July 16, 2026

The Fixer, the Photos, and the Death of Tom

The Fixer, the Photos, and the Death of Tom MerrimanIn December 2020, a Solana Beach, California woman named Jade Janks drugged and killed the man she'd called her father for over two decades, then spent New Year's Day disguising his body as a pile of trash in their shared driveway. Thomas Merriman was a beloved butterfly conservationist. Jade Janks was the stepdaughter who'd cooked him dinner every night of the pandemic. Somewhere between those two facts sits a discovery on his computer that she said broke something in her permanently, and a string of increasingly desperate text messages to a man she called "the fixer" that ended up telling prosecutors almost the entire story. This is a case where the victim's public image and the killer's private allegations never got to sit in the same room together, because the woman who could have proven her own motive burned the evidence herself, on purpose, the same night he died.🔔 Subscribe for True Crime Cases multiple times a weekNever miss a story. Subscribe to 10 Minute Murder for bite-sized true crime episodes delivered fresh every week.Get a weekly email from me about the upcoming cases and more: 10minutemurder.com/newsletter📱 Follow for Behind-the-Scenes Content Get exclusive case updates, research photos, and sneak peeks of upcoming episodes:Instagram: @10minutemurder on IGFacebook: 10 Minute Murder on FBTikTok: 10 Minute Murder on TikTok💬 Have a Case Suggestion? Know a fascinating case that deserves coverage? I love listener suggestions and feature the best ones in upcoming episodes. Email: joe@10minutemurder.com Website: 10minutemurder.com ⭐ Help Grow the True Crime CommunityRate & Review: Leave a 5-star review to help other true crime fans discover the showShare: Send this episode to fellow true crime enthusiastsJoin the Discussion: Tag us in your episode reactions on social media🎧 Want Even More True Crime? Check out True Crime Blueprint, also created and hosted by Joe.Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/43zuDpH01HtdIrH0ShCAid?si=86b2281063334139

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