Lululemon Murder: The Tragic Tale of Jayna Murray

In this episode of A Black Girl’s Guide to True Crime, we examine the chilling case known as the Lululemon murder—a crime that stunned a community and made national headlines. What initially appeared to be a brutal attack by unknown assailants soon unraveled into a far more disturbing story involving deception, betrayal, and a carefully crafted lie.

We break down the events leading up to the murder, the investigation that exposed the truth, and the key evidence that helped detectives piece together what really happened inside the upscale retail store. 

Join us as we explore one of the most shocking workplace murders in recent true crime history.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey y'all. We have a really good story time today. All the information and links you always need to know will be plugged into the bio, and it's always in the bio of each episode description. So I won't spend much time doing my normal spiel. The one thing I do want to make sure y'all know is how to get in touch with our team. If you have any questions, you can email us at info at blackgirlstruecrime.com or you can send us a text or voicemail directly by our button in each episode description. So today's episode is a juicy one and it relates to workplace violence. I think we can all relate to this at some point in our working careers, just maybe sans the murder. But I'm not above the thought, and I don't judge if you aren't either. Sometimes your colleagues can push you to your breaking point, and that's exactly what happened in this case. Okay, y'all, story time. On March 11th, 2011, Brittany Norwood and her coworker Jaina Murray were discovered in a Lululemon retail store in Bethesda, Maryland, after being violently attacked by an unknown assailant. Jaina was deceased and had over 300 injuries, and Norwood was found zip-tied with lacerations to her head and abdominal scratches. These girls were co-workers at the Lululemon store and they had worked the night before. After closing the store around 9 p.m., they both left the building. A short time later, about an hour or so about 9 51, Norwood called another sales associate and informed her that she had left her wallet and asked for Jaina Murray's phone number. She called Jaina and they agreed to meet. The next day, the manager arrived at the store shortly before 8 a.m. She noted that the door was unlocked, but initially thought someone arrived before her and forgot to lock the door. When she entered, she quickly realized an altercation had occurred. The lights were on and things were just out of place. She heard someone moaning and immediately left to dial 911. When she exited, she asked a male bystander who was reportedly waiting for the Apple store to open, which was next door to the Lululemon store, to check the back of the store where he discovered one person dead and a second person appearing to be sexually assaulted. Police and ambulance arrived, and Britney was taken to the hospital to be examined. Police spoke with her in the hospital to obtain information in order to develop a suspect. She told the detectives that they were attacked by two men wearing masks and described the attack in significant detail. She also reported that she was sexually assaulted and she became very emotional during the conversation. She explained that Murray was struck by one man and she was attacked by another man wearing black clothes and a ski mask. She said that the attacker swore her and called her racial slurs while she was being assaulted. She informed officers that she believed the assailants knew her address due to personal items in her purse at the time of the attack. Her family was very concerned about this, and they were advised to contact the police if they saw anything suspicious. And this is significant because the perpetrator did end up coming to her address, and they determined the name of that suspect was in fact Brittany Norwood. She was arrested on March 18th, about six days after the crime and charged with the murder. Yes, you did hear me correctly. Let's talk about this fool, Brittany. From the beginning, police were somewhat suspicious of her story and her account of how this happened. Over the course of the next several days, she became a suspect rather than a victim. Now we rewind to the night of the murder. She texted another colleague for Jaina's phone number, so we know she lured the girl to the store. Employees at the Apple store next door heard strange noises coming from the Lululemon store shortly after 10 p.m., including dragging, grunting, thuds, and squealing. They even requested for a security guard to check the nature of the disturbance. So they have witnesses. It's not clear what came of that wellness check or if security investigated at all, but unfortunately we know how it ended. They continued to hear screaming and yelling, and a female voice saying, Talk to me and don't do this. And another female voice saying, God help me, please help me. Norwood attacked Murray with multiple weapons. She had injuries to her face, head, neck, back, and extremities, so everywhere. She then attempted to doctor the scene to stage the robbery. She used a pair of men's reebox that were kept in the store for customers to try on with clothing to create bloody footprints. She also inflicted superficial injuries upon herself and cut a slit in the crotch of her pants, bound her hands and feet with zip ties, and waited to be discovered the next morning. After being evaluated in the hospital, her examination revealed no evidence of sexual assault. Norwood also moved Jaina's car to a parking lot further from the store and moved merchandise around the store in an attempt to make it appear as if they were attacked. Obviously, the whole car thing was something that made investigators start to view her as a suspect instead of a victim. She tried to explain that the attackers made her move the car to another parking lot and told her they would be watching her the entire time. They allegedly threatened to kill her if she talks to anyone. While moving the car, she saw a police officer but did not attempt to flag him down because she was too afraid. When asked why she returned to the store, she also noted that she was afraid that the attacker knew where she lived. Like, come on, girl, were we really supposed to believe that? So at this point, detectives told her they didn't believe her and they believed that she killed Murray, and she was arrested and charged shortly after. Following an eight-day trial, Norwood was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder. She was sentenced to life without parole. Now, she did try to appeal this decision on the grounds that she was not mirandized when she was questioned, but the courts rejected this because she was not in custody at the time she was questioned and therefore not entitled to Miranda warnings. Remember, they still thought she was a victim and she was questioned at her home and in the hospital. Even the instances when she was interrogated in the police station, the trial court argued that she came voluntarily with her family and left with them. They noted in the interview video, she chatted quite amicably with the evidence technician, and she was quite composed compared to other people during questioning, where people are often seen fidgeting or looking nervous. So to imply that she was under police pressure to speak is even more unlikely. Even still, the weight of the evidence in this case is overwhelming. There was DNA evidence found in Murray's car, and in initial interviews, Norwood had said she had never been in her car. There was also overwhelming evidence that the murder was premeditated. The deputy chief medical examiner testified that Murray had at least 331 distinct injuries, including 105 defensive wounds. So she was alive for much of the assault, and the time that it took Norwood to inflict that amount of injuries strongly supports a finding of premeditation. Her injuries were caused by at least five weapons, including a wrench, a merchandise peg, a hammer, a box cutter, and an Xacto knife. And the time that it took her to gather the weapons from various locations in the store further supports the conclusion that it was premeditated. Many of us have worked with people or have colleagues, and you always have that one that just kind of irks you the hell in back. But apparently Jaina had confronted Britney over stolen merchandise. Anyone that has worked retail knows that that's regular practice. As employees, you check each other's bag when you're closing and when you're leaving the store. Which when I first started working retail, I thought that was kind of janky, but also I'm not a thief, so I really questioned the practice. I felt like, why hire that type of employee if you're suspicious that this person steals every time they leave the store? Apparently, Brittany has some items in her bag that she wasn't supposed to have. And come to find out, she has a history of stealing and petty theft, and she'd actually been transferred from another Lululemon store for the same thing. So either this place is not doing proper background checks, she wasn't properly vetted, or that information just wasn't carried over into her new position. But she had been stealing. That's the bottom line. And when they left the store and closed up that night, Jaina made it clear that she was not gonna hold on to this information. And Britney Norwood just snapped. And while obviously Jaina didn't deserve what happened to her, sometimes you just gotta mind your business. I'm sorry, I hate to say it like that. I'm glad she was trying to do the right thing, but at what costs? Like, people are so crazy. But honestly, y'all know what time it is, especially in the workplace. Just mind your business because you never know. But, anyways, that's all I got for y'all today. Thanks for listening.