In 2011, in the Washington DC suburb of Bethesda, authorities were greeted with a gruesome sight. After answering a 911 call to a local Lululemon Athletica, police officers found what appeared to be a robbery but soon transpired to be a harrowing true crime story
Bethesda is known for its safety, which is what disturbed the authorities when they found the forms of two women. Brittany Norwood had a laceration to her head with zip ties restraining her arms and legs. Nearby was the body of Jayna Murray, who had suffered one of the most brutal attacks the cops had ever seen.
She had been stabbed 330 times, with authorities estimating she had endured the attack for 20 minutes with several different weapons. Cops originally worked on the basis that the two women had been attacked, but some details didn’t add up and soon law enforcement began to zero in on Norwood.
How was Brittany Norwood involved with Jayna’s death?
Norwood’s story was that she and Murray had been attacked by two men in black ski masks. She told detectives that after Murray was killed, she’d been sexually assaulted. The evidence started to pile up. But not against the supposed perpetrators – against Norwood herself.
The biggest piece of evidence against Norwood’s story was bloody shoeprints that never seemed to leave the store. ABC News reported that Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger noted that it appeared that Norwood had used male shoes from the store to make false prints.
“We were able to determine that there were only two sets of footprints at the crime scene, one belonging to Ms. Norwood, another belonging to a size 14 shoe that was recovered in the store.”
Norwood’s story began to fall apart, and investigators dug deeper, finally finding a motive for the crime. According to The Crime Wire, Norwood had a history of theft and had lost an academic scholarship after being found stealing from a classmate. On the night in question, Murray had called her manager after discovering that Norwood had stolen a pair of leggings from the store. During an interview in the Sex, Crimes & Video episode “Yoga Store Slaying,” investigators surmise that Norwood lured Murray back to the store by telling her that she had forgotten her wallet.
This ruse may not have been primarily premeditated. Authorities theorize that Norwood called Murray back to the story to plead her case. But after it was clear that her coworker had already reported her, Norwood snapped and began her brutal attack before trying to stage a fake crime scene while trying to make herself look like a victim.
Norwood was eventually convicted on first-degree murder charges and sentenced to life in prison.
