Killed over a pair of Lululemon yoga pants | Forensic Files

things that don't work on their own chips without dip macaroni without cheese and me without you today we're
talking about a case that is genuinely hard to process it left season Hobs at investigators in true disbelief for
numerous reasons and I want to warn you there are some graphic descriptions of violence that may be difficult for some
to hear I'm Olivia Lavo the Creator and host of the case valal presents Bakersfield 3 podcast Casey and I have
carefully chosen some of case file's most unforgettable cases to feature here where you'll get a visual Guide to the
story today we're diving into case number 210 Jana Murray on March 11th 2011 employees closing at the Apple
Store in an upscale area of Maryland were exhausted after a crazy day of the launch of the iPad 2 it was 10 p.m. and
the store manager was tallying up receipts when they heard a banging coming from next door the man thought
they also may have heard screaming and asked the store's senior manager to take a listen they decided that it sounded
like an argument but not necessarily an emergency that they needed to intervene in but about 10 minutes later the Apple
employees heard a woman yell God help me please help me and then a dreaded silence now despite hearing that the
store manager and security guards decided that everything was probably fine I know there are parts of this
story where when you hear them you're going to think to yourself what in the world but regardless the employees
locked up the Apple Store and went home without calling police or investigating the situation further for themselves the
woman's pleased from help were coming from the active wear store Lululemon which was nestled in a high-end shopping
district lined with boutiques and popular restaurants earlier that day a Frid Frid day 30-year-old Jana Murray
showed up to Lululemon to fill in for a coworker Jana was a salesperson and supervisor known for her bubbly and
ambitious personality she didn't mind coming in on a day she was usually off as she knew the shopping center would be
especially busy with the launch of the new iPad next door Jina got to work early that day and sat in the office
where she did some homework for her master's program in business and communication having worked at Lulu
lemon for 2 years Jana was impressed with the company's business model Jana's coworker 28-year-old Britney Norwood was
also working the 300 p.m. shift that day and came into work after a relaxing afternoon of yoga and lunch and
manicures with a friend Britney had transferred to the location a few weeks ago from another store while G hoped to
go on to work for Lululemon corporate Britney's dream was to open her own gym as a personal trainer she was in High
Spirits that day because she just secured a job interview at a local gym the following week now that Friday Jana
and Britney found themselves swamped as it wasn't just a particularly busy day but the usual third salesperson who
should have been there had called in sick and no one else could come in to cover that last minute but the women
managed to hold down the fort and by 9:00 p.m. they had closed the doors like usual by 9:45 they said good night and
went their separate ways the next morning the store manager arrived shortly before 8:00 a.m. and found the
door unlocked as she entered the store she found the lights on and mannequins were toppled over clothing was all over
the place there was a Smash TV on the floor and then she saw a bloody footprint she called out and thought she
heard someone moaning the manager immediately ran out of the store and called 911 there's two people there's a
woman that's alive and she's breathing she's tied up one person seems dead and the other
person is breathing oh my God while she was waiting outside for police there was
a young man who was waiting for the Apple Store to open and he asked if everything was okay she explained the
situation and he offered to go back inside the store with her and when he walked in he started following a bloody
trail that led to the back of the store and up to a closed door there was a large puddle of blood that had seeped
from behind this door the man tried to open it but there was clearly something heavy that was just on the other side
blocking it he was able to jam it open enough to stick his head through where he saw the body of a woman that was
propped up against the door blood was everywhere there was rope tied around her neck and a toolbox was on her back
with numerous blood soaked tools that had been thrown around her body the man turned to run and on his way out he
nearly tripped over a pair of legs that were protruding from one of the staff bathrooms it was another woman whose
ankles and wrists had been bound by zip ties she was covered in wounds and soaked in blood her yoga pants had been
ripped open and he noticed there was a large Rock next to her body at this point both the man and the store manager
were in a state of shock as officers arrived and raced inside they quickly determined that the woman in the hallway
by the emergency exit had been dead for hours it was Jan and Murray the woman tied up in the bathroom was Britney
Norwood she still had a pulse and was rushed to the hospital now police start combing through the store and they were
just in shock at how horrific the scene was the registers and the store safes had been emptied out and among the
scattered merchandise smashed TV and toppled over mannequins was one of the most gruesome and bloody murder scenes
that the detectives had ever encountered in their careers Britney regained Consciousness she was covered in
lacerations and wounds from the hospital bed she began to recount the events of the night the brutal attack Britney told
detectives that shortly after both she and Jana left the store around 9:45 Britney realized said she had left
her wallet behind and called Jana to ask if there was any way she could be let back into the store coincidentally Jana
apparently had also left her laptop behind so she told Britney sure I was going to turn around anyways meet me
there and we can grab our things and she was like well I noticed I didn't have my
my laptop anyway so it's fine so I just met her back in front of the store it was just after 10: p.m. when the women
met back up Jana opened the door and deactivated the alarm Jana grabbed her laptop while Britney tried to find her
wallet but had no luck so Jana gave Britney her metro card so she could get home and told her she'd keep looking for
her wallet the next morning and then within an instant the women realized they hadn't locked the door behind them
as a masked man came out from behind a clothing rack he hit J over the head with a metal bar as another man came out
from behind another rack and grabbed Britney one man took Jana to the rear hallway while Britney's attacker drived
her to the bathroom Britney told detectives that he called her racial slurs and viciously sexually assaulted
her using a hanger from the store at one point the attacker hit Britney on the head with a hard object that was
presumably the rock that was found by her body causing her to drift in and out of Consciousness while the assault
continued at one point Britney said she could Hear Voices coming from the Apple store next door and she prayed that
someone would intervene and rescue her but nothing happened when the voices died down the masked man pulled Britney
to her feet and ordered her to open the cash registers and safe as she complied with this Britney could hear Jana
screaming from the rear of the store her screams became quieter and less frequent
before stopping all together the next thing Britney remembered was being loaded into an ambulance Britney blamed
herself for the ordeal believing it would not have happened if she hadn't forgotten her wallet after 48 painful
minutes of recounting the night's events she asked is my friend okay now as Britney had been forced to open the
registers in safe she and her attacker had treed blood throughout the store the size 7even and a half new Balan
shoeprints belonged to Britney meaning the shoeprints from the pair of men's size 14 rebok sneakers belonged to her
attacker authorities believed that the attackers had watched the two women go back into the Lululemon store from afar
and saw an opportunity to rob the store and then followed them inside now the store didn't have indoor surveillance
cameras however there were cameras pointed outside the back of the Apple Store and those cameras captured the
back car park shared by Apple and Lululemon as to is began watching the night's previous recordings nothing
initially stood out but at around 11 p.m. just after the attack took place two men entered the frame they were both
dressed entirely in black and one of the men wore a ski mask rolled up like a beanie and had a backpack slung over his
shoulder the pair seemed to be in a hurry as they walked from the direction of Lululemon and out of the view of the
cameras the detectives went Fram by frame trying to get a clearer picture of their faces but it was just too blurry
regardless they were certain that these were the two suspects they were looking for as detectives focused on identifying
the two masked men another lead came in as detailed in the book The Yoga stor Murder by Dan Morse the day after the
attack Jana Murray's pointec was found in a car park three blocks from the lemon store given that there was plenty
of parking much closer to the the store when Jana returned around 1 p.m. this seemed a bit odd and then an officer
came forward to report that he had been patrolling the car park at around 12:30 on the night of the attack 90 minutes
after the two masked men were captured walking away from Lululemon as he drove past Jana's car he noticed the
headlights were on and someone was sitting in the driver's seat 2 hours later the officer returned to the car
park to find the car in the same spot with the lights still on this time the officer couldn't see if there was anyone
still in the driver's seat so while he took note of this it didn't seem like there was anything necessarily wrong so
he drove off that said he patrolled this car park a third time 1 hour later to find the car empty with the lights off
detectives considered that J's murderer may have been the person spotted in the driver's seat but they were at a lost to
explain why and the police tip line was buzzing off the hook with calls from concerned locals phoning in their
suspicions on who they thought was responsible and one name kept coming up Keith locket Keith was a 40-year-old
homeless man with a reputation for getting drunk and verbally abusive and therefore many local women were afraid
of him the manager of a nearby homeor store recalled seeing Keith walked past Lululemon on the Friday of the attack
he' had a backpack over his shoulder which struck the manager is odd because he had never seen Keith wearing a
backpack before Keith had also been in the company of two other men whom the manager had never seen before now Keith
had a long wrap sheet that included robbery assault and battery and it didn't take long for officers to locate
him he was in a hospital out of town being treated for facial injuries including a swollen eye his clothes were
covered in spots of dried blood now when detectives heard this they rushed to the
hospital speculating that Jana or Britney may have injured him in self-defense and it made sense that he
would seek help from a hospital that was out of town to try to fly under the radar Keith's bloody clothes were taken
for DNA analysis and when he was questioned he strongly denied having any involvement in the attack but he did
admit to being near the Lululemon store when it took place as detailed in the book The Yoga store murder keiith told
the detectives that he had also been assaulted on the night of the attack against his facial injuries he said he
was assaulted by a short man who hung out with a much taller man now this stood out to investigators because the
surveillance video that they had showed two men and one was noticeably taller than the other Now Keith told detectives
the these two men recently began working together to Rob stores in the area he then became emotional and told
detectives that he was standing across the road from Lululemon when the two men entered to rob the store and cut the
lady he said quote I seen it with my own eyes but detectives didn't know what to
make of his statement because he was confused he seemed incoherent and he told officers that he suffered from
schizophrenia over the course of the interview Keith's story changed multiple times and the blood on Keith's clothes
were determined to be his own and none of his DNA was found at the Lululemon store so with no physical evidence
linking him to the attack Keith was ruled out as a suspect now this next bit of info about Jana's autopsy is graphic
but we're including it because it shows just how vicious this attack was now the
medical examiner initi assumed that Jana had been in a car or bike crash given that her face and scalp were covered in
that may bruises and cuts Jana's face was so disfigured by various injuries that her features were
unrecognizable the crotch of her leggings had been slashed which suggested to the me that like Britney
Jana had also been sexually assaulted fibers of rope found in Jana's clenched hand
matched the piece of rope tied around her neck indicating that she had struggled to try to set herself free
however her death was not caused by strangulation but from a stab wound to her skull in total Jana had sustained 13
skull fractures and at least 331 separate injuries of which 152 were to her head and five or defensive wounds
J's injuries had been caused by six or seven various objects that had been taken from within the store and from the
toolbox that had been placed on her back meanwhile 3 days after the attack Britney had been released from the
hospital and was resting at home and her parents had flown in from across the country she was surrounded by her eight
siblings she was extremely close with and they dropped everything of course to be with her they were extremely worried
about Britney as she had become very withdrawn and was hardly sleeping now detectives were desperate for more
information so they decided to try to interview Britney once more but she was really struggling to relive the violent
attack she did however recall that the two men were laughing as They carried out the robbery the rape and the murder
describing it as like a scene out of a video game like Grand Theft Auto now while detectives were interviewing
Britney at her house a sergeant went back to the Lulu Lemon Store as he was just really bothered by one detail of
the crime why were only Britney's shoe prints and one other pair found in the store when there were two masked men
involved in the assault furthermore why was there no bloody shoeprints outside of the store either at the front or back
entrance as the sergeant re examined the front of the store he noticed a table had been pushed up against the wall and
all the commotion that's when he noticed that the table had drawers underneath opening one he pulled out a pair of
shoes men's rebok size 14 sneakers the tread was an exact match to the larger bloody shoe prints that were left in the
store the store manager then explained to detectives that those particular shoes were owned and kept at Lululemon
for their male customers to try on when buying pants this was a major breakthrough as a forensic examiner
concluded that the rebok prints appeared to have been staged as the print patterns were inconsistent with what
normal movement would show as detailed in the book murder in the yoga store by Peter Ross range one of the detectives
said this brought him to the conclusion that the footprints never left the store
because the killer never left at this point 6 days had gone by after the murder and Britney was asked to come
to the police station where a detective asked her to recall the night's events for a third time now she retold her
story and when she finished detectives asked if she had ever been in Jana's car before Britney said no but detectives
knew that this was a lie do you know what kind of car she has um I don't I saw it once but I don't know
the Mak model I don't know you see after they found Jana's car they found traces
of blood inside that belonged to both Jana and Britney but there still wasn't enough evidence so instead of
confronting Britney about it they let her go home the next day Britney came back completely voluntarily saying she
wanted to get something off of her chest with two of her siblings waiting outside
she said there was something she had been leaving out of the story out of fear they said where her keys I have no
idea I don't one of them punched me in my head and made me look through her coat
and her bag for them when I finally found them um they said if I was to pass anyone and open my mouth I can consider
myself dead and that one of them would be watching the entire time she said yes I did go
into J's car the night of the murder and she claimed that this was because Midway
through the assault her attacker ordered her to move J's car which was parked outside the store and threatened her to
stay quiet not alert anyone then the detectives did something interesting they called Britney's siblings inside
the interview room and proceeded to tell them your sister is a killer now after dropping that little bombshell they laid
out extensive evidence that pointed to Britney as the lone attacker and it turns out those two men that had been
captured on surveillance video around the time of the attack while investigators had managed to track them
down and find that they were two kitchen hands hurrying to make their late night
shift at a nearby restaurant and further interviews with Apple employees that overheard yelling that night revealed
that it started out with two different female voices that sounded like an argument prior to the screaming began
and Britney's injuries that she received while at first seemed extensive were really just a bunch of Fairly
superficial cuts and there was no evidence she hadd been sexually assaulted despite her gruesome story of
the attacker using a coat hanger and J's autopsy found no sign kind of sexual assault either investigators believed
that Britney obviously slashed Jana's leggings and her own to try to make it seem like they'd both been raped now
with all this evidence stacked against her detectives were still absolutely dumbfounded as to what the motive
possibly could have been so let's explore a bit of Britney Norwood's background she came from a large family
of high Achievers including herself she did good in school she excelled in sports and got a soccer scholarship to
Stony Brook University where she was named the team's Most Valuable Player Britney's goal was then to become a
social worker as she was majoring in sociology and psychology but she was eventually asked to leave the university
after multiple students accused Britney of stealing from them now apparently Britney never told her family she got
kicked out and just pretended to graduate Britney got a job at a hotel where she was quickly promoted and given
the title employee of the quarter but things weren't all Rosy in her life after a bad breakup with a boyfriend she
broke into his house and stole various things including blank checks that ex ended up filing a restraining order
against her and claimed that Britney was physically abusive and he was afraid of
her now Britney ended up violating that restraining order but was never arrested
for doing so so now with her new goal of becoming a personal trainer Britney left
her job at the hotel and started working at the Lululemon Store in Georgetown Washington DC so shortly after getting
the job in DC at Lululemon a cooworker accused Britney of stealing money two months before Jana's murder Britney was
fired and her boss also accused her of abusing her store discount but Britney disputed this and in the end management
at Lululemon decided not to fire her after all and instead transferred her to another store Regina Murray worked after
meeting with her future co-workers Britney sent one of them a text that read you have such a solid team I know
this is going to be a great experience over the coming weeks several employees at the store noticed that certain items
were missing when these employees confronted the store manager she checked the roster and noticed that Britney had
been working each time that something had disappeared now two days prior to the murder at a weekly leadership
meeting which included J and Murray the team huddled together and discussed how they were going to catch Britney in the
act so she could be legitimately fired they joked about setting up a Manny cam inside the store but in the end the team
decided that the best force of action would be to announce to all staff the possibility that there was a thief among
them and then see what happened and before their co-workers left on Friday March 11th Jana commented I have to
close with the thief tonight do you think I will catch her J and Britney worked happily together that evening but
when it came time to lock up Jana asked to look inside Britney's bag it was store policy to do so and when Britney
opened up her bag Jana spotted a pair of Lululemon yoga pants with the tags still
attached but there was no store receipt Britney denied stealing them and claimed
that she had bought them earlier that day as the computer system had already been shut down for the night jet told
Britney not to worry they would sort it out later and then the two left the store on her way to her car Jana called
the employee who Britney claimed sold her the yoga pants the employee denied doing so so Jana called her boss Rachel
who told Jana not to worry about it now that they had caught Britney in the ACT Rachel planned to dismiss her the
following day but just as Jana began driving home her phone rang it was Britney who had apparently lost her
wallet and needed Jana to let her in the store as detailed in the book murder in
the yoga store after being let inside Britney likely asked Jana what was going to happen now that she had been found
with stolen merchandise although the details of the conversation aren't known their
escalating voices could be overheard by the Apple employees next door forensic analysis showed that Britney first
attacked Jana in the Back store room by hitting her on the head with a metal bar
Jana attempted to fight back but the violent attack continued final blow was from a knife that was kept in the back
room of the store now Jana had parked her car in a no standing area right outside thinking that she was just
running in for a few minutes and knowing that J's car would draw attention there
Britney rummaged through her bag until she found her keys and she drove JS piaac to a parking lot three blocks away
where she sat to think about what to do next Britney returned to the store to begin staging the crime scene where she
used the rebok that were there for customers to try on she pushed over mannequins and then she injured herself
and put her hands and feet in zip ties all she had to do then was just wait for someone to find her Britney's brother
and sister sat there in shock as the detectives listed the evidence pointing to Britney's guilt they did not believe
that she could unleash such a brutal assault resulting in Murder over a pair of stolen yoga pants and the detective
himself struggled to come to terms with Britney's guilt telling her family quot I didn't want to believe it at first
either I really did not want to believe it on Friday March 18th one week to the day since the attack Britney was
arrested for first-degree murder the day of the arrest coincided with Jana's funeral where over 200 people gathered
to say goodbye including the founder and CEO of Lululemon as Jana's parents drove
to the chapel they received a call from detectives informing them that they made
an arrest her parents were horrified to say the least to learn that the person who had killed their daughter was
Britney Norwood I mean can you begin to imagine following Britney's arrest the state prosecutor met with Jana's family
to see if they would accept a plea deal instead of going to trial the plea bargain entailed that Britney would
serve 15 years of her sentence and then become eligible for parole which I truly
cannot believe that the prosecutor's office would ever want to offer a deal in this case
but especially one where perpetrator might have to only serve 15 years I don't know they must have really been
worried the case wasn't that strong regardless J's family refused to accept this thank God and the case went to
trial the jury deliberated for only 20 minutes before finding Britney Norwood guilty of first-degree murder of G and
Murray as both families cried at the verdict Britney remained still and Silent showing no emotion but at her
sentencing hearing Britney broke the silence that she had maintained during the trial and begged the court for mercy
and a chance at parole quote for the Murray Family what do I say when your daughter is gone I'm the one convicted
of her murder what do you say I know what I say today won't take the pain away of the loss of Jana and I hope for
the Murray Family someday you'll be able to find forgiveness in your heart I am truly sorry j at the horrific nature of
the assault and murder committed by Britney an emotional judge told the courtroom that one night he went home
and banged his fist against a table 300 times this was to mimic the hand movements of Britney as she attacked
Jana it took him over 8 minutes to do this he told Britney you mutilated this woman with every blow of your hand you
had a chance to think about what you were doing and you reveled in the gore and the lies that you told afterwards
were incredible you are one hell of a liar man Britney was then sentenced to life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole thank God okay now this is heartbreaking Jada Murray's brother was in the military and serving
time in Iraq during the murder and while he was stationed in Iraq shortly after she was killed he
received a package that his sister had sent him just before the murder so as detailed in the yoga stor murder her
brother opens this package that he knows that she sent shortly before she was killed he does this knowing that this is
going to be the I cannot believe how emotional I am the last communication I'll ever have with her and um there's a
card and it said things that don't work on their own chips without dip macaroni without cheese and mean without ye you
inside she had signed take care and be safe I love you and miss you Jana now I want to go back to some of
the details that we went over at the beginning of the story now on the day that Britney Norwood savagely murdered J
Murray seemingly because she exploded over knowing that she was going to get fired from her job as a salesperson at
the Lululemon store because she stole yoga pants she took a yoga class that day she went to lunch with a friend and
got her nails done I mean sounds like a really lovely afternoon and then it results in the most horrific senseless
murders so I mean really sounds like a normal actually rather lovely afternoon and it just makes you realize how truly
sociopathic the most seemingly normal people can be which yes I know we know that but you don't don't see that in
women that much and I also think the red flags in her past like stealing from friends or even breaking into her ex's
house that's a massive leap to being a murderer like yeah that makes it seem like okay there's something off with her
but I wouldn't think that this person would be capable of this horrific murder I don't know I think this is one of
those cases that once you hear it you you never for get it because it really is that horrific and shocking anyhow I
would love to hear what you think about all this thanks for bearing with me as I
got very unexpectedly emotional I've been covering crime for my entire adult life but pregnancy hormones and this
horrific of a case I don't know just took me for surprise anyhow thank you for watching

On March 11, 2011, two employees of the Lululemon Athletica yoga store in Bethesda, Maryland fell victim to a brutal attack carried out by two masked men. Officials were desperate to apprehend the two suspects after CCTV from a neighboring store caught them walking away from the crime scene. However, it wasn’t until Brittany Norwood began to open up about what had happened on the night of the attack that detectives made an unexpected and shocking break in the case.

(SORRY FOR THE REUPLOAD) (*Apologies about the audio quality; I had some issues with the mic!*)

00:00 Intro

Based on Case 210: Jayna Murray https://casefilepodcast.com/case-210-jayna-murray/

CREDITS Anonymous Host - narration Jessica Forsayeth - research, writing Mike Migas - production, music Andrew D.B. Joslyn - music Milly Raso - creative direction

----- Olivia LaVoice

The Bakersfield Three https://casefilepresents.com/the-bakersfield-three/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/olivia_lavoice/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/olivialavoiceQ13

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@olivialavoice

----- Casefile True Crime Podcast

Website https://www.casefilepodcast.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/casefile

Twitter https://x.com/case_file

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/casefilepodcast/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@casefilepodcast

Patreon https://www.patreon.com/casefile

Casefile Presents https://casefilepresents.com

----- #LululemonCase #BethesdaCrime #TrueCrime #ColdCase #BrutalAttack #CrimeStory #LululemonMurders #BrittanyNorwood #CrimeUnsolved #CrimeInvestigation

Brief Summary

Jana Murray was murdered by coworker Britney Norwood over stolen yoga pants, leading to a shocking trial and emotional fallout.

Key points

The Attack at Lululemon. A brutal attack unfolds at a Lululemon store, leaving one woman dead and another fighting for her life.
The Investigation Begins. Detectives uncover a horrific crime scene and begin piecing together the events of the night.
Britney's Arrest. On March 18th, Britney was arrested for first-degree murder, coinciding with Jana's funeral.
The Shocking Plea Deal. Prosecutors offered a plea deal for only 15 years, which Jana's family refused.
Guilty Verdict. The jury deliberated for just 20 minutes before finding Britney guilty of murder.
Emotional Sentencing. Britney begged for mercy during her sentencing hearing, showing no emotion during the trial.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What in the world?

1:39WatchFeb 6, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from Casefile

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.