On Thursday, Nov. 7, at Barnes and Noble in downtown Bethesda, Dan Morse, author of the book, “The Yoga Store Murder: The Shocking True Account of the Lululemon Athletica Killing,” and two jurors from the murder trial spoke about the murder, the trial and the new book.
“The book is about a tragic murder – how the case was solved, and how it [is] the unbelievable violence of the murder had such a devastating effect on so many people,” said Morse.
The Lululemon murder occurred the night of March 11, 2011 when Brittany Norwood, a 29-year-old employee of Lululemon Athletica, attacked, brutally tortured, and finally killed her fellow employee, Jayna Murray, aged 28. Employees in the Apple Store next door heard Murray’s screams and one was about to call the police, but one of the managers convinced them they were most likely screams of anguish over some bad news. The employees were not punished, as far as author Dan Morse knew, and retained their jobs.
“I think they just couldn’t get it into their heads, since this was Bethesda, that this horrible violence was happening,” said Morse at the book talk.
There were approximately twenty to thirty people present at the book talk that night, and there was certainly an atmosphere of anticipation, before the discussion began in earnest.
Murray’s parents merely thought their daughter was missing, until they heard that a body had been found where she worked. Her mother called the police to try and help them identify her. Unfortunately, the detectives covering the case were already sure that it was Murray’s body. Norwood was also found at the crime scene, alive and injured. She claimed that two masked men had attacked her and Murray, and sexually assaulted them. She portrayed herself as a fellow victim, and succeeded in temporarily deceiving the police.
A week later, the detectives had not only identified the body; they had also found the killer: Norwood. Inconsistencies in her story, such as her inability to describe the men and explain why she had moved Jayna’s car and why only one set of size-14 men’s shoe prints entered the store, and never came out, began adding up. Each time the police questioned her anew, she came up with a slightly different version of the story, until the detectives realized that she was the real killer.
“[Her] biggest mistake was committing such a heinous act,” said Donny Knepper, one of the jurors present from the trial and a local defense attorney. “Once the act was done she should have left the scene… and [hired] an experienced criminal defense attorney,” he added.
It wasn’t until after the trial that Morse, a staff writer for the Washington Post, knew he was going to write a nonfiction book about the whole affair. While he was researching and interviewing for his book, Morse spoke for hours with Murray’s parents, who “wanted him to get all the stuff right about Jayna.”
During his research, Morse also found that there was nothing in Norwood’s background that indicated she was capable of the level of violence seen in the murder.
“The brutality of the murder was one of the most unsettling things about the whole case,” said Ronald Harrington, the second juror present from the trial. Both jurors, Knepper and Harrington, are included in Morse’s book.
Murray was alive the entire time she was being tortured by Norwood.
“The final attack which killed Jayna involved a large knife from the kitchenette in the back of the Lululemon store. The knife entered the back of Jayna’s neck near the base of her skull with an upward angle- doing damage to her spinal cord, skull, and brain,” said Harrington.
Upon conclusion of the trial, Norwood was charged with first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison-without parole.
“[I decided to write the book because] I knew the facts of the case were fascinating, based on [what I discovered] before..and during the trial. I [also] figured the characters in the story – the detectives, prosecutors, lawyers and family members – would be even more interesting, [and] enough to sustain people’s interest for more than 300 pages,” said Morse.
