Can you believe someone was killed over a pair of leggings? Well, the victim had 331 wounds, so there's a much deeper story to uncover. Lululemon, a high-end sportswear brand, primarily attracted yoga lovers and was known for its $100 leggings. However, on March 11th, this reputation was overshadowed when a murder occurred inside the store. Of the two employees present that night, only one survived. This tragedy left unanswered questions: Did an employee kill her manager, or were they both victims?
A Normal Night at Work
In 2011, Jayna Murray was a part-time manager at Lululemon - working there whilst completing her master’s degree at John Hopkins University. She was 30 years old and a complete adrenaline junkie, so she used yoga to balance out her wild side and saw Luluemon as the perfect complement to her passion.
On the night of Wednesday, March 11th, she made her way to work in Bethesda, Maryland - passing the Apple store next door on the way to her nightshift.
Going Back for Brittany’s Wallet
Jayna finished her shift at 9.45 pm and locked up the building as she left with her colleague, Brittany Norwood. Realizing she'd forgotten her wallet, Brittany convinced Jayna to reopen the store and reenter the building with her. At 10:05 p.m., a commotion was heard, so loud that staff at next-door Apple store heard the drama. Jana Svrzo, one of the Apple employees, even heard a woman's desperate pleas: “Don’t do this. Talk to me. What’s going on? God help me.”
The next ten minutes were filled with loud shouting and grunts, but the Apple employees didn't call the authorities, dismissing it as "just drama" next door.
The Next Morning
Another manager, Rachel Oerteli, arrived to open the store before 8 am the next morning. She immediately saw the building had not been properly locked up, and that the lights had been left on. She shrugged it off as a harmless mistake and entered the store. As soon as she walked in, she knew this was no mistake. The place was in chaos. It was clear something had happened. Her worst fears were confirmed when she called out and, from the very back of the store, she heard someone moaning.
Panic-stricken, she called 911 and ran out of the store - straight into a crowd of people. The Apple store next door had a huge line waiting outside for the launch of a new product. Ryan Haugh was one of those people and he immediately spotted Rachel because of how frightened she looked - so he went over to see what was wrong.
Help From a Stranger
Despite not knowing Ryan, when he asked if she needed any help, Rachel immediately accepted his offer. Too frightened to reenter the building alone, she asked Ryan to accompany her - and as soon as he walked in, he understood why. Jayna was lying face down in the middle of the store.
When the police arrived they also found Brittany - she was alive but needed to immediately be taken to the hospital. Covered in cuts and with her hands tied above her head, they found her in the bathroom. She had a deep wound on her right hand and the crotch of her pants had been torn.
Investigations Begin
After investigating the crime scene - detectives were still left confused. The safes had been emptied, so their initial thought was that it could have been a robbery that got out of hand. They also found two sets of footprints that could belong to the suspects.
However, whilst one footprint was identified as a size 14 trainer - one was linked to a shoe left behind in the store. And if it was just a robbery - then why was someone murdered? There was only one person they could ask - their only witness, Brittany Norwood.
Brittany’s Account of What Happened
Finding her in hospital, the police set to work unraveling Britanny’s story. She explained that when she and Jayna returned to the store, they were actually followed inside. Hidden by ski masks, two men managed to gain entry to the building behind them and immediately proceeded to tie them up. Once bound, they sexually assaulted them both and when Jayna tried to resist, they attacked and eventually murdered her.
After hearing her story, the police were still left with questions - why was Jayna killed and Brittany saved? So they went back to see her. This time she explained that they threw her on top of Jayna’s body but they said they saved her because they enjoyed assaulting her.
The Police Get Suspicious
But something didn’t add up. She continued to explain that they both racially and verbally abused her - and that when doing so they told her that they knew her name and her address. This revelation left the police with questions. How did they know this information and did Brittany know more about their identity than she was letting on?
So on March 16th, they called her in for questioning. They asked her to describe Jayna’s car but she claimed not to know what it looked like. The Police then took her fingerprints and DNA samples so that she could be ruled out as a suspect. She remained oddly calm throughout questioning and at times even seemed uninterested - only adding to the police’s suspicions.
CCTV Footage Revealed
The Police were convinced that something wasn’t quite right about Brittany’s story but they just didn’t have enough evidence to prove it. So they continued investigating her story until they finally had a breakthrough. CCTV footage of that night uncovered two men in what appeared to be ski masks, passing the Lululemon store - could they be the attackers?
However, after further investigations, they found they were simply two restaurant workers who walked by the store every night on their way home from work. So all eyes were back on Brittany and the question still remained - was she a victim or a suspect?
Brittany’s Story Changes
After their failed lead with the CCTV - the police soon had another breakthrough. Brittany’s brother and sister, Chris and Marissa, phoned them to share some information that they claimed Brittany was too scared to share herself. They believed that Brittany was actually forced to move Jayna’s car by the attackers. Now the police were even more suspicious because Brittany had denied knowing anything about the car.
So, they immediately met with Brittany to interrogate her further. At the meeting, Brittany explained that she was asked to move Jayna’s car before returning to the store and being sexually assaulted. The Police couldn’t understand why she didn’t use this opportunity to escape - she was alone and in a working vehicle but still returned to danger and the scene of the crime - it didn’t make sense.
The Interrogation Room
Already suspicious about why Brittany didn’t escape in the car, the police were even more confused when Britanny added that she actually saw a police officer whilst she was driving. When asked why she didn’t use this opportunity to seek help, she said she was too scared and wasn’t thinking clearly. She also claimed the shock made her forget to tell the police when previously asked - but they weren’t convinced.
Its possible shock could have left her confused, but there was still too much that didn’t add up. So whilst Britanny was in the interrogation room with her brother and sister, the police decided to leave them alone for a while - and see if any more was revealed.
Brittany Is Charged
And their plan worked. As soon as they were alone, Brittany’s brother took up the interrogation and asked her outright if she had been involved in Jayna’s murder. In response, she said, “I don’t want to talk about it here”.
Well, that was it. These words finally gave the police the ammunition they needed. When they returned to the room, the police said they believed she had staged the robbery, inflicted her own wounds, and killed Jayna. She was arrested on the suspicion of murder in the first degree.
Brittany Goes to Trial
When Brittany finally went to trial, the prosecution put forward that Brittany Norwood was responsible for the brutal murder of Jayna on March 11th, at the Lululemon store. The murder was presented as premediated, which, under Maryland law, could be premeditation of just a few seconds.
So what was her motive? Well, whilst it couldn’t be revealed at the trial due to some suppressed evidence, it has since been suggested that Brittany was caught stealing a pair of leggings by Jayna not long before the incident happened. Could this be the reason why Brittany wanted to silence her?
Uncovering a Motive
It has since been uncovered that routine security checks were carried out by staff on their fellow employees, to ensure they hadn’t taken anything from the store. Unfortunately, however, Jayna did find something in Brittany’s bag - a pair of the infamous Lululemon leggings.
As a manager, it was Jayna’s duty to report what she had found - and this is where the prosecution believes that Brittany had her motive. They put forward that Brittany wanted to stop Jayna before she had the chance to report it - and that her plan began when Brittany lured Jayna back to the store 15 minutes after they had originally left.
The Prosecution Turn on Brittany
The prosecution continued to build on this theory with the evidence that Brittany actually went out of her way to ensure it was Jayna specifically who reopened the store for her. She didn’t have her phone number but called another employee to secure it and make sure it was Jayna who she reentered the building with.
Furthermore, the prosecution revealed that there was no evidence of any sexual assault. So, despite Brittany having her own injuries, they suggested that they were self-inflicted. They also accused Brittany of staging the robbery and actually attacking Jayna herself.
Evidence Starts Piling up
But if the prosecution were going to be successful, they had to prove that Brittany was capable of inflicting the three hundred plus wounds that were found on Jayna’s body. She was beaten until she was unrecognizable - how could Brittany have done it?
They argued that she used a rope found in the store to attempt to strangle Jayna. They also believed that she used a foot-long, metal, merchandise rack to both chase and beat her with - even using it as a weapon to repeatedly hit her on the head.
A Premeditated Attack
Further evidence supporting this theory came from the Bethesda Apple Store, located next door to Lululemon. Several employees claimed to hear strange noises at around 10 pm, and one even reported hearing what sounded like a woman pleading with someone to talk to her and not do something.
This evidence helped the prosecution to further build their timeline of the evening’s events, and gauge that the attack would have taken approximately 20 minutes. This is therefore enough time for them to put forward that the murder was indeed premeditated.
Evidence From the Apple Store
However, that is not all that was heard in the Apple Store. In the time between when the commotion began at around 10 pm, and when they closed the store at 11 pm, some employees working that night claim to have heard some damning evidence.
Between the witness, they heard arguing, screaming, and one employee even believed they heard Jayna pleading for help. This was all to be expected, as the detectives knew she had been attacked - but what they weren’t expecting was the revelation that only women’s voices were heard. If they could only hear women - then how can there have been two male attackers?
The Autopsy Report
By the time it came for the medical examiner to give her evidence, things were looking bad for Brittany. Marry Ripple, who had carried out Jayna’s autopsy, said that Jayna had received more injuries than she had ever seen in her line of work, with a total of 331.
Due to the nature of them, she could ascertain that around a third of these were received as she was attempting to defend herself. The autopsy had shown that Jayna was still alive after the initial attack and that over 100 of the wounds were to her arms and legs, which she had been using to protect herself.
Details of the Attack
Mary Ripple’s evidence continued to uncover the horrific details of Jayna’s brutal attack. Comparing the incredible amount of force used to that inflicted by a vehicle in a car accident - she revealed the details of the 331 injuries inflicted on Jayna that night.
Amongst the wounds, bruises, and cuts - there were also a total of seven brutal blows to the head, one of which was so blunt it crushed her skull. This crush inevitably led to severe bruising and internal bleeding on the brain.
Injuries Uncovered
However, the horror didn’t stop there. When Ripple gave her evidence, she also revealed the cause of death. Along with the numerous head injuries, there was also evidence that Jayna was strangled using a rope that was later found in the store.
On top of this, she was stabbed in the shoulder, the lower back, and the neck - and it was this final stabbing that ultimately killed her. A neck wound like this is fatal, and despite evidence that Jayna tried to escape, it was too late.
A Prolonged Attack
Using this wealth of evidence, the prosecution pleaded with the jury to take into account just how prolonged the attack was. The neck wound killed Jayna, which means she was alive for the 330 other wounds that were inflicted on her before it did.
The prosecution remained adamant that it was Brittany who was responsible and who deserved to be punished - and they had uncovered yet more evidence to convince the jury: traces of both Brittany and Jayna’s blood had been found inside Jayna’s car.
Covering Her Tracks
Suddenly it all made sense. It had always seemed strange that Brittany had denied knowing what Jayna’s car looked like - only to then admit that she had actually driven it. And her story about being forced to drive also never added up. If she was scared and alone in the car then why didn’t she drive to safety or ask for help from the police she passed?
Well, the prosecution pieced this all together as an elaborate plan to explain why her DNA was in fact in the car. They believed that when she realized her blood would be found, she needed to find a way of explaining it and as such concocted this story to cover her tracks.
Footprints Uncovered
It seemed that once the prosecution had uncovered this lie, there was no stopping them. They had managed to cause doubt in Brittany’s story about being forced to drive the car - and now they had more evidence to prove that she couldn’t be trusted.
Brittany had claimed there were two attackers, which was corroborated by the fact that there were two sets of footprints found - one from a pair of size 14 trainers and one from some shoes that were in the store. Well, it turns out those shoes belonged to Brittany - the second set of footprints were hers.
More Lies Discovered
So, if one of the footsteps belonged to Brittany, then there can’t have been two attackers as she claimed. But if she was prepared to lie about something as big as the number of attackers - then what else was she prepared to lie about?
How about the actual attack itself? Brittany said that both she and Jayana had been sexually abused. She said that she had been assaulted with a coat hanger and that they had both been raped. It turns out, however, that there was no evidence of either one of the women being assaulted - meaning Brittany absolutely had to be lying.
An Inside Job
Now that these lies had been exposed, it seemed the prosecution was in their stride and on a mission to uncover every part of Brittany’s story. They highlighted how it didn’t make sense that all of the weapons used were from the store itself - ropes, knives, hammers, wrenches, and even the repurposed merchandise wrack.
Not only does this imply that the attacker knew the store intimately, as an employee such as Brittany would - but it also casts doubt on this attack being an attempted robbery that got out of hand. Why would anyone attempt a robbery with absolutely no equipment? How did they plan to carry it out? It just didn’t make sense.
The Truth About That Night
So let’s break it down. Now that we have separated the lies from the truth - what really happened that night? Well, according to the prosecution, after procuring her phone number from another colleague, Brittany phoned Jayna and asked her to re-open the store so that she could collect her wallet.
Once they were inside, Brittany confronted Jayna about reporting the stolen leggings she had allegedly found in Brittany’s bag earlier that day, and this confrontation soon turned into a fight. Over the next 20 minutes, that fight got so out of hand that Brittany inflicted over 300 injuries on Jayna, using equipment from around the store, and eventually killed her by stabbing her in the back of the neck.
A Life Sentence
Eight months after this brutal attack, in November 2011, a six-day trial took place. During the trial, they decided to dismiss claims that leggings were stolen and any suggestion that this could be Brittany’s motive.
However, the jury was still in agreement - Brittany was guilty. She was charged that day with murder in the first degree and given a life sentence. After the verdict, Jayna’s mother, Phylis, talked of the brutality her daughter had received and spoke on behalf of her whole family when she said that they were relieved someone had finally been held accountable.
A Bad Reputation
Once the truth came out about Brittany, her co-workers started to admit how they really felt about her. Whilst she was never convicted of anything - Brittany had built up quite a reputation for stealing at work. Not only had she previously been accused of stealing from the shop floor, but there were also rumors that she stole from her actual colleagues.
While mere rumors couldn’t be used in court - they were enough to encourage Brittany’s previous colleagues to confess that they had also had their suspicions when working with her. They revealed that she even had to be transferred to the Lululemon store in Bethesda, Maryland because of her bad reputation.
Evidence Outside the Courtroom
Anything without sufficient evidence wasn’t able to be used in court as evidence - however it was able to be included in Murder in the Yoga Store, a book by journalist, Peter Ross Range, all about the case. In his novel about the Lululemon murder, he discussed the often debated topic of whether or not Brittany was trying to silence Jayna before she had the chance to report her.
While many believe this to be the case, others believe that Jayna had already reported her before the attack. Range further revealed that the police also believed Brittany may have been working as a call girl at the time.
Remembering Jayna Murray
Since the conviction, and the incident itself, there has been nothing but outpourings of love for Jayna Murray. Her friends and family have described her as an amazing, fun, and much-loved daughter and friend. She was both intelligent and athletic. She was a trained dancer with a Bachelor of Science in International Marketing and Business, and an MA in Public and Media Relations.
At the time this tragedy took place, she was completing her MBA from John Hopkins Business School while working part-time as a valued member of Lululemon. She never could have known that going back to the store to help her co-worker, would ultimately be the last thing that she did.