager they maintained a strong bond it's hard to come by somebody you just feel that you can trust completely and I did feel that way I referred to him as my father and he could call me his daughter and then which is why Jade tells the jury it was so devastating to find those photos on December 23rd while Tom was in the hospital and she was cleaning his apartment I bumped the mouse on his desktop computer and it it shook the screen away and I looked and there's a picture of female breast on the screen and I look I thought those those are my press I I just I couldn't believe it I I was in complete shock Jade describes finding even more on Tom's computer after that there was a rolling screen like a slesh of pictures of me that I've taken over the years what type of pictures were they um they were naked photos do you did you ever give Ved photos to uh to your stepfather no did you ever show him may get photos of yourself no how did he get these photos Jade doesn't know these were photos that Jade had taken of herself Jade and boy various boyfriends have you ever made any uh sexual overtures for your stepfather no no did you tell him that you had uh new photos of yourself no and you never showed him anything similar to those corre no he was my dad Tom was still in the hospital but Jade says she didn't feel safe and you were afraid that he was going to come back and find out that you had found the photos yes yes and you were worried about how he might react toward you yes right and he lived next door you yes and that's why Jade says she got in touch with Alan roach who worked in security the day she found those photos so why did you think that you needed somebody like Alan rud I I was I was scared I mean when I first saw the photos I I couldn't even use the bathroom I just felt so disgusting I couldn't show her either um I was just I was I was scared I was scared of being you know nude and vulnerable and um I just I wanted somebody to just look out for me and make sure that you know I was safe over the next few days Tom was moved from the hospital to a rehab center and Jade felt she had to act I can't continue just living next door to him and not feeling safe or feeling like does mean that have to do something when you say I needed to do something I mean you did you need to kill him no I wanted time to just go away and leave me alone according to Jade Alan was planning to come over after she brought Tom home to help her confront him I wanted Ellen to basically you know explain to him this this is not okay or I can explain it but ellan just be there just in case your plan was to Jade says that on December 31st in spite of her feelings she was doing everything she could to help Tom who she says seemed preoccupied with finding medication he started calling at about 6:45 in the morning and he asking me to get him coding which I don't really understand he says it he hasn't eing slept and he wants to rest Jade took Tom out of the rehab at a little after 11:00 a.m. he had a bag of medication with him including ambian and remember the autopsy says ambient is what killed him Jade says almost as soon as Tom got into her car he also helped himself to her prescription medicines kept saying like did you have any paint colors like is this it oh here and then he just kind of took it Jade says Tom seemed fine when she stopped at this shopping plaza and texted Alan roach to come meet her she went into a couple of stores while she waited to hear back I was just getting started on um a house project so I just went to go fig get supplies and kind of shop around Jade bought gloves towels and a nylon cord and some spray paint she says these items were for a painting project typically I lay plastic down and kind of enclose it so that I'm not getting pains on all the the foliage Jade still hadn't heard back from Allan and took Tom home she says Tom was now too groggy to walk on his own and she couldn't get him out of her car I parked in the parking lot but she says she was worried about him and drove him back to the rehab for help I just explained you know my dad's just been released and something's wrong you need to bring him back um this wouldn't they wouldn't let me inside though they're pretty adamant with Co I couldn't go inside Jade returned home with Tom but says she was still not able to get him out of her car Allan had finally texted back to say he couldn't make it over after all but sent his friend a man named Brian Soloman to help her get Tom inside have you ever met Brian Solomon before no Jade says Brian wouldn't help her with Tom and left right away so Jade reached out to her friend Adam sylac and asked him to come over Adam arrived later that evening I had just said um I mean I I was just in tears I had said that you know I I want to get him into my house or into his house Jade says Adam quickly got upset and left without helping her and this is where Jade's story doesn't line up with Adams remember Adam was the person who called police on New Year's Day she said that she had possibly killed her stepdad J says she didn't confess to anything she says Adam was distressed by how sick Tom looked and that's why he wouldn't help her after he left Jade says she didn't know what else to do and tried to get Tom situated in her car for the night so he could sleep off whatever he had taken I made sure he was comfortable you he had pillows and I'm trying to remember yeah I mean he had a BL to the next morning in The Cold Light of New Year's Day Jade says Tom was still in her car when she realized the worst had happened did you touch Mr marman yes what did you feel I I tried to pull his leg and his pajama pant lifted and his leg was cold Shinx did you did you think Tom marman was dead at that point I knew he [Music] was how do you think Tom died chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X after Jade told the jury how she found Tom's body her own attorney challenged her did you think about calling 911 um I was scared too why were you scared I knew want to get pled I mean I just I was theone that picked him up and I didn't want to get blamed for for killing him and she tried to explain what she did with his body I continued to to fall out I still wanted to get him into his house I I mean I didn't I didn't know what else to do gr it so I put the blanket over and I got um empty boxes and just kind of stacked it made it look like just like a pile of debris Jade may have left Tom's body in the driveway but she says she never meant him harm I mean did you want your stepfather dead shank did you grab him with your own two hands and did you strangle him no would you would you ever done that to Tom I do and then the prosecutors told their version of the story We lied to the police about where Tom was I didn't I just asked for an attorney and I kept asking for one you didn't want the police to know that Tom died in your car I wasn't trying to hide it but I didn't want to go alone and tell them that prosecutors said Jade was lying to cover up her plan the plan was to drug him suffocate him and Stage it to look like an overdose Del Portillo says after she picked Tom up from the rehab Jade used his own prescription sleeping pills to knock him out and he says he has proof Jade's DNA is on those packs of pills the package of zulum which is the ambient sleeping pills that had the defendant's DNA on it but not Tom's and I think it's a that the jury heard that that it was Jay jinx's DNA on that open imp pack and according to prosecutors there's much more evidence too Jade they say left a realtime trail of clues that day remember her cell phone the one they called a gold mine turns out it was packed with texts messages that they say outlined her plan to kill we're talking 11 12 minutes after being discharged she sends a text message to Allan the fixer saying I just dosed the hell out of him someone says I dose the hell out of them you would agree with me that that means someone gave another person a whole lot of drugs right I guess it's a poor phrasing Del portio thinks Jade's explanation is nonsense he says first she drugged Tom and then she needed to stall for a bit and her texts even say that stopping at Dixie Land to stall so she was stalling for the drugs to really kick in and make him asleep and unaware of what she was about to do she's stalling to see if this guy Allan roach can come by and help her commit the murder and remember those supplies Jade said she picked up for a painting project according to the prosecutors they were actually Jade's murder kit she goes to the store and buys this murder kit zip ties gloves rope and towels prosecutors say up to that point Jade's plan was on track but by a little after noon things started to go wrong you could see from the text messages that she was in a panic she writes he's waking up Jade's texting her so-called fixer Alan roach and she adds can you come over but the fixer is not responding this plot was a total mess and it fell apart right away finally the fixer texts her back he says he can't come but he's sending someone he knows that guy named Brian Solomon okay so the plan is Brian will bring Tom into the house Brian Solomon later told us that when he went over to help Jade that she told him something that he'll never forget I want you to bring him inside strangle him and I'll take care of the rest Brian Solomon quickly left the house without doing anything and soon Jade is back texting the missing fixer again at 300 p.m. you texted Allan he's waking up and I'm not sure how much longer I could control my temper that right yes L to Allan he texted Allan he's waking up and getting way more aggressive so it's way more real true true I think again I was just panicking and trying to urge Alan to come over you would agree with me that this looks very suspicious this text message oh yeah Jade texts Allan again I can't keep a kicking body in my truck now that we know Tom was found dead in his driveway under a pile of trash that you put together that this text message looks very suspicious you'd agree with me right I mean oh yes it's now around 400 p.m. Allan has disappeared at 4:08 p.m. you texted Alan he's up I guess I'm on my own true true how do you think she killed Tom we believe that the evidence shows that she put a bag over his head when the bag's not working fast enough she has to strangle him and she has no other choice it's too late to back out now investigators even found a plastic bag in Jade's car it had her DNA on the outside and Tom's on the inside but there's a huge problem with the prosecution's case and that's the autopsy the autopsy never said Tom was strangled there weren't any marks on his neck so what happened how could Jade possibly have strangled him to death that presented a big difficulty for us strategically of going forward in trial right so you have this supposed confession of her saying she she strangled him but no evidence of strangulation right turns out the prosecutors had an answer for that they say it's totally possible to strangle someone to death without leaving marks if the victim is already knocked out I think that is part of the plan is to dose him just enough to where he he's incapacitated so if you're unconscious your breathing is already depressed when someone is already unconscious it does not require that much pressure and would not leave bruising it would not leave breakage of the cartilage that's inside the throat will not leave physical evidence it only takes 4 lbs of pressure to kill to cut off the blood supply to your head and when you and I shook hands earlier today that was about 11 lbs of pressure so it's less than a handshake to kill after she murdered Tom prosecutors say she left his body in her car overnight and the next morning Jade had to do something about it in a story full of strange twists this may be the oddest prosecutors say Tom's body was still in Jade's car and she wanted to make his death look like an accident like he'd overdosed on his own medicine but she couldn't get his 180 lb body out of her car and into his apartment and and no one would help her so they say she drove to a hospital with Tom dead in the back of her car picked up a wheelchair put it in her car and drove back to Tom's Place how'd you get the wheelchair in your car if Tom was still in there um it's it's big U the trunk was uh Tom was kind of you know his legs were a Kimbo when he was laying down and I kind of hoisted it up into the back window of the Forerunner can roll down when you were doing this at this point did you know Tom was dead I did but I didn't want to know it yet so you suspected Tom was dead and you're at scrips hospital and you don't tell anyone at the hospital that Tom might need some help and there was just one more thing on the day the cops came by looking for Tom they didn't know anything yet just that Tom might be missing Jade jumped into her car 4:30 when she was pulling out of her driveway when they were getting ready to do the welfare check she was pulling out of her driveway and she was getting detained after being pulled over the very last text message on her cell phone was to Alan roach saying lose my number what does that say to you get rid of the evidence what do you make of Jade's text messages see more evidence from the case at 48 hours.com that was the biggest hurdle in our case we feel was the jury might dislike Tom marman so much that they would vote to either acquit or reduce the murder to something else as Jade's trial is drawing to a close prosecutor Jorge Del Portillo wants to make sure the jury's attention is on what Jade jenss has done and not on Tom Tom was was not on trial this wasn't his trial he didn't get a trial she was his judge jury and executioner and so it all comes back to Jad Mr Carlos you wish made in his closing argument to the jury Mark Carlos emphasizes what he says are the weaknesses of the prosecution's case what type of evidence do we have we have a lot of speculation it's speculation upon speculation upon speculation he argues Adam sleck story that Jade confessed is a lie Mr siac no credibility he wants to get out of something that he thinks might have happened and he says Brian Solan who also claimed Jade confessed to him that day can't be telling the truth he claims that immediately and this was his testimony immediately upon entering she says who's in the car go strangle this is somebody that JS had never met before neither Adam zlac Brian Solomon nor Alan roach was charged with any crime in the this case and Mark Carlos urges the jury to stick to what he calls the truth and the truth is they have zero zero evidence to support a murder her DNA was on the blister pth but Jorge Del Portillo gets to make the last argument the jury will hear it starts with I just dose the hell out of him the plan is starting and with Allen it ends with lose my number I'm getting pulled over and buried in between all of those text messages is a murder plot find her guilty of murder because the evidence proves it the law requires it and Justice demands it the jury went out that afternoon and was back the next morning to continue their deliberations jury comes in at 9:00 a.m. we get the call at 9:30 a.m. we have a verdict we were shocked we were a little bit nervous the quickest verdict I've ever had was 15 minutes and it was a not guilty so I don't put a lot of stock in quick verdicts Tom's business partner Pat Flanigan got a text about it I was very anxious my hands were sweating I was nervous we have your own we the jury in the above entitled cause find the defendant Jade Sasha jensx guilty of the crime of murder in violation of Penal Code SE guilty of first degree murder subsection a a felony as Char Jade appears stunned J number one yes number two yes number three yes number four yes number five yes number six yes number seven yes number eight yes it was a huge relief it was an absolute relief and when you heard that word guilty um it it it felt right guilty of the crime Pat Flanigan says he saw Jade reaction to the verdict later online I still go back and watch that sometimes why cuz I feel bad for Tom he died buried in trash now she gets to feel a little of that pain that we've all been feeling for years but there's still the matter of those photos Jade said that she found nude photos of herself on Tom's computer do you believe that I I can't disprove it I find it I I don't want to believe it it's interesting you say you don't want to believe it yeah Tom's hard drive was not recovered after his body was found but prosecutors who spent two years investigating this case believe Jade is telling the truth at least about this did you have any doubt that these photos actually existed we talked about that but we had no doubt we found that photo on Tom's laptop showing that it had been used as a wallpaper showing that he had been on his laptop since August of 2019 so we had no doubt that these photos existed in March of 2023 3 months after she was convicted of Tom's murder Jade was in court for her sentencing and listened as a local Pastor shared his memories of Tom and the Butterfly farm I still remember Tom and wish I could drop by for a smile to ask a question about plants or but flies or just to recharge those batteries that keep seeming to to wear down as I get older I believe my Life is Richer because I knew Tom Steven JS Jade's biological father who had not spoken publicly since she was charged put the focus back on Tom's betrayal firstly I can only imagine what she went through when she found out that Tom her stepfather a person she trusted that she called d bad was a sick perverted individual all I can say is this fight is not over I truly believe that an injustice has taken place Jay JS spoke that day too Tom came into my life when I was just a little girl and exerted influence during that early stage of development when I was still figuring things out unfortunately that influence manifested itself into appropriate touch Reckless Behavior and complete violation of what I now realize is years of psychological manipulation all this came crashing down on me when I found hundreds of naked photos of myself and his computer without ched Jade did not tell this story during trial and we can't verify it Jade still insists she didn't kill Tom and only admits to covering up his dead body I'm still picking up the pieces and it's my sincer fa that over the next few years I can put the pieces back and heal from this trauma I'm sorry I didn't act the way I was supposed to that day I think about it every day then she will be committed to the Department of Corrections the judge sentenced Jade to serve 25 years to life and as the prosecution looks back on a difficult and emotional case they say it could have easily turned out very differently she could have gone away with murder had she carried out her plan and the police did a welfare check and found Tom laying in his in his bed she would have got away with murder [Music] need more time with 48 Hours go deep behind every True Crime episode with firsthand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside the twists and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours now available wherever you get your podcasts

Channel: 48 Hours

Views: 3,097,331

Keywords: 48 hours, cbs news, jade Janks, Tom Merriman, murder, nude photos, San Diego County, overdose, Ambien

Id: rmXWb8ouzAY

Length: 42min 1sec (2521 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2023