Did a woman kill her stepdad after finding explicit photos of herself on his computer?
CBSN
It was Dec. 15, 2020, when Jade Janks' stepfather, Tom Merriman, was admitted to Scripps Hospital in Encinitas, California, after a bad fall in his home. Two-and-a-half weeks later, Merriman would be found dead in his own driveway under a mound of trash. "48 Hours" correspondent Tracy Smith investigates the mystery of what happened to him in "Jade Janks and the Secret Photos," airing Saturday, Oct. 14 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Janks first met Merriman when he married her mother when Janks was 14, and Janks says they stayed close, even after his divorce from her mom. After Merriman's death, Janks said of their relationship, "He would call me his daughter and I would call him my dad."
Janks moved next door to Merriman in April 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic. In an interview with Smith after Merriman's death, their neighbor Ramona Hamilton said of Merriman and Janks, "I invited him for dinner, and he said, 'No, I always eat with my daughter.' And he called her his daughter."
On the eve of the D-Day invasion, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower spent the remaining hours of daylight with the paratroopers who were about to jump behind German lines into occupied France. A single moment captured by an Army photographer became the most enduring image of America's greatest military operation.
This story previously aired on March 6, 2016. Child Advocate: Do you know why you are here today? 911 operator: 911. What is your emergency? 911 operator: Is there anybody else in the house with you? Robin Doan [to 911]: I so hope my mom is not dead. Robin Doan [to 911]: Please can you just send somebody out here? Robin Doan [to 911]: I'm cold. I'm very cold. Robin Doan [to 911]: I heard my mama scream ... Robin Doan [to 911]: I want my mom. I want my mom. Robin Doan [to 911]: It's on Highway 70. It's about 13.3 miles out from the bowling alley. I have a purple shirt on I have purple pants on. Robin Doan [to 911]: All I want right now is my blanket and my pillow. ... I see him. I see him. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: I really don't want to go to sleep anymore. It makes me to where I'm too scared. I really don't want to go to sleep. OK. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: He had shot in my room and missed me. Advocate: Did you hear anybody say anything. Could you hear anybody talking? Robin Doan [advocate interview]: I don't know this for sure but I thought I saw a white eyes ... a white face. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: And when he shot I saw a flash. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: I can't talk about it. It's too heartbreaking. Levi King interrogation: Before I even realized it, I mean, I'd just pointed it at him and fired.