The stepdaughter of a Solana Beach butterfly keeper is accused of killing her stepfather after coming across nude photos of herself on his computer.
Thomas Merriman co-founded Butterfly Farms, a nonprofit organization focused on the conservation and study of native butterflies, with a business partner in 2013. Fans of the nonprofit were baffled by the news of his killing on New Year's Eve 2020, and who investigators believed to be his killer.
Jade Janks, Merriman's stepdaughter, was cleaning his apartment while he was in the hospital and came across the photos, according to prosecutor Jorge Del Portillo. On Wednesday, during the first day of trial, Del Portillo said Janks came up with a plan to drug her stepfather after the upsetting discovery.
In his opening statement, Del Portillo told the jury they would be hearing things about Merriman that could be disturbing and cause them not to like him. He also shared text messages Janks and another man allegedly exchanged between a few days before Merriman's death and Janks' arrest.
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“I just dosed the hell out of him. Stopping for whiskey then at Dixieland to stall. LMK," one text allegedly sent by Janks read. It was sent at 11:30 a.m. on the day she picked Meeriman up from the hospital, according to prosecutors, which is also the day Merriman died.
“The motive is the photographs she found, the means were all the items found inside her car, the opportunity was that she was the one who picked him up … the confession is the text messages, ‘I just dosed the hell out of him,'” Del Portillo said.
The prosecution argues Janks drugged, suffocated, and ultimately choked Merriman to death.
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But the defense disagrees.
“You will not find any evidence that he was strangled to death,” said Defense Attorney Marc Carlos.
Instead, Carlos called the jury's attention to Merriman’s alleged drug and alcohol problems. He brought into evidence a bag of medication Merriman was given leaving the hospital, and that he was left alone with while Janks stopped at the store on their way home.
He then pointed to Merriman’s official cause of death being acute intoxication by the sedative zolpidem.
Janks was the only person who cared for Merriman, and while his betrayal was hurtful, it did not lead to her killing him, according to Carlos.
If convicted, Janks faces life in prison.
NBC 7 spoke with Pat Flanagan, a friend and business partner of Merriman's, last January.
“Tom was just an all-around good guy,” Flanagan said. "He loved being outdoors. He was very handy. He cared and he really gave a lot to the community.”
Flanagan and Merriman met in 2011 when they were both leasing nursery space on a property in Vista. Flanagan said they soon decided to combine businesses. At first, they were selling palm trees, then one day they found themselves buying a vivarium, an enclosed area for raising animals or growing plants, in Encinitas. Together they opened Butterfly Farms in the spring of 2013.
Since then, Flanagan said Merriman had become known and loved in the community for his kindness and knowledge about butterflies.
