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00:00:01
Jade Janks
41 Plays11 days ago
A bright woman is traumatized by her step-father's violation of her privacy and she makes her shock and trauma last long enough to murder him...and claim he drugged himself. Will it work?
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Hearth, Home, and Homicide' Podcast
00:00:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Hello, listeners. I'm Bridget.
00:00:04
Caroline
And I'm Caroline.
00:00:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
You are listening to Hearth, Home, and Homicide, a family production about family murders. Caroline and I narrate each story, and Andy is our producer.
00:00:19
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
As Caroline and I talk about each family murder, we're keen on watching justice unfold for the killer, whatever that may look like. And we're also interested in the ripple effect of family murders that never ends. Our victims are in the forefront of our minds.
00:00:40
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Our podcasts do include violence and trauma. Listener discretion is advised. Today,
The Jade Jenks Murder Case
00:00:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
we're going to be talking about Jade Jenks. Some of you may be familiar with that, that murder.
00:00:57
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And ah because it's fairly current. And it captured a lot of people's imagination from the start. You know, and that's what we love.
00:01:09
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That's what we look for. Something that is just, okay, I didn't see that coming.
00:01:14
Caroline
Right.
00:01:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
This is the story of the killing of Tom Merriman. He was a butterfly farm owner and operator in California. And he was murdered by his stepdaughter, Jade Jaynes.
00:01:28
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Jade claims she found nude pictures of herself on his computer. She says he died in her driveway, but she didn't kill him. However, she left behind more inculpatory evidence than that which was actually necessary for her conviction.
00:01:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So in other words, loads of clues pointing in her direction. Now I have thoughts about why she did it and most people can sympathize with her and I, you know, I sympathize with her to some extent.
00:02:05
Caroline
Yeah, I mean, I found some, I don't know if relatability is the right word, because I don't relate. But at the same time, like, this is a story we've heard. But I mean, we we're from it.
00:02:16
Caroline
I think people in general are familiar with sort of this kind of, you know, when a human being just is something happens to them, and they react, you know, and sometimes we understand the reaction, even though we're condemning the reaction at the same time.
00:02:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, so, you know, obviously we're not PhD psychologists and we're not um detectives from Quantico, Virginia, ah but we do have some speculations about what might be going on.
00:02:41
Caroline
Right.
00:02:44
Caroline
right
00:02:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
and And so here we go. We'll talk
Jade Jenks' Background and Family Dynamics
00:02:55
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
about Jade. Jade Sasha Jenks was born in 1983 in San Diego to Jeanette and Steve Jenks.
00:03:05
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Unfortunately, Jeanette was a drug user and she was not a stable mother. And within just the first few months of Jade's life, Steve and Jeanette got a divorce.
00:03:18
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
um Well, not the divorce yet. During the first few you know weeks of her life, her father took her and moved from Texas to to California.
00:03:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So that tells you a lot right there that a the father would just uproot the whole thing. And Jeanette got divorced when they were 11. Now, when I think about ages zero to 11,
00:03:45
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And that this little girl was growing up being raised by her father, which is a beautiful thing. There's nothing wrong with that.
00:03:52
Caroline
Yeah.
00:03:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
If he's a good parent, he can be both mom and dad, just like women can be both mom and dad.
00:03:56
Caroline
Right.
00:03:59
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So I don't know if she came to California, left, came to California, left.
00:03:59
Caroline
Right.
00:04:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I don't know what the facts are. I just know that they did get divorced and Jade just was living with her father, Steve, ah permanently after that.
00:04:14
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So when she was 14 years old, her divorced mother married tam ah Tom Merriman. Now, Jade and Tom hit it off. So i this makes me think that Jeanette was maybe stable at that time.
00:04:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Maybe she wasn't using drugs anymore.
00:04:31
Caroline
Huh.
00:04:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So now we've got ah Jade really liking her stepdad. And she started calling him dad right away, even though she was living with her dad.
00:04:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And now she's going to live with her mother of the time. So, you know, it was very hard for me to find any articles that detailed her life from zero to now we're talking age 14.
00:05:02
Caroline
fourteen 14. Yeah.
00:05:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And yes.
00:05:03
Caroline
Which is a lot. There's a lot going on there that is going to feed the next 14 years. Yeah.
00:05:09
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Oh, absolutely. So she is, during her most vulnerable time in her life, she might have been not able to predict what's going to come next, which can create patterns of anxiety, raging anxiety, ah all kinds of things, anger.
00:05:27
Caroline
Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
all kinds of stuff.
00:05:33
Caroline
Yeah.
00:05:35
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But she was so happy that her mom had Tom and she started calling Tom dad, even though she had a dad, actually, that name was named Steve and he was still in her life.
00:05:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So, okay, Tom considered Jade his daughter, along with a son named Tom that he had with Jeanette. So she was half sister to this child. His name was Cash.
00:06:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And Jade really loved being with his, um her sister, Jade really loved being with Cash. And everything was roses, even after Jade's mom divorced Tom after two false attempts.
00:06:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Now, what do I mean by false attempts? Well, they filed for divorce in one year. And then too late two years later, they're still together and they filed for divorce again. and then a couple of years later, they filed for divorce again.
00:06:25
Caroline
oh
00:06:28
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And this time it took.
00:06:30
Caroline
I think that is ah that's more relatable than we know because you know Grandpa Clausen and Grandma Clausen got married and divorced twice.
00:06:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So now you...
00:06:40
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, they did.
00:06:40
Caroline
Three times.
00:06:41
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah, and everything turned out great there for because I fell in love with Chad and so therefore, that's perfect.
00:06:44
Caroline
Yeah.
00:06:48
Caroline
ah It's pretty common.
00:06:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So hi
00:06:49
Caroline
Yeah.
00:06:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
all of this is just to me thinking about Jade because she's our killer here.
00:06:59
Caroline
Right.
00:06:59
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
You know, what what was going on in that head of hers? Yearning for a father. One wasn't enough. Now I've got to really just love Tom.
00:07:06
Caroline
right
00:07:09
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And ah Tom and Jade and Cash were bonded. Despite the fact that Tom Merriman's marriage with Jenks' mother divorced in 1995, the stepfather and stepdaughter had formed a bond that persisted through it all.
00:07:26
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And Jenks would... you know, after the murder, she would try to explain to people, he would call me daughter and I would call him dad. That's just the way the relationship was.
00:07:38
Caroline
Yeah.
00:07:38
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And you know what? If it worked for you, you go, girl.
00:07:41
Caroline
Yeah. That's, that's great.
00:07:42
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That's fine. So now
Jade's Career Success
00:07:45
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Jane went to college and eventually she decided to join Steve, her dad, in his construction business to earn some money And she was very good at helping him run the business. And I believe his business was, I read in a couple of articles, tile and slate.
00:08:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
ah floors and countertop type business and in a very, very successful oh business. And she turned out to just bring in so many clients because she was very personable.
00:08:23
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She was a very attractive woman. She's a smart lady. She's very smart. So after a while, she decided she was going to strike out on her own and ah have an interior design business.
00:08:37
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
well, really tile and what what you do with your countertops, what you do with your floors, what you do with all of those kinds of amenities in your house.
00:08:43
Caroline
Yeah.
00:08:46
Caroline
Bathroom.
00:08:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That is interior design.
00:08:50
Caroline
Yeah.
00:08:50
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And she, i saw an ad, I would like a tape of a TV ad that she did that I would love to hear your dreams about your dream house.
00:08:58
Caroline
Hello.
00:09:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And I'd love to be the one to help you bring make your dreams come true. That kind of thing.
00:09:07
Caroline
Yeah.
00:09:08
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So she was tapping in to primal um sanctuary vibes that everybody has for the most part.
00:09:10
Caroline
Yeah.
00:09:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Almost everybody.
00:09:20
Caroline
Well, and she does sound personable even from that because I know it's stupid correlation, but when I was a kid, I started instead of babysitting, I would dog and house set. And I remember doing something similar.
00:09:31
Caroline
I mean, when you're passionate about your idea, the sales piece for those of us who hate sales is actually, it becomes not that difficult anymore because it's a real story you're telling.
00:09:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes. Yeah.
00:09:40
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
oh you No, you know.
00:09:42
Caroline
And so it sounds like that was her with interior design.
00:09:43
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah. That I would say that hits the nail on the head. And she.
00:09:48
Caroline
Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah. She is so photogenic. I've seen many, many, many photos of her, and she always looks like a movie star to me.
00:10:00
Caroline
Oh, wow. Yeah.
00:10:00
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And I don't mean overly done glamour.
00:10:04
Caroline
Right.
00:10:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She's got a certain, I don't know, je ne sais quoi.
00:10:04
Caroline
Just.
00:10:09
Caroline
Yeah.
00:10:09
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She's just very approachable and at the same time alluring.
00:10:13
Caroline
Yeah.
00:10:16
Caroline
Yeah.
00:10:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And she had a great way of you know her wardrobe, everything about her. I mean, i really can, I can honestly say i found her to be ah very beautiful woman, but not in a, ah the the cheap Hollywood, yes, that, yeah.
00:10:31
Caroline
Yeah.
00:10:35
Caroline
Like a stereotype. Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:39
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
ah So anyway, um she went out on her own, started this business. And within 12
00:10:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
of running that business, Jane had made a profit of $12 million. dollars
00:10:55
Caroline
Wow. that Wow. That's ah quite a bit, actually.
00:10:59
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That is not bad for a young entrepreneur on her own or his own, any entrepreneur.
00:11:02
Caroline
Yeah.
00:11:05
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That's a lot of money.
00:11:06
Caroline
A ton.
00:11:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And and you know, obviously, because you're going to find your business growing, if in that business anyway, you're going to find your business growing if you deliver.
00:11:20
Caroline
Yeah.
00:11:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And so people are referring to other people.
00:11:21
Caroline
Yes.
00:11:26
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And, um you know, she could have been, I mean, I don't know, but she was in California, so she could very easily could have been designing the interiors of mansions.
00:11:26
Caroline
Yeah. Good point.
00:11:39
Caroline
Oh, totally. Producers. I mean, everybody in Hollywood is somehow connected to Hollywood.
00:11:42
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah. So $12 million dollars in her pocket and i she sold her business and had this money.
00:11:44
Caroline
So I mean...
00:11:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And during college and while building her business, she and Tom were apart. They stayed in touch, but they drifted apart. they were He was into some other business beyond butterfly farming, but he, during this period,
00:12:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
started this, co-started this with a friend of his, um nonprofit, butterfly sanctuary, and also a butterfly breeding program.
00:12:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And I had to look up what is, what is, a livable wage from having baby butterflies.
00:12:27
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Like what, who are the consumers other than somebody to come in and have a good time like at a zoo?
00:12:34
Caroline
Yeah.
00:12:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well, apparently butterflies are very integral to a lot of cancer researchers.
00:12:42
Caroline
Really?
00:12:42
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And other other diseases, yes, that butterflies, you know, with their color, their migration patterns, all of these things have drawn in ah big business of...
00:12:46
Caroline
Yeah.
00:12:50
Caroline
yeah
00:12:58
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
ah have you know how some animals are bred specifically for the laboratory. Some of these butterflies, same thing.
00:13:04
Caroline
Yeah.
00:13:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So anyway, and he also ran a nonprofit that was um going places into schools and things like that with butterflies, teaching them the life cycle of the butterfly, I guess.
00:13:08
Caroline
Oh, no.
00:13:16
Caroline
How fun. Yeah.
00:13:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So anyway, um they kind of drifted apart, but they stayed in touch.
Tom Merriman's Health Issues
00:13:29
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
ah Tom was a beloved member of his San Diego community.
00:13:36
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was living near the beach and in participating with his nonprofit organization and others. And as I said, he had some clientele that were ah very unusual from my point of view.
00:13:49
Caroline
Yeah.
00:13:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was seen by his community as a loving and kind and good guy. Everybody loved him. Eventually, um Tom and Jade reconnected as a family and things were good.
00:14:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Now, you know, there's always some kind of a cloud in every, you know, silver lining, there's a cloud in there somewhere.
00:14:17
Caroline
yeah
00:14:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Tom was an alcoholic and his heart health was not good. His general health was not good. Because of his problem with alcoholism.
00:14:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he was turning 60 and he had a lot of pain. Because, you know, ah pain from the ah life of maybe labor.
00:14:34
Caroline
Oh.
00:14:41
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
ah and certainly running a nonprofit is, you know, you've got to be busy all the time and doing physical work all the time with these butterflies and things like that.
00:14:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he was drinking all the time. And, um you know, she, Jade tried to help him and keep him healthy. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had forced the world to a standstill,
00:15:09
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
ah Tom really needed help. And Jenks ended up moving next door to him in Salona Beach, San Diego, California. It's very near the beach.
00:15:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And living as neighbors now, Jade and Tom had grown so close that according to one of their neighbors, Ramona Hamilton, they always had dinners together, says Ramona.
00:15:35
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Jade was always cooking for the two of them. She was his caregiver. Tom ended up falling down in his home on December 15th, 2020.
00:15:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was brought to Scripps Hospital in Encinitas, California. Now this was right in the pandemic. And so I'm thinking that Jay probably couldn't even go visit him.
00:15:59
Caroline
I was going to say, he's lucky he even got a bed. At that time, I i remember it was hard.
00:16:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
um Yeah, absolutely. So apart from his injuries, the California resident was treated for alcohol withdrawal, and he was also getting treatment for his heart and liver issues, having already had a pacemaker installed.
00:16:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So, you know that's what I mean when I say he's not doing good.
00:16:21
Caroline
Oh, wow.
00:16:24
Caroline
Deteriorating.
00:16:24
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Not doing good.
00:16:25
Caroline
Yeah.
00:16:25
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He is deteriorating, and he now has a hip or, you know, some kind of a fall issue,
00:16:34
Caroline
Yeah.
00:16:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And, you know, it's kind of like while he was in the hospital, he's going through the DTs from alcohol.
00:16:40
Caroline
Right.
00:16:41
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he was addicted to to sleep aids.
00:16:46
Caroline
Oh.
00:16:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He had, he would take over-the-counter sleep aids all the time and drink. And, you know, he just was not in good shape.
00:16:50
Caroline
Jeez.
00:16:53
Caroline
My gosh.
00:16:54
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So you could say this this fall maybe was ah blessing in disguise because he's getting some treatment.
00:17:02
Caroline
Yeah.
00:17:02
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He's getting treatment for his alcohol withdrawal. He's getting treatment for his liver, his heart. They're making sure his pacemaker's working. I mean, you know, he's pretty much bio person here where he's being kept alive through artificial means.
00:17:17
Caroline
Yeah. Yeah.
Discovery of Photos and Initial Reactions
00:17:18
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
With her stepfather trying to get back on his feet after his injuries, Jade apparently decided to go to his home And she was going clean it up so that when he came home, it was just going be clean.
00:17:32
Caroline
yeah
00:17:32
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
It was going to be good. Everything's upbeat. You know, she's an interior designer. I mean, you know.
00:17:37
Caroline
Well, and yeah, who doesn't want to do that for their parent? I mean, um remember doing that too. Like, it's just that it's the one of the things you can do that you're most excited about doing because you know it's going to make someone feel good, you know.
00:17:50
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, yes. And I appreciate that, Caroline.
00:17:52
Caroline
You're welcome anytime.
00:17:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I do. I remember when I had my knee replaced, you had a baby, but you came, you ah in a toddler.
00:17:59
Caroline
I did.
00:18:03
Caroline
No, he was a baby.
00:18:05
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was a baby.
00:18:05
Caroline
Wasn't he? I guess he was baby toddler because he was saying, shh, here, cut me out.
00:18:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
yeah he He was a little bit older. He was starting to, yes, he was starting to talk. And he would scoot on down that hall and then he would check on me and then he would come back down the hall and then I'd hear his little voice.
00:18:15
Caroline
Yeah.
00:18:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I hear her walker.
00:18:23
Caroline
Yeah, the cane. Oh, man. There you go.
00:18:25
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes.
00:18:25
Caroline
go
00:18:26
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
yeah
00:18:26
Caroline
um
00:18:27
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes. All of the above.
00:18:28
Caroline
oh and
00:18:29
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And, you know, it just means a lot to people when they need help, that somebody in their family is going to drop everything and come help.
00:18:34
Caroline
Yeah.
00:18:39
Caroline
Oh, yeah.
00:18:39
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And so um I'll thank you in public.
00:18:41
Caroline
And that somebody loves doing it. Yeah. Like it's a mutually symbiotic thing.
00:18:43
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah.
00:18:46
Caroline
I got a lot of joy out of that.
00:18:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I know.
00:18:48
Caroline
i know you did too.
00:18:50
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I did. I really did. And it wasn't long after Ted had died. And so that was another reason that you came.
00:18:54
Caroline
Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
It's like, you know, I could have gone to a, to a, you know, rehab center, but you're like, no, no.
00:19:00
Caroline
No. No.
00:19:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So thank you.
00:19:04
Caroline
Stupid.
00:19:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Thank you. Thank God I had, you didn't do anything to make you want to murder me.
00:19:07
Caroline
Alright.
00:19:10
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So anyway, with her stepfather trying to get back, you know, she's cleaning that house. She was dusting everything because she wanted him to be, you know, good environment, change all the filters.
00:19:24
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And during this process, she went to dust off his filthy desk. You know, he had his computer. had God knows how much paper. You know, so she was moving everything around and she bumped into that a mouse.
00:19:42
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was using a mouse and, um that turned on his page, his, what's that called?
00:19:52
Caroline
computer screen.
00:19:53
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Screensaver, his screensaver.
00:19:54
Caroline
o
00:19:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So up came the screensaver from sleep mode. And this allowed Jade to see an explicit photo that suddenly she recognized as herself.
00:20:15
Caroline
Oh no.
00:20:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
and it was her breasts.
00:20:18
Caroline
Oh god.
00:20:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Somehow he got a picture of her breasts and put them on his computer as a screensaver.
00:20:29
Caroline
Uh-oh.
00:20:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So she decided, she was in shock.
00:20:34
Caroline
Yeah.
00:20:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She was in shock. But then she started thinking, okay, i might be wrong about that. But anyway, she finally figured out a way to get into his computer. He probably had his password written on like you know on the front of it.
00:20:45
Caroline
On the bottom of the keyboard. Yeah.
00:20:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes. ah happen Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:49
Caroline
Don't we all? but
00:20:50
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And she found even more explicit pictures of herself on the computer belonging to the man she thought of as a father. And then she proceeded to destroy the hard drive and everything on it.
00:21:00
Caroline
Oh,
00:21:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She was so beside herself with feelings of betrayal because some of these pictures were obviously taken clandestinely when she was still living with him as a teenager.
00:21:16
Caroline
you
00:21:21
Caroline
ah wow
00:21:23
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And some of them were the pictures that she had sent to boyfriends along the way.
00:21:32
Caroline
Wow.
00:21:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he got a hold of her hard drive somehow, or got a hold of her cell phone somehow, or something was able, he was able to get them downloaded.
00:21:40
Caroline
Yeah.
00:21:45
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So here she is thinking he's a butterfly dude who is her stepfather, who she's treating like the the best father in the world, even though she has another father.
00:21:48
Caroline
Yeah.
00:21:55
Caroline
Right, right.
00:21:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
you know She just adored him. She worshiped him. She loved him. And now she's devastated and she's
00:22:02
Caroline
wood
00:22:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
smashing his drive. hard right
00:22:07
Caroline
Would you destroy the hard drive? I mean, I'm trying to, like at first, in when you told me this story, I thought about it. I thought, oh yeah, I'd probably, you know, destroy everything too because of there's an instant, perhaps mortification, like you're saying. A very, like, there's a little bit of odd shame here i for me in trying to map myself through this scenario if it were to happen to me.
00:22:31
Caroline
But would I destroy the heart? I don't think so because I know I'm going to need proof, but I don't know. Anyway, it's a thought I'm having. I'm wondering what you would do.
00:22:41
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
This is so out outside the realm of normal shock and ah just, I hardly have words to put to it that if I found on something like that, I would want to murder that person, but first I would want them to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
00:23:04
Caroline
Right. Yeah.
00:23:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That is how my mind works.
00:23:09
Caroline
yeah
00:23:10
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Her mind works differently. Her mind, in my opinion.
00:23:16
Caroline
yeah
00:23:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She has the mind of a caregiver and she has the mind of an interior decorator.
00:23:22
Caroline
yeah
00:23:23
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So this is someone who at her core is trying to have a perfect childhood, a perfect father, a perfect story, book, life.
00:23:39
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She's made a fortune,
00:23:43
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
ah and rightfully so, knowing how to stage a home in a way that is both real and ethereal so that you feel like you are in a dream state in your own home.
00:23:54
Caroline
Yeah.
00:23:58
Caroline
Yeah.
00:24:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So my mind is so put together because of my interests that I would first want him prosecuted, then I would want him put to death.
00:24:10
Caroline
Yeah.
00:24:15
Caroline
Yes, yeah.
00:24:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And I would want to be there at the, you know so that's what I think.
00:24:23
Caroline
Yeah.
00:24:24
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I don't know what was in her head.
00:24:26
Caroline
Yeah.
00:24:26
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I would doubt it if she had the urge to destroy him, but he wasn't there. So she destroyed the hard drive.
00:24:32
Caroline
Right. Well, I can't.
00:24:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She wasn't, sick she wasn't thinking.
00:24:36
Caroline
Well, no, and I can't shake that there must have been this element of totally misplaced shame. Right. I mean, if she's not involved in any of this, but here she is seeing it, it's a vulnerable position. She's been compromised.
00:24:51
Caroline
Right. Like there's got to be an element of I don't want anyone to know about this or see this. This is it this is shameful for me because i didn't I would have never wanted this to happen to me.
00:25:03
Caroline
Like that kind of thing. Do you know what i mean?
00:25:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah, can I undo this?
00:25:07
Caroline
Right. Can I just rewind, wipe it away like it never happened?
00:25:11
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Right.
00:25:11
Caroline
I mean, I get that.
00:25:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah. That's what drugs are for, Caroline, and I don't think she was a drug taker.
00:25:18
Caroline
No, she's like, I can't design my way out of this one, man.
00:25:23
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So now I have to say that, you know, Jade Jenks destroyed evidence of more than one crime. There's more than one crime there. I believe that having child pornography, having having stolen it from somebody, having, you know, yeah this man would never get out of jail alive because of his health.
00:25:36
Caroline
Right.
00:25:44
Caroline
No.
00:25:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And so, you know, she she destroyed evidence.
00:25:45
Caroline
Yeah.
00:25:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And she left a gaping hole for people to say, really? Is that true?
00:25:54
Caroline
Well, that's what I'm right. That's the unfortunate piece here is that now yeah it's just stories. It's just hearsay kind of a thing.
00:26:05
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah, it's ah now she she destroyed this evidence. But and, you know, here's a woman who made millions of dollars running a business.
00:26:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I doubt she did just the designing side. I'm sure she ran her but got her business license, you know, got a storefront. I don't know.
00:26:28
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
On the other hand, there is debt there's no doubt that finding naked pictures of yourself going back to puberty, taken by your father. Now, that's how she's perceived him.
00:26:39
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was her father-in-law, stepfather, stepfather, excuse me.
00:26:43
Caroline
Yes. yeah
00:26:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Anyway, to find these photographs, um...
00:26:51
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
is not only something that I have no experience with, but it's something I imagine would send most minds into deep trauma and shock mode.
00:27:01
Caroline
yeah
00:27:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Now, knowing that, if I were in Jade's limbic system, I would definitely not put anything out there digitally because of the deep knowledge of how vulnerable a text, email, or picture can be to prying eyes.
00:27:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That's just me. and I'm destroying this man's property. i'm going to destroy this man. That's what she, I think, start to think.
00:27:28
Caroline
Yeah.
00:27:29
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But
Failed Attempts to Hire a Fixer
00:27:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
she, for some reason, smart as she is, she started texting a lot of people.
00:27:37
Caroline
Uh-oh.
00:27:38
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
um You know, you can't get rid of texts, Caroline. I know you know that, but I'm just put just reminding you that she decided to murder me.
00:27:43
Caroline
I know. I mean, it's...
00:27:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Anyway, at trial...
00:27:47
Caroline
Yeah.
00:27:51
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
sure There was a trial um for her committing murder, which I will talk about in a minute. But at that trial, she relayed to the jury the following, quote, it was the most violating, just awful, gut-wrenching feeling ever.
00:28:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I felt sick. I felt like I couldn't even touch my own skin.
00:28:22
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Now, that's got to be the most unique and powerful way I've heard a trauma victim explain the feeling of trauma.
00:28:30
Caroline
Yeah.
00:28:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And so anyway, back to her right after she discovered these pictures. She looked on everywhere and looked it found this guy on Facebook.
00:28:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
who was a private investigator, a so-called fixer named Alan Roche. Again, Facebook, really?
00:28:58
Caroline
Like, and he's listed as the fixer?
00:28:58
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
You sure you don't want to look?
00:29:00
Caroline
Like, I don't get it. Is that a marketplace thing?
00:29:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I don't know. I don't know. i don't know. To me, a fixer is a guy usually who can do handyman stuff for a fee.
00:29:11
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That's how I use fixers.
00:29:13
Caroline
Right.
00:29:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And I don't look for them On Facebook.
00:29:20
Caroline
right
00:29:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Because they're going to come in my house and they're and they I don't know them. And so, you know, i have to go through this process of protecting myself and getting help at the same time.
00:29:28
Caroline
Yeah.
00:29:31
Caroline
Right.
00:29:32
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Such as, you know, these are the things that I need. You know, garden hauling.
00:29:37
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Stuff like that. But Alan Roach was the fixer's name, was more of a person to call if you need to follow someone or get the goods on someone.
00:29:37
Caroline
Right, right.
00:29:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
His motto was that he would do anything. Okay, that sounds kind of...
00:29:53
Caroline
Like on Facebook. I'm just, I guess I haven't been on Facebook in a while, but... I didn't realize you could do that.
00:29:59
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well, Jade needed help. She called him. But once she explained her problem, you know, how's he going to fix it? once rose Once Roach realized the full scope of her problem, which included she wants to murder him, ah he said he would not come.
00:30:18
Caroline
Yeah.
00:30:19
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
like That's not my kind of problem.
00:30:22
Caroline
Wrong marketplace. Okay.
00:30:26
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
In the meantime, we've got a record here. it's not It's not enough that she went on Facebook, but she texted him.
00:30:33
Caroline
ah
00:30:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Among the messages exchanged between the two of them, his statement when When she, you know, when she got him on the phone she ah or got him, you know, got in touch with him by text, he texted her back, well, if you've got a problem, I can fix it for you, um indicating that he might be a man who would be open to committing sinister crimes.
00:30:58
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But as it turned out, um you know, Jade had made it clear she wanted to, you know, take revenge against Tom.
00:31:06
Caroline
OK. Yeah.
00:31:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he he was not the person for that job. He just didn't want to go that route.
00:31:12
Caroline
yeah
00:31:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But Alan Roach was not the only person she thought about helping her and her problem with Tom Merriman. She called a friend named Alan Sipulak and asked him to help.
00:31:28
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Now, all of this was happening right after the photos were destroyed from the hard drive. So now she's still in her state of total shock. She can't even touch her own skin.
00:31:41
Caroline
Yeah.
00:31:41
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And the looming day that Tom Merriman would be released from rehab. Now, at that point, she didn't even know when he would be released.
00:31:48
Caroline
hu
00:31:50
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Then the day came, December 2020, twenty twenty when he would be released. But in the meantime, she had sent Adam a bunch of texts.
00:32:05
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
One of them is, I'm not sure how long I can hold my temper.
00:32:11
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I can't just put a kicking body in my trunk.
00:32:15
Caroline
Oh. Oh.
00:32:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And later, when he came home, She sent him another text that said, I'm about to club him in the head. I'm obsessive and I'm desperately upset.
00:32:27
Caroline
oh
00:32:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That was a week later. So
The Murder of Tom Merriman
00:32:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I'm trying to make the point that on December 31st, 2020, when Jay Jenks picked up Tom Merriman from the rehab facility, staff there say that she and Tom were acting just like happy daughter father.
00:32:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So she's putting on an act for these other people a week after she found the pictures.
00:32:56
Caroline
Well, and this is the kind of trauma where that's not an easy feat to just pretend. I would think.
00:33:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But it's a week later.
00:33:05
Caroline
Yeah.
00:33:05
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She's got revenge in her head, I guess, and that hasn't come out yet.
00:33:05
Caroline
I don't know.
00:33:08
Caroline
Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:10
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But she's decided about part of the act here is I've got to go get him. And I'm going stop the story here and say, no, you do not need to go get him.
00:33:15
Caroline
yeah
00:33:18
Caroline
I know you kind of just left ghosted.
00:33:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, yes, yes.
00:33:22
Caroline
It's very common days. Yeah.
00:33:25
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And so now we're starting to look at some really irrational, leading to illegal, leading to homicidal things.
00:33:34
Caroline
what I mean, though. The sort of brain activity around flailing out texts that say things like I'm going to club somebody flailing body in my trunk. mean, that's pretty blatant.
00:33:46
Caroline
So where do you get the wherewithal to then go pick him up and act like normal? I don't know. That part is a little bit fuzzy for me.
00:33:53
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, I know. She took him to his house and left him in her car in the driveway. She sent various texts again to Adam, and one of them was, you know, I'm going to club him.
00:34:10
Caroline
I
00:34:12
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I'm going to club him in the head. The next day January 2021, when Adam Sipulak, twenty twenty one when adamipulac the friend of James called the San Diego Sheriff's Department claiming that, and I've listened to the 911, so I'll try to emulate him, but he basically said, a friend of mine just asked me to come over to her house and help her kill ah her father-in-law or her stepdad.
00:34:43
Caroline
Yeah.
00:34:43
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And then they asked him questions like where? At his house.
00:34:48
Caroline
Yeah.
00:34:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And then he kind of started telling the story about the pictures and all this stuff.
00:34:53
Caroline
Yeah.
00:34:54
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And so he called the police.
00:34:56
Caroline
Good job, Adam.
00:34:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And yes, yes.
00:34:57
Caroline
Good job. That's what you do.
00:35:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He said that she claimed to have dosed the hell out of him in a text. She put that in a text to him.
00:35:10
Caroline
I mean, this is what I'm talking about. First of all, I don't even understand this generation taking naked pictures of themselves. Like, what are you doing? What? look Go look at a mirror. I don't know.
00:35:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That's not why they're doing doing it for themselves, Caroline.
00:35:25
Caroline
I know, but you're putting it on a thing that that really none of us own.
00:35:25
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
different
00:35:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
What was the name of that um that husband of Hillary Clinton's number one assistant who put his, and he had an interesting name given his problem.
00:35:42
Caroline
wiener was it wiener no that's a different yeah yeah and something about a twitter post yeah i remember that i know yep it does
00:35:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, Wiener, Wiener. No, his name was Wiener. Yes, his name was Wiener. So, I mean, you know, there it does happen. but you But, you know, here her but his wife did not come home and kill him.
00:36:03
Caroline
touche but we and will never know if she thought about it or not
00:36:09
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well, she didn't do it. That's how we know. But you're right.
00:36:12
Caroline
She might still be thinking about it.
00:36:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She would think... I thought about killing him. I mean, because of they had just had a child.
00:36:18
Caroline
Yeah. I know. It was pretty messy, that one. I remember.
00:36:23
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
yeah I wanted to write her a letter saying, you don't just have one child, you've got two.
00:36:23
Caroline
And your name is Wiener.
00:36:27
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
You need to dump the second one.
00:36:30
Caroline
Shoot.
00:36:32
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So anyway, he he he called the police and she said, you know, she told him in a text, I just dosed the hell out of him.
00:36:32
Caroline
Anyway.
00:36:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And then I just covered his head with a plastic bag and I left him in the car.
00:36:47
Caroline
Oh, God.
00:36:50
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She needed Siplyak's help to move him to a bed inside the house. But Adam said no, and he called police.
00:36:59
Caroline
Yes.
00:36:59
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He didn't tell her he was going to call police, but he called the police.
00:37:02
Caroline
I mean, I think Adam's exemplifying the what to do in this type of scenario.
00:37:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I don't think Adam is out there snapshotting his naked body.
00:37:11
Caroline
No.
00:37:11
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Let's just put it that way. I mean, sending them over the lifetime on the internet.
00:37:18
Caroline
That's what I'm saying. i just don't, I think it must be a born pre-internet, born post-internet thing because I would never digitally send or do anything, even if it was on a server I owned.
00:37:29
Caroline
Do you know what I mean?
00:37:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well, it's also your profession, Caroline. I mean, you know, you work in the law and with lawful documents and you know ah where, you know, the voluminous nature of bad acts that are right there in print.
00:37:34
Caroline
Yeah, that's true.
00:37:37
Caroline
Yeah.
00:37:39
Caroline
It's true. Yeah.
00:37:45
Caroline
Oh, yeah.
00:37:49
Caroline
Yeah, best to have conversations over the phone or in person. Otherwise, forget about it.
00:37:55
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Right. Yeah. Now you sound like a mafia. Anyway.
00:37:59
Caroline
but They know. We don't see many of their texts, do we?
00:38:02
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
They never text. That is a very good point.
00:38:06
Caroline
We don't catch their phones, do we?
00:38:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That is a very good point.
00:38:11
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That is an excellent point.
00:38:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Following Adam's tip to 911, law enforcement arrived at Tom Merriman's house.
Discovery of Tom's Body and Jade's Arrest
00:38:22
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he he had seemingly just been discharged from rehab at that point, but they couldn't find him at his house.
00:38:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
However, they did come across Jade, who was coming out of the driveway in her SUV. And while Jenks confirmed that she had picked up Merriman from the rehab center, she stated that she did not know where her stepfather was at that point.
00:38:47
Caroline
Oh, okay.
00:38:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So she knew that there was a better place for him to be, not there.
00:38:53
Caroline
Okay. It's just like going off the rails here.
00:38:58
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But when they got back to their you know, detective station and they started comparing notes and they're thinking something's really, really very hinky with that lady.
00:39:09
Caroline
Weird, yeah.
00:39:10
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And so this just isn't making any sense and on and on and on.
00:39:15
Caroline
Yeah.
00:39:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So on January 2nd, 2021, they had received also in this interim between the 20th and the they had received call from they had received a call or somebody called 911 and said, we're worried about our neighbor, Tom Merriman.
00:39:34
Caroline
and Yeah.
00:39:35
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
ah He just got back from rehab, and we don't know who's taking care of him or or what's going on over there. And there's this big heap of garbage in the middle of the driveway in front of his house.
00:39:44
Caroline
Oh.
00:39:47
Caroline
Yet.
00:39:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So on January 2021, the police returned to Tom's house after a night of futile search for the man to find his body only, only to find his body in the driveway. So they're driving around trying to find it.
00:40:02
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Then they're thinking, where can the hell could he be?
00:40:03
Caroline
Yeah.
00:40:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
They talked to rehab.
00:40:06
Caroline
Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
They talked to his friends. They talked to the butterfly people. They talked to all these people.
00:40:11
Caroline
yeah
00:40:12
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Where could he be? and they're thinking, you know what? Between that and the telephone call that came in about the big heap of garbage, they looked there.
00:40:20
Caroline
Let's go check it out. Yeah.
00:40:22
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And they slowly.
00:40:22
Caroline
Well, and this is another reason why you do need to have a relationship with your neighbors of some kind to where they're looking at your house on a daily, weekly basis. basis And they can immediately, eventually over time, see that's weird because it's the, that's weird and not seeing you that will cause them to call somebody and report that. So good on you neighbors.
00:40:43
Caroline
Yeah.
00:40:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah, I have a neighbor like that.
00:40:46
Caroline
Yeah.
00:40:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
uh,
00:40:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He will call me if by about 6 p.m. my garbage can is not out by the street for the next morning, which comes really super early.
00:40:57
Caroline
Yeah.
00:40:58
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he's calling, Bridget, you haven't taken your garbage can out. Are you okay?
00:41:02
Caroline
I see.
00:41:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And...
00:41:03
Caroline
And I kind of love that. Like I would hate that, but I would also love that.
00:41:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well, I'll tell you, and because I'm so grateful, and don't worry, listeners, he's married, and I love Sue, his wife, as well.
00:41:15
Caroline
Yeah.
00:41:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But he's the one who calls me to tell me that I have, you know, was I aware that it is Tuesday and the garbage comes out on Wednesday?
00:41:23
Caroline
yeah
00:41:25
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But anyway... I love that attention so much, you know, because I live alone and I'm, you know, I'm over 20 and I need help. And so his, um I take his garbage can in when I take my garbage can in because it's empty.
00:41:41
Caroline
oh
00:41:42
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I'll just take it back to his, unless he beats me to it.
00:41:42
Caroline
Oh.
00:41:45
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Sometimes he beats me to it.
00:41:46
Caroline
Yes. But that, see, that's a good, it's.
00:41:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So yes, good you you don't get, out listen, this is a free tip to all listeners. Don't get old and live alone. and not have good neighbors.
00:41:58
Caroline
That's right.
00:41:58
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Let it go about, I don't want to know my neighbors. Let that go.
00:42:01
Caroline
That's right. Just have one nice thing you do. If it's waving to say hello, just just recognize what each other does every day.
00:42:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah.
00:42:09
Caroline
Not in a creepy stalker way, but in a way that says like, Oh, that's off. Should I be concerned?
00:42:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, yes. So police are digging in this big thing, a trash, and they found Tom Merriman's body. body wrapped in a blanket, hidden underneath this big old mound of trash.
00:42:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Now, the police arrested Jenks just right then. They charged her with first-degree murder. However, she pleaded not guilty to the crime.
00:42:42
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
On January 3rd, 2021, the autopsy revealed that Merriman's body had contained higher than normal levels of sleep medication,
00:42:43
Caroline
Okay.
00:42:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
along with several other prescription drugs that were drugs that she took. And ah now she claims that they ah he she was always giving him her prescription meds because she had sleep aids that were better than what he could get over the counter.
00:43:09
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And she had some other medications that he thought would help him.
00:43:09
Caroline
okay
00:43:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And so they were they were drug swappers.
00:43:17
Caroline
Yeah.
00:43:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Neighbors. That's not the kind of neighbor I want our listeners to have.
00:43:20
Caroline
No, different, different, yeah, different concerns.
00:43:22
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Don't do that. After Jade Jenks was arrested, the police went through her car and her online messages. So, you know, she's basically screwed now, which helped them accumulate all of that evidence against her.
00:43:38
Caroline
Yeah.
00:43:38
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Her
Conviction and Sentencing of Jade Jenks
00:43:39
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
exchanges with Alan Roach, containing phrase like, I just dosed the hell out of it. However, the defendant claimed that Tom Merriman had taken pills on his own and was unable to go to his house, something that she claimed that even she was unable to help him despite her efforts. So she's claiming now, and she claimed in her trials,
00:44:05
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
that she tried to lift him out of the back of her car, but she couldn't. So she left him there overnight. And when she went back the next day, he was dead.
00:44:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And she needed to get him out of her car because she thought that people would think that she had done it.
00:44:24
Caroline
Oh.
00:44:24
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well, not the part about I just dosed the hell out of him text.
00:44:28
Caroline
Yeah, and the put a bag over his head and left him Yeah, you know.
00:44:29
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That might be a clue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that, right.
00:44:33
Caroline
Awkward.
00:44:37
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So Jenks stated that she had left her stepfather in the car in the driveway, not realizing that she'd find him dead the next morning. And in a panic, she apparently wrapped him in a blanket and tried to hide him.
00:44:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She said she even went to a hospital and got a wheelchair to take him to the house. But he fell out of the wheelchair, and so she just covered him up with paper and stuff like garbage.
00:45:02
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So this is a case of a woman who has murdered a man, left a hell of a lot of evidence about that, and um is just not able to accept that it's obvious that you killed him.
00:45:22
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Why are you still saying that you didn't kill him? But that's what happened.
00:45:26
Caroline
Huh. Yeah. yeah
00:45:27
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So the trial of Jade Jenks began on December 2018.
00:45:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
22, almost two years after his death. After a few weeks of the legal process, Jake was found guilty um December 22, 2022.
00:45:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Something she seemingly was shocked by, because if you look that up, ah you know, her sentencing and her, ah the verdict of the jury, if you look it up, she looks just totally shocked.
00:46:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She looks like she probably looked when she found her breasts on the homepage of her stepfather and found those other pictures as well.
00:46:05
Caroline
Right.
00:46:11
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She and her legal team though, during the trial, had claimed that that you know she didn't do it. And they now were claiming that they would be sure and appeal the conviction.
00:46:22
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She was ultimately sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on March 6th, 2023. twenty twenty three As of this writing, Jenks is serving her sentence at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California. now Every time I think about Chowchilla, I think about those kids that in the and the bus that were buried there and escaped.
00:46:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
You should look that up, Caroline. There is a movie about it.
00:46:54
Caroline
Oh my gosh.
00:46:54
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah.
00:46:55
Caroline
I want to say I beg you remember.
00:46:55
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Chowchilla.
00:46:56
Caroline
That must have been in the 80s. You know, before enn or whatever.
00:46:59
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah, I think so. Maybe 70s, maybe 60s.
00:47:02
Caroline
Yeah.
00:47:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I don't know. According to official records, Jay Jenks will be eligible for parole in August 2038. so that's 13 more years.
00:47:14
Caroline
Huh.
00:47:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Eligible for parole. Now, if she don't stand up and say, I did it, she better.
00:47:20
Caroline
How could you not?
00:47:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Because if she, well, how could she not for the trial?
00:47:22
Caroline
I mean. Come on.
00:47:25
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I mean,
00:47:26
Caroline
Yeah.
00:47:26
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
and I don't know, this lady's got some impulse control problems in addition to some delusional thinking, magical thinking.
00:47:32
Caroline
Well, yeah yeah. I mean, now none of us can take any bit of any bit of the story with any kind of seriousness because of it's a little all over the board. And who texts things like, yeah, like, don't know.
00:47:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She's all over the board. She's all over the board. I think you know maybe she was all over the board her whole life and it worked for her.
00:47:49
Caroline
That's just me.
00:47:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Why wouldn't I stay all over the board?
00:47:52
Caroline
Yeah.
00:47:54
Caroline
I guess, yeah.
00:47:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So, Caroline, I did watch the trial. She testified, which is usually a terrible idea. She was very emotional. I mean, and it was real. She was crying, real tears.
00:48:05
Caroline
Yeah.
00:48:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
It's very dramatic about her like reaction to the photos. And I don't mean to say that she's she's dramatic for effect.
00:48:18
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I mean, these are this is real drama here that this has happened.
00:48:19
Caroline
She's having a real... Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:23
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So i'm I'm all with you there, Jade.
00:48:27
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And she was very dramatic about the reaction to the photos, which again, i want to mention, she destroyed them. So she has no evidence, no evidence.
00:48:37
Caroline
ah yeah yeah yeah
00:48:39
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But i I do believe her. I believe her based on her behavior.
00:48:41
Caroline
yeah
00:48:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But there was a week of time between finding the photos and her murder. She said she just left him in the car and he dosed himself.
00:48:57
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But that's not what she said over and over and over again as she tried to enlist someone to help her. I just dosed the hell out of him. I covered his head with a plastic bag.
00:49:10
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Those are the things that she said. So my problem with Jay Jank's testimony is about, you know, he dosed himself.
00:49:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
and she found him dead, and that she was just trying to get his body out of the car. So my problem is, if Tom Merriman dosed himself, and let's pretend for a minute that Jay didn't write all those emails to her fixer, her friend, why would she get on the witness stand and try to make the case that Tom Merriman was human excrement for violating her so horribly and that she just could not touch her own skin for a week, for a week, Caroline.
00:49:56
Caroline
Right. well that's
00:49:57
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I'm sorry, but your critical thinking is going to kick in over a week.
00:50:01
Caroline
Well, that's the thing. But that's where I get weirded out that she's like acting normal to go pick him up. You know what I mean? like it's just Where are you pulling from to separate these two things? This trauma you're really going through at this point.
00:50:16
Caroline
you know, sort of like in your face, drop like a bomb betrayal that you've stumbled upon versus your every day that you were living where you were caring for him and you were a loving stepdaughter. And how are you traveling between these two worlds in a week for no one to notice for your, yeah, like you said, your critical thinking skills, not to completely take over and say, whoa, girl, just like leave. Don't and do anything crazy, you know?
00:50:45
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well, by the time the jury got in the jury room, they were probably thinking, hey, this is a woman who, don't forget to text, you know, she's texting what she's gonna do.
00:50:53
Caroline
Right.
00:50:56
Caroline
Right.
00:50:57
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But this is a woman who was shocked out of her skin and then let a week pass and she was able to feign love and care
00:51:03
Caroline
Yeah.
00:51:12
Caroline
Right. Weird.
00:51:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And then she went back home and carried out her email intentions. That's where the jury went, in my opinion.
00:51:21
Caroline
It's... Yeah.
00:51:24
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
My guess that this was just a tale, in my opinion, a tale that she was enraged when she found the pictures. And now, you know, all this time later, she's expecting her jury to feel similarly outraged on her behalf.
00:51:43
Caroline
Right. And not worry about the rest of it.
00:51:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
What?
00:51:46
Caroline
No. Yes.
00:51:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
and Yeah, that's not what juries do.
00:51:47
Caroline
Yes. Yes. no
00:51:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
thank you They get something from the judge called jury instruction.
00:51:54
Caroline
yeah
00:51:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And, you know, they had to believe that she was staging that kissy-kissy-boo-boo stuff when she went to pick him up.
00:52:08
Caroline
yes
00:52:09
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She staged it like she knows how to stage a house.
00:52:12
Caroline
eight Precisely. Right there. Boom.
00:52:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So she used her cognitive skills on that one.
00:52:20
Caroline
Yes, you have to. Yes. Yeah. Good point.
00:52:24
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So it's a hard thing for me to believe, and it was impossible for the jury to believe, that she was enraged and she stayed enraged for a week. she She managed to cause the jury to see how these two things can't be true at the same time. It can't be true that you stayed enraged for a week.
00:52:50
Caroline
yeah. yeah.
00:52:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
It can't be true that he dosed himself and you were just trying to get to the dead body out of the car and that you texted someone that you dosed the hell out of him and now you've put a plastic bag over his head.
00:53:14
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Those things cannot be true all at the same time.
00:53:16
Caroline
yeah
00:53:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
You were enraged. You were violated, but you didn't kill him. When you felt violated, you waited until you had a way to commit the murder in such a way that you would not get caught.
00:53:36
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She could have gone to the rehab center and shot him.
00:53:36
Caroline
Yeah.
00:53:40
Caroline
Well, that's, I mean, there were so many other diabolical sort of roads to go down, but she's sort of but straddling this place of total meltdown, texty, texty psychosis of, you know, going to kill this man.
00:53:59
Caroline
know, not that that's not justified. It's just not acceptable. Like, you know, and then,
00:54:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
so yeah um It's not justified and it's not legal.
00:54:07
Caroline
yeah
00:54:10
Caroline
It's not legal. i mean, I would see it as justified because it's, you know, like they wronged you, but it's illegal. So that's why you don't do it. I mean.
00:54:18
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
it It might pass for justified if you found the photos, you kept the photos, you went to the police with the photos and you had him arrested in his rehab center.
00:54:23
Caroline
and you went through. Yeah. Yes.
00:54:29
Caroline
Yeah. And prosecuted and.
00:54:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
and prosecuted.
00:54:33
Caroline
Yeah.
00:54:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That's another way to kill him.
00:54:35
Caroline
Well, I think that's. Yeah.
00:54:37
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
This man is not going last through that process.
00:54:41
Caroline
And then that the record is clear, too, that you survived all this. Yeah, no, I agree with you. There's a right way to do justice in these cases. It's just that you can also see, you know, you see how people do this. It's just you can't do this and then try to explain it away.
00:54:58
Caroline
You know, like it's like, oh well, wasn't really me. That's not how it works.
00:55:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
No. So Jay Jenks is in prison and I don't think she's had any successful um appeals. And she's not on, she didn't get the death penalty.
00:55:19
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So there's not infinite appeals. You only get two. You get one with the state, you get one with a federal, if you can find some federal ah law that was, you know,
00:55:23
Caroline
Oh, you get two?
00:55:26
Caroline
Oh, okay.
00:55:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
messed up about your trial. She's one of those people that if she didn't win another trial, she's going to get another trial. And these facts are not going to get any better.
00:55:37
Caroline
Oh, really?
00:55:40
Caroline
Yeah, that's that's a fact. I mean...
00:55:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So Caroline, today our episode was researched, written, and narrated by Bridget and Caroline produced by Andy. Our research is solely based on public domain documents, including legal documents, mostly, mostly in this case, a Court TV, articles and books about our subject.
00:56:05
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Episodes are are aired every other week. If you like us, please subscribe and give us a five-star review. Tell your friends about us in person or by social media. All of these actions help new listeners find us.
00:56:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And we thank you. We appreciate our listeners very much. And one more thing, listeners, don't forget to live and let live.
00:56:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Bye-bye, listeners. Bye-bye, Caroline.
00:56:35
Caroline
Bye-bye.