On Saturday 12th March 2011, Lululemon store manager Rachel arrived at the store in Bethesda before 8am to find the store in disarray and unlocked. With the assistance of Ryan, an Apple store customer (located next to Lululemon), they entered the store after calling police. Receipts were found scattered on the floor, along with safes and tills ransacked and left open. Clothing rails were knocked over along with trails of blood. Smeared handprints were on the wall and footprints of blood were around the store. Whilst Rachel stayed in the front of the shop, Ryan walked to the storerooms located at the back to find Jayna Murray, 30, lay dead in a pool of her blood and Brittany Norwood, 28, tied up with zip ties above her head.
The Victims
Murray had sustained 330 injuries at the very least. These wounds consisted of stab wounds, self-defence wounds, beatings and wounds on her neck from a rope which had been tied around her. 200 of the wounds were found on the face, head and neck area, with the remaining wounds mainly on the arms, chest and torso. Murrays skull had 13 fractures and began to cave inward. Pathologists believe Jayna was alive until the last blow – a single stab wound at the back of the neck, severing the spinal cord, although they do not believe she was conscious.
Following further inspection of the store, Ryan found Norwood in the employee bathroom also surrounded by blood, although not as much as Murray. Norwood was lay on her back and had sustained injuries such as a head wound and slashes, although no stab wounds. Norwood’s shirt was pulled above her stomach and crotch area cut away with a Lululemon shirt tied around her neck. Buddha statues from the store front, a rock and paper towels were found around Norwood. Norwood was sent to hospital and questioned by police. Only 2 wounds needed medical attention, the attack appeared to be more torture than injure. A rape kit was used as Brittany told police she was sexually assaulted. Norwood asked police about Jayna and didn’t believe she was dead, stating she felt guilty for her death due to heading back into the store after closing time.
Right – Brittany Norwood (Washington Post)
The Crime Scene
A toolbox was discovered on top of Murray’s body, with tools covered in blood, believed to be the murder weapons. The majority of blood was found in the back room. A thin layer covering the floor, a deep puddle around the body and some splattered along the walls.
Along the corridor were 2 sets of footprints, one large and one small. The big set of footprints walked to the bathroom and disappeared. The fire exit door had blood smeared on and the key in the door to disable the alarm, however when police looked on the outside of the door there was no evidence of anyone leaving the store.
The Story
Norwood told police the women had locked the store up for the evening when Norwood realised she had left her metro card. Brittany rang around her colleagues to get Jayna’s number. Jayna had left her laptop so wanted to drive back to the store and met Norwood there. Jayna parked her car outside the shop illegally and entered the store, leaving it unlocked. Norwood couldn’t find her metro card, therefore Jayna gave Brittany hers so they could go home and find it in the morning. When the women went to leave the store they were ambushed by two masked men dressed in black. The taller man went for Jayna, whereas the smaller man went for Brittany. They dragged the girls by their hair and made Norwood open the cash register. The smaller man tortured Norwood, slashing her with razors and subjecting her to racial abuse. Norwood believed both men were white due to their mannerisms. The attackers cited Norwood’s home address as well as threatening to slit her throat. Norwood claimed to be sexually assaulted by the man then assaulted again with a coat hanger. The two men took Brittany to Jayna’s body and told her she would be spared and then threw her into the bathroom.
The Investigation
Police collected CCTV footage from the Apple store and observed 2 men dressed in black around 10pm. The story was released on the news the same day the bodies were discovered to find the culprits along with a $150,000 reward to identify the men. Profit sales in the shopping district dropped by 50% due to the public feeling unsafe.
When police questioned Apple employees, store assistant Yana heard “screaming, squealing and a lot of banging” just after 10pm, though she believed it was someone drunk outside. Yana heard 2 women’s voices saying, “please don’t do this just talk to me”, “god help me, please god help me” and believed it to be co-worker drama. Low grunting, dragging noises and high-pitched screams could be heard around the store. Yana approached Apple security guard Ricardo, who put his ear to the wall and banged the wall to tell them to be quiet. Neither employee rang the police nor checked the Lululemon store.
Rachel had spoken to Jayna on the phone that night, Jayna told Rachel she had locked the store and was heading home around 10pm. The alarm was disabled again at 10.05pm when the women entered the store to retrieve their items.
Murrays car couldn’t be found outside the store; however a patrol officer had seen it on a parking lot a few blocks away from the store with someone in the passenger seat with the lights on around 12pm. By 2am, the lights were off and no one was in the car. The car was still there when officers searched and was impounded for further investigation.
Police decided to stake out of the shopping district for the return of the men on the cctv. Detective Dimitry Ruvin parked an unmarked car outside the store and people watched. Ruvin spotted 2 men with a height difference and stopped to questioned them. They admitted it was them on the CCTV footage however they worked on a restaurant on the strip and were heading home after finishing their shift.
Keith, a local homeless man, was also blamed for this crime due to his aggressive manner and his large shoe size. He was found in hospital covered in blood, however this ended up being due to being in a fight with another homeless man.
The Review of the Case
Police went back over the case when they ran out of leads. A few abnormalities were found within the crime scene. The attackers didn’t bring any weapons or anything to break into the store which would be needed after closing. Zip ties, statues and weapons were used that were already in the store for torture and murder of the victims. To locate these items would have been time consuming, leaving the victims alone for long periods of time as well as the changing of weapons.
Due to the amount of injuries on Murray, the police began to believe this was a personal attack. Norwood had superficial injuries whereas Murray had severe and fatal injuries.
Police also found 2 sets of footprints when there should be a minimum of three if Jayna was already deceased. When questioned by police, Rachel informed them the large trainers belonged to the store and were used for customers to try on to see if their gym clothing looks good. The police believed it unlikely for the attacker to take off their shoes and put on the large pair of trainers to walk around in the blood. The police also questioned how the attacker would know where the store trainers were.
When questioned, Apple employees didn’t hear a man’s voice, which would have been heard if the men were citing Norwood’s address and shouting racial slurs.
The Truth
Police believed Norwood could have shown the attackers where equipment was and believed she was an accessory to the crime. Due to this, they decided to look into Norwood’s previous history and found she had been convicted of petty thefts and scamming. Norwood had also lied about graduating college to family and friends when she was kicked out due to bad attendance and other incidents. Norwood also broke into her ex-boyfriend’s house and stole his and his new girlfriends’ items, resulting in a restraining order against her, only for it to be broken several times.
Norwood also abused her staff discount after only working in this store for 6 weeks. She was also caught stealing which resulted in manager meetings where they discussed firing Brittany if she was caught stealing again. At the time of the murder Norwood and Murray did not get on as Jayna told Rachel she thought Norwood was stealing. Norwood’s bag was asked to be searched as per the staff routine bag check; however, Brittany gave a name of the co-worker who already checked bag which was found to be false as no colleague had checked her bag that shift.
Around this time, the forensics for Jayna’s car was sent to the police. Jayna and Brittany’s blood was found in Jayna car along with a hat covered in blood in the same place that matched Norwood’s head wound. Norwood was called back in for questioning about the car. During this interview, police asked about the zip ties to which Norwood said they were sourced from the attacker’s backpack. The police informed Norwood the same zip ties were found in the store and Norwood began to backtrack and left the station.
Following a more thorough investigation into Norwood, it was found the injury on her hand was consistent with holding a blade and it was theorised that she hit herself in the head by accident when attacking Murray. During this time, the results of rape kit returned and showed negative for assault. The forensic expert was informed of the theory of Brittany murdering Jayna and found teeth marks in the zip ties around Norwood’s wrists, indicating she tied them herself. It was also concluded she was found in a “posed” position.
At the crime the larger footprints overlapped the smaller ones which wouldn’t happen if the men were moving around. It was also found that the blood around Norwood’s body was Jayna’s blood which had been taken from the paper towels. It was also determined the razor slashes on Brittany’s body were self-inflicted due to the angle.
As the police collected more evidence, Norwood informed police the attackers told her to move Murrays car a few blocks away and walk back to the store. During the walk back, Norwood walked past a police officer, making the investigators question why she didn’t ask for help. When confronted with the new theory, Norwood denied murder therefore police brought in family members to try and break Norwood to confess. Norwood eventually said to a family member “I don’t want to talk about this here”. Just 1 week after the murder, Norwood was arrested.
Police believed Brittany lured Jayna back to the store to speak about the theft report in fear of not getting her new personal trainer job she had applied for. However, she has not spoken properly about her motive for the killing.
The Sentencing
Norwood’s defence lawyer Mr Wood argued Brittany had an undiagnosed mental disorder as “no sane person could do what she did to Jayna” and she didn’t stop injuring Jayna and lay there until morning waiting to be discovered. Her previous history with her ex-boyfriend also shows signs of a mental disorder. He argued the murder was not premeditated as there was an obvious trail left behind. The prosecution believed Brittany moved Jayna’s car as Rachel the store manager lived across the road, meaning she could have been caught staging the crime scene.
The jury deliberated in less than an hour and believed Norwood to be guilty. Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg sentenced Norwood to life in prison with no chance of parole.
*Images used do not belong to Dire Diary and owners of the photo’s are cited underneath*
Sources
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2011/11/01/gIQA1GpudM_story.html
Youtube – Eleanor Neale
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