True Crime All The Time - Jayna Murray

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

In March 2011, 30-year-old Jayna Murray was found brutally murdered inside the Lululemon store where she worked in Bethesda, Maryland. A coworker was discovered bound and injured nearby and told police that two masked men had entered the store, attacked them, and left Jayna dead. But investigators soon uncovered troubling inconsistencies in the story. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the shocking murder of Jayna Murray and the elaborate attempt to conceal what really happened inside the store that night. Evidence from the crime scene, forensic findings, witness accounts from the neighboring Apple store, and a possible dispute over stolen merchandise began pointing investigators in a very different direction. You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every good true crime story has a twist. Draft King's Casino has a spin. Flex Spins let you spin your way. Didn't see that coming? That's because flex spends are exclusive to Draft Kings. New casino players play $5 and get 1,000 total flex spends, including 100 Lightning Links spends. Unlock 50 spins a day at varying values for your first 20 days.

You decide where the story goes next. Download the Draft Kings Casino app, sign up with code T-Cat, and spin your way. The Crown is yours in partnership with Draft King's Casino. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-77-7-7. Or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly.

21-plus physically present in Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia only. Void in Canada, eligibility restrictions apply. Non-withdrawable spends issued at 50 spends per day for 20 days. valid for select games only and expire each day after 24 hours. Spend values vary. See terms at casino.draftkings.com slash promos. Ends November 22nd, 2026 at 1159 p.m. Eastern Time.

Hello, everyone and welcome to episode 538 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. Give me, how are you? Yeah, I'm doing good, man. About you? Doing great. Yeah.

Yeah, having an amazing week. We got a lot of great content out for everybody. We have an episode out right now on True Crime All the Time Unsolved, which is on Claudia Kershot. She disappeared while staying at a sandals in Negro, Jamaica back in 2000. And this is one that I've wanted to do for a while because I think everybody knows. I said it on the podcast, but, you know, I went to that sandals. earlier this year. My daughter got married there. And so this is an episode that I've been wanting to do.

And then on next Thursday's episode, we're talking about Roxanne Houston. She disappeared while walking away from home on foot. Her body was found later in a shallow grave in a remote area. This is an interesting case because authorities had a lot of people to look at. Yeah, they really did. I mean, she lived with. with multiple people. One being her boyfriend and one being her ex-boyfriend. Yeah. Wow.

Talking about a weird situation. Yeah. So make sure you check that one out next Thursday. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Claire Bear, UK. Hey, Claire Bear. Joblin. Agterresh.

Well, thanks, Joblin. Sarah Kinsey. Hey, there's Sarah. Anna Marie Penderas. Thanks, Anna Marie. Bernadette Pellateer. Well, Bernadette. And last but not least,

Texas mama bear. They always say the mama bears in Texas are bigger. Okay. I'm not sure how a person is going to take that. Don't either. And if we go back into the vault, this week we selected Chris Pigg. Hey, thanks, Chris.

Yeah, we appreciate the new support, the continued support. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I'm ready. We're talking about Jaina Murray. On the morning of March 12, 2011, police found Jana Murray death inside the athletic apparel store where she worked and her co-worker Brittany Norwood tied up and injured.

Brittany claimed that two men broke into the store, assaulted them both and then killed Jana. And initially, authorities treated Brittany as a victim, but as they worked to find the two assailants, they began to realize that her story just didn't. the head up. And this is a fairly well-known case. A lot of people may have heard this called the Lulu Lilloo Lemon murder, but a fascinating one. Brittany Norwood grew up in Washington State. Just outside Seattle, her parents, Earl and Larkita Norwood, were known for being polite and friendly. Brittany was one of nine children and the youngest daughter. Nine kids. What? That is a brood. man, it's a lot of mouse of feed. Well, you and I have complained in the past about our grocery bills.

You know, with our two kids each that we have. Yeah. You know, when they were growing up, grocery bills were high. Nine kids, man, I would have to get a second, maybe even a third job. Most definitely. Can you imagine taking nine kids to McDonald's? Not today. No.

Not today. because a meal is like 11, 12 bucks? Yeah. Man, you'd have to take out a second mortgage on your house to go to McDonald's. Even in years where their business struggled, the Norwood spent thousands each year. So their kids could participate in travel soccer club. Yeah, those are expensive.

Well, yeah, absolutely. Dance is expensive, right? Any type of travel sport, whether it's soccer, baseball, basketball, lacrosse hockey almost all of them have a travel aspect nowadays yeah that stuff is up there you're talking travel equipment and even my wrestling back in the day we had to travel which means i had to have an extra singlet they had to travel to get that singlet yeah because only one company made one small enough in the crotchular area that it fits you snugly okay But it was said Gibbs that Brittany was a standout in high school soccer,

known for being fast and unafraid of bigger players. She was rookie of the year as a sophomore, an MVP as a senior. Impressive. Yeah, very impressive. On the field, she was a mild-mannered student who earned good grades. Brittany wrote before her senior year, I hope to play soccer throughout my college years and someday play on the U.S. women's national team. That's something good to aspire for.

Yeah, I mean, I think if you're a young girl, a young woman who is very into soccer, that U.S. women's national team would be, you know, one of those really high goals. Now, they only have a few spots, right? Yeah, very limited opening. That team is not made up of hundreds of people. Brittany studied sociology and played soccer at Stony Brook University on Long Island. She attended the university from 2000 to 2004, but did not receive a degree.

Head coach Sue Ryan said in a 2002 team release that Brittany had the mental makeup to be the best defender in the league, noting Britney hates losing more than she likes winning. I feel like that's some saying out of an old movie. It has been said in movies. I can't think, I don't, it might be money. ball. Brad Pitt might have said something like that. But I have definitely heard that said about people in sports, that they hate losing more than they like winning. Brittany's college friend

Glintus Michelle told the Washington Post, in the four years I knew Brittany, I never saw her upset, never saw her angry at anyone. She always had a big smile on her face. Overall, Brittany's teammates liked her. But there were two teammates who said Brittany stole cash from them. Leanna Eust told the Washington Post. She and Brittany were best friends, but had a falling out because Brittany allegedly stole money and a designer shirt from her. Eust said she and others reported the thefts to their coach who declined to comment. Well, nothing worse than having a teammate steal something from you because, you know, you're supposed to have this special bond, you know, your teammates. You guys should trust each other.

They always should have each other's back. And you go out to battle, you know, out on that field, the pitch, whatever you want to call it. You know, the less thing you need to worry about is your teammate. That's a big part of sport. Yeah. Right? The camaraderie. The, I got your back.

You got my back. Now, this is all alleged. So we don't know if she did this or not. but more than one person apparently said that she did. By 2007, Brittany was living in Arlington County, Virginia to be in your family. She worked at the front desk of the Willard Intercontinental, a luxury hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House. You ever stay at one of those intercontinentals?

I think I stayed one in Chicago once. Yeah, they're pretty nice. Yeah, they are. They didn't have a continental breakfast, though. No, they had an intercontinental birthday. Brittany was soon assigned to manage VIP guests arriving in Washington. She helped them get checked in and settled. Despite the sometimes demanding job, Brittany was always upbeat.

Former coworker Catherine Garrett said Brittany was the staff cheerleader and the sunshine amid the storm. And this is kind of a common theme, right? We're hearing about Brittany pretty much everyone said. She was always smiling, never down, right, trying to lift people up. Again, as we keep saying, those are the type of people you want to be around. Absolutely, you know, people have good attitudes like that. According to court papers and public records, Brittany appeared to encounter financial difficulties. In 2007, she and her roommate were evicted.

In 2007, Aline was filed against her by New York State's higher education, agency. By 2011, Brittany was working at the Lulu Lemon store in downtown Bethesda, Maryland, in the city's high-end shopping district. Lul Lemon. You love that place. I do. And you know, it's funny, my wife and daughters have purchased and worn their stuff for

years and years. Yeah. And it's really just within the last five years that my wife started buying me some stuff. And I was a little hesitant at first, but man, I love it. They make incredible stuff. I hope they get there one day. I'm still doing Lulu Lime because I can't really afford the lemon piece. Yeah. The lime is a little bit cheaper than the lemon. Yeah. Yeah. Not as good. That's good. Yeah. Which I feel like should be the title of your autobiography. Not quite as good as the original. That really hurt, man.

It'd be co-authored by Rex West. One of Brittany's co-workers was 30-year-old Jaina Merck. Jaina was the daughter of a Houston Oil Operations Manager. She traveled around the world as a young girl. She tried Girl Scouts, but she found it boring. So she began tagging along to her brother's Boy Scout outings. Their father or former Army officer was the Scoutmaster. I think you've said it before, but you were in Scouts.

for quite a while. I was. All the way up to a pretty high level. What was it? You said it one time, but I can't remember. I can't remember either. You start off with the, uh, we blow. We blow.

Then you go into normal scouts and, or Cub Scouts and Boy Scout and then Eagle Scout. Were you an Eagle Scout? Eagle Scout. Yeah. Wow. That's impressive. Jana's brother Hugh told the Washington Post that her upbringing formed a strong sense of right and right.

Jane has studied marketing in graduate school at John Hopkins University. While there, she noticed a friend's Lulu Lemon back. She became interested in the company's grassroots marketing strategies, and she wrote a paper about Lulu Lemon, which got her a job at the company store in Bethesda. John Hopkins, that's pretty prestigious. It really. Or prestigious. Yeah. No, it really is.

So, I mean, I think, 1982, I did a little stint there. Not too much longer after Dugie left, but... Is that when you were mopping up and that professor found that amazing equation that you did on the board outside the classroom? No, that came later. Oh, that came later. Yeah, yeah. This was more of a precursor to that. Did you just say precursor?

Mensa. It was said that Jaina was a good fit for the role because Lulu Lemon typically hires outgoing, positive, and ambitious people. And I'll be honest, I've not been in Lulu Lemon a lot of times. Like I said, my wife and daughters have. They usually buy me something and bring it home. But I've been in a couple times and everybody has been extremely helpful. Well, they have to be. It's a job of sales, right?

You're there to sell very expensive, leggings, shorts, shirts. So you better be positive, and you better be like happy, go lucky and, you know. Yeah, but you could say that about a lot of stores and people aren't like super happy, seems like. No, I mean, I think it goes better if you're more energetic and, like, people,

they feel good. about when they're there. Oh, yeah, I feel good. I think it's a culture thing. It is. Right. The company probably has built that up, built that culture up. On the morning of March 12th, 2011, the store manager arrived at the store to open up. She saw signs of disarray and heard moaning coming from the back of the store. Her court filing, she retreated and called a man who was outside to come into the store. The man went farther into the store and saw what he thought were two bodies in the back. Police arrived and they found a horrifying crime scene. Jana Murray had been beaten and stabbed the death.

A rope was tied around her neck and there was blood everywhere. Brittany Norwood was a lot. She was found lying on the restroom floor with her hands and feet bound with zip ties. Well, I mean, it has to be an alarming sight. Yeah, horrifying. That's the way it was described. and not just for police, right? This is a horrifying scene for police,

but let's not forget, there was just a passerby who had to go in and see these bodies. And then obviously you've got the store manager who's going to figure out what happened, knows these two people personally. That's going to be a tough situation. Brittany told police that she and Jena

were working the night before, March 11th. They closed the store at 9 p.m. At 9.45, they set the alarm, locked up and left. A short time later, Brittany realized she left her wallet behind. She called Jaina and they met outside the store. They entered at 10.05 p.m. And it was soon after that two masked men, wearing dark clothing, entered the store. While one of the masked men tried to steal money, the other assaulted Jaina in the back of the store. Brittany said that she was then sexually assaulted and left tied up in the store. But right away, Brittany's story didn't match with some of the evidence, although some investigators attributed part of that to the trauma she went through.

Yeah, I mean, if she is telling you the truth, that's a lot of trauma to go through. And maybe you just won't have everything factual at that moment. Yeah, I could understand that. only two sets of footprints were found in the store, one set belonging to Brittany and one set from a size 14 shoe recovered in the store. Jane's car was also found in a parking lot a few blocks from the store, which investigators found unusual. It is strange. I mean, if she got the call and decided to come back to the store to meet Brittany to go in, why would you leave it so far away and walk? Well, the store is closed. You would think you'd be able to park right in front of it.

Or I don't know the layout right of the store, but you would think closer than a few blocks away. The only thing I can think of is unless that's where she parked earlier and never made it back to her car before she had to turn around and come back. But it seems strange. It does seem strange because it was about 15, 20 minutes, right? before they got back again. You would think in that time she would have gotten to her car, but. Additionally, workers in the Apple store next door

heard two women arguing on the night of March 11. Investigators also noticed the imbalance of injuries between Jaina and Brittany. Brittany's medical examination found no trauma, consistent with the attack she described. Brittany had scratches running parallel

on her chest, stomach, and thighs that, according to court papers, had the hallmarks of self-inflicted wounds. It's probably fairly easy for experts to tell if you've scratched yourself versus somebody else scratching you. Yeah. I mean, they would probably be different. I think that's what they're describing here. Detectives studied photos of Brittany that were taken by responding patrol officers.

They concluded that the position. of Brittany's hands above her head indicated that she posed herself. And further investigations showed that Jaina was not sexually assaulted. Detectives still looked for ways her story could be true. One source told the Washington Post, we wanted to believe her. And I think that's very natural, right? I don't know in this type of situation, how many responding officers, investigators would immediately go to, oh my gosh, this girl's lying.

Right. Because this is such a horrible scene. She's saying she was attacked. She was tied up. The last thing in the world you want to do is dismiss a victim's claims, right? That's a no-no. But when the facts start pointing in a different direction, okay, you got to follow where the evidence is taking as an investigator.

And I'm sure these individuals have seen many cases and they're probably thinking, man, this just is not adding up right. Investigators thought perhaps the man who attacked Brittany wasn't as violent as the one who attacked Jaina or maybe the attackers took off their shoes and walked out in their socks. Yeah, but why? Right. It doesn't make that much sense. but again, they're looking to try to believe her, and they just can't find things that make sense. Detectives were more thorough with each subsequent interview,

but the pieces still didn't fit together. Brittany's story fell further apart when her DNA was found inside Jane's car. So detectives started asking tough questions. After, you know, really not trying to push Britney too hard in the earlier, interviews. They asked if she moved Jana's car and she said she did. They asked how that was possible given the rest of her story. It's kind of like backed herself in a bad spot, didn't she? Yeah. I mean, if you're attacked, assaulted, and then zip tied, how are you then moving this car? Right. And then what, running back to be found? Found. Zip tied. A attack. A detective.

labeled Brittany's explanation of why she moved the vehicle, unbelievable, according to court documents. Brittany claimed that the two assailants allowed her to leave the store to move the car, but instructed her to return in 10 minutes, or they would kill her. As she was moving the car, she saw a police officer, but did not tell him what was going on. And I know we're not to trial yet, but if you're a juror and you are hearing this story. How does it make any sense at all? Well, it doesn't. That's the problem. And I think if the jury heard this, they would be like, this girl is guilty of something. On March 18, 2011, Brittany Norwood was charged with

first-degree murder. At a March 21st bail hearing, prosecutors suggested the confrontation between Brittany and Jane was over stolen merchandise. Before Brittany and Jaina left the store that night, they checked each other's backs, which is a common anti-theft procedure at some retail chains. Yeah, we even did that when we worked together. I don't know why we didn't have any merchandise. I think you just like looking in my bag. Well, first of all, I was trying to figure out why you had a man purse.

You were just jealous. But I get it, right? You only have two people closing the store. So it would be pretty easy for somebody to, steal at that point in time. Oh, for sure, yeah, unless you get both people on the same page. Yeah, right, both people in on it. That would make it a little easier.

But I do want to go back to, you know, those comments made by teammates about Brittany, right? Multiple people saying that she stole from them while everybody else was saying, oh, you know, she's this bubbly person and, you know, she's fun to be around. But now we have another incident, possibly of theft, that could have led to murder. So they're checking each other's bags. And it's been said that Jaina saw store items in Brittany's bag. Shortly before 10 p.m., Jaina walked to her car and called the store manager who said she would deal with it the next morning.

And then it was just minutes later that Jaina got a call from Brittany saying she left her wallet in the store and asking Jana to let her in to get it. Inside the store, Brittany and Jana were shouting so loudly at each other that employees in the Apple store next door. Heard them. She probably said, hey, I called the manager. She's going to deal with you tomorrow. That's BS that you're stealing from the store. Get your wallet and let's get out of here. Probably didn't go over well.

No, but it's amazing that she did make the call to the manager right then and there. Yeah. Because without that, that piece of the puzzle might have been theorized, but would have been harder to corroborate. Yeah, because now you have a reason why Brittany might have wanted her dead. Well, you have motive. Motive, right? You don't want to get caught. You don't want to get fired.

you don't want to get maybe in legal trouble. Apparently, they got into a physical fight. At some point, Brittany used objects she found in the store to pummel and stab Jaina. Jaina suffered extreme injuries. Her skull was crushed and her spinal cord was separate. She suffered so many overlapping wounds that detectives had a hard time

determining the exact murder weapons. at one point, detectives delivered a collection of instruments from the store to the state medical examiner's office to try to match with autopsy records. Investigators believed the attack lasted up to 20 minutes. 20 minutes. That's a long time for an attack. It is, you know, when you think about a boxing match, anybody who's ever boxed, three minutes doesn't sound like a long time for a round. until you're throwing punches for three minutes. Yeah.

I've done it. I used to do it a lot when I was in high school. We used to box each other. Yeah. I was worn out at the end of just three minutes. Doesn't take long, does it? I remember when training for the golden gloves, man. You always had to just go a little bit longer to get your stamina up, you know,

that way you can push through those rounds. But I want to go back to how vicious this attack was, right? skull crushed, spinal cord severed. Yeah, what the heck did she use? Well, they weren't sure. But when you hear so many overlapping wounds that they just, they couldn't even tell what the exact murder weapons were because she was probably using more than one, right, multiple weapons.

Yeah. Prosecutor said, Brittany sat in Jane's car parked, for 90 minutes, concocting a plan to cover up the crime. The plan involved planted evidence, fake injuries, and hundreds of fabrication. Prosecutor John McCarthy told the judge, her cunning and her ability to lie is almost unparalleled. Wow.

I mean, that's saying something. It is, but when we get into all of the different things that she did to, to try to make this seem like a robbery slash sexual assault, it's astounding. It really is. Brittany moved the car because Jaina might have parked illegally because she thought this return trip to the store was going to be brief. Both Jena and Brittany's blood were found inside the car according to the prosecutor. And the first thing that it tells me is that this most likely happened after the crime.

Yeah, I mean, it had to, right? Right. You got a mix of Brittany's blood, Janah's blood, which is going to happen in a vicious attack. Brittany gets inside the car and she transfers both. Not to say that Jane's blood couldn't have been in the car before, but more like it was transferred after. Certainly, there probably wasn't much cause for Brittany's blood to be there at all. So now she has to move the car away from the crime scene so it doesn't get the interest of the police passing by since it's illegally parked. And someone would notice that,

right? After hours, this car parked, wherever it was, maybe right in front of the store, close to the store. Either way, it shouldn't be there. After the store is closed. lose. Because she still has to get back to the store to figure out how is she going to cover this up. Right. The rest of, and enact the rest of her plan. She then walked back to stage the crime scene. She cut a hole in Janus pants to make it look like she was sexually assaulted. She created shoe prints by putting on size 14 men's shoes inside the store and walking through the blood. She inflicted injuries on herself and bound her hands and feet with zip ties from the store, using her teeth to tighten the ties. I mean, she's making the effort. Just not very smart about it.

But this is not Hannibal Lecter, right? This is a young woman, not a mastermind criminal who knows all of the different ways, you know, probably that this is going to go wrong. Yeah. And she's also probably in panic mode because the cover up wasn't thought out beforehand. It was thought out in a span of what, 60 to 90 minutes while she was sitting in Jane's car. So when you're panic like that, you're not going to think everything through. You're not going to do everything the right way. No, even seasoned criminals, right, who sit around and plan things.

don't always get everything right. That's why they get caught. It's hard to plan and execute the perfect crime. This was allegedly, if you believe it, a spur of the moment thing. It's a pretty good theory. It is. In April 2011,

the Washington Post reported that detectives had different theories about what happened that night. Perhaps Brittany, not knowing that James, Dana called the manager about the allegedly stolen merchandise, used the forgotten wallet as a roof to get her back to the store and then tried to persuade her to play down what she found in the bag and that conversation didn't go well. And to me, that's a very plausible story. I could see how it could have played out that way. Another theory was that once inside.

Jaina told Brittany that she had called the manager and Brittany lost it when she found out. Authorities learned about the theft accusations leveled against Brittany in the past, but she had never had a reaction like this before. Now, I think both of those theories are plausible. The only thing that I struggle with on the second one is that if Brittany did know that Jana had already called the manager, how did she know exactly what was said on the phone? Right. Jana could have said, I've already closed the store.

I'm in my car. But I want to let you know what I found in Brittany's purse, thereby not really making her story logical at all. Right? Because Jane has already left a store. Now, she does add in, I called her to come back because I, I left my wallet, so maybe that's part of it. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I would say that either one of them, right, could be plausible theories.

One police source told the Washington Post, that outburst is coming out of left field. Investigators talked to coworkers and didn't uncover any personal feud between Brittany and Jena. This led them to think the rage built up over just a matter of minutes. That can't happen. You know, you're getting into a pissy argument about something and you don't like the response and you get mad and then they get mad next to you know, you guys are just, you know, ready to go after each other. Well, and you add in other emotions, right? Fear, fear of being caught, fear of being fired, fear of being maybe prosecuted for theft or something of that nature. Could that cause her to snap as well?

The Washington Post spoke to Brittany's father, Earl Norwood, from his home in Kent, Washington. He said, it's beyond belief. And he could not imagine his daughter doing what police alleged she did. He wouldn't say anything else because Brittany's attorneys told him not to speak to the media. And I don't know how many fathers could believe or could imagine that. that their daughter would be capable of doing something like this. You wouldn't want to believe that. No, not in a million years.

Would I ever think either one of my daughters could do something like this? Jury selection for Brittany's murder trial began on October 24, 2011. The judge ruled that the jury would not be allowed to hear testimony about a phone conversation between Jaina and her co-examination. and her co-worker Chiomi Inwakibu on the night of March 11, 2011. According to Inwakibu, Jaina says she found stolen merchandise in Brittany's purse. Inwakibu said Jaina confronted Brittany about the alleged theft that evening. And Brittany said she didn't have a receipt because Inwakibu didn't give her one. Prosecutor said this call would help establishes'all.

a motive, but the judge ruled it hearsay. And you know that hearsay is such an interesting concepts and the rulings that come as a result of it. I mean, the problem is there's only one party of that conversation. It's still alive. It's still alive. Right. But this is also, you know, sometimes what kind of makes or breaks trials, right? What's allowed in, what's excluded in opening statements, the defense conceded that Brittany did kill Jaina, but she didn't plan the act and should not be convicted of first-degree murder. Okay. It's an interesting tactic.

Yeah. Because basically, you're abandoning, you know, any hope of getting away Scott free. But maybe they felt like there's no way for us to come away clean from this. So let's figure out how to get the lesser charge applied. Yeah, I'm sure that's what it was because when you dissect her story, right, it just falls apart. So what are you going to do? You're going to stick with that defense, the multiple intruder defense, and that they killed Jaina and tied Brittany up. It's going to be tough, right?

A jury's going to see through it. The prosecution is going to shred it. defense attorney Douglas Wood didn't say what the women argued about, although prosecutors believed the discovery of the stolen clothing was the potential motive. Wood said there was a horrific argument and a horrific fight in that Brittany Norwood lost it. And I'm not sure that he's incorrect. I mean, based on what people have said in the past about her,

always calm, nice, energetic. So it can, so it seems like it might align with what they're trying to say here. Yeah, and of the one individual saying this came out of nowhere, right? She never attacked anyone before. But the prosecutors argued the murder was brutal and premeditated. Brittany lured Jana back to the store. Even though other store workers lived closer. She attacked Jaina with at least half a day.

dozen weapons found inside the store, then staged the crime scene to support her fake story. I guess it comes down to, did she have her come back into the store so she could kill her? Or did she have her come back into the store so that she could try to persuade her not to tell on her? Yeah. And then when that didn't work, she killed her. Right. Big difference, though. Premeditation wise.

Yeah. Yeah. I think there is. I mean, it's going to be murder either way. But what degree? The weapons included a hammer, knife, wrench, rope, and a metal peg used to hold a mannequin. And we said it earlier, Gibbs. This attack was believed to have lasted up to 20 minutes.

Sounds like an act of rage. Or the fact that Jay and I put up a really good fight. Yeah, but a hammer, a knife, a rife, a run. wrench, this metal peg. I mean, it was brutal. There's no two ways around it. Overdone. Which, like you said, does normally denote rage. A worker at the Apple store next door reported hearing two women loudly arguing and Jana crying out, oh God, please help me. So what did that Apple store person do? Well, that's a great question. Because there is no record of them calling anybody.

I mean, I don't want to throw them under the bus. I just didn't see any record of it. There was no mention of it in the trial documents, the reporting. Jaino was found with a rope around her neck, a crushed skull, and more than 300 distinct injuries. She had at least 107 defensive wounds, which the medical examiner had never seen before, according to the prosecution. So extreme.

300 distinct injuries and 107 defensive wounds. Like you said, she put up a fight. She was fighting for her life. Brittany was found with dried blood on her face, her hands bound, some superficial wounds on her hands and body, and her pants cut at the crotch. And for me, Gives, when you look at the disparity of the injuries, it's just hard to believe that two intruders would come in

one would kill Jaina in such a horrific manner. Yeah. And leave Brittany with essentially little to no injuries at all. Doesn't make any sense. State's attorney John McCarthy told the jury, the law enforcement community gathered around this case because these men who did this to these two women had to be found and held accountable for their crime.

One problem. the concocted boogeymen did not exist. Fake story. Yeah. I mean, I think the good thing is they kind of figured that part out fairly quickly, right? If not, they would have spent a lot of time and money

searching for these two men who just didn't exist. Or they would have found two guys that they thought fit the puzzle but never had anything to do with it. And yet somehow confessed or were coerced to confess. Yes, yeah, that could have happened as well. The jury heard that Brittany's DNA was found inside Janus Carr. No actual footprints belonging to an intruder were ever found in the store. And I know we mentioned it, but we really haven't taken a deep dive into it.

This idea, right, of putting on a man's shoe and a size 14, which is a fairly large size shoe. Yeah. And walking through the blood and making footprints. It's not the dumbest thing I've ever heard. No, and that's something you have to think about to do, right? You know, I mean, you're giving some thought to this. Maybe she didn't think about it before she murdered, Jena, but she certainly thought about it afterwards.

Is that her case when they're trying to go for a lesser charge? A forensic expert testified that the blood spatter patterns, showed a substantial beating took place. The evidence indicated Jaina was first hit while standing, then while crouching and finally while on the floor. The pattern also indicated Britney was not attacked in the bathroom where she was found. The flow of blood from her forehead cut went straight down her face, indicating she was standing, not lying on the floor for hours.

State medical examiner Mary Ripple. testified that Jaina sustained at least 331 injuries, including brain bruising, stab wounds, chipped teeth, and severe trauma to the base of the brain. Ripple said, I believe she was alive for all of them. Wow. Horrific. Yeah. But also, let's talk about the blood, right?

The blood tells a story. And, you know, we mentioned it. So-called criminal masterminds. don't get everything right. Right. But a person who's never committed this type of crime, never tried to cover something like this up, is that something they're going to think about?

Blood flow pattern. No. Blood spatter evidence. Probably not. Yeah, I get it. People watch CSI. They listen to podcasts and all of that. But do you really know everything there is?

To know, no. That's why people go to school for a long, time. They trained for a long time. Apple store employee, Jaina, Zverso, testified that she heard loud hysterical noises, yelling and screaming, coming from the Lulu Lemon Store from 1010 until 1019 on March 11. She said she heard two distinct voices. One said per NBC Washington, talk to me, don't do this. This was followed by high. pitched screaming and someone calling out, God help me, please help me. During cross-examination, the defense asked why she didn't go over to hell. She replied that she didn't know what she

would have done. Apple store manager Ricardo Reims also testified about hearing the yelling next door. Yeah, I get it. It's tough to figure out what you would do. I mean, I think maybe at least pick the phone up. Well, that's the thing. I hate to make, you know, these individuals look too bad, but obviously in hindsight, calling the police, that would have been a good idea. I understand. Maybe you don't want to go over there. You don't know what's going on. Oh, absolutely. I get that. A Lulu Lemon employee testified that she worked on March 11, and Brittany was wearing a different pair of pants than the one she was found wearing the next morning. authorities believed she changed out of her bloody clothing and washed the sneakers she used to make the footprints in one of the store sinks. Which, you know, she's really thinking about this stuff. Again, I don't think she was unintelligent, right? These are some pretty intelligent things that she did to try to cover up the crime.

Because we talked about how brutal this beating, this murder was. You know, she's going to be completely covered in blood. Right. Employee Elira Ab testified that Brittany called her on the night of the attack at 9.51 p.m. asking for Jana's cell phone number because she left her wallet in the store. Rab suggested she called the manager, who lived just across the street. But Brittany wanted Jana to return to the store. So she had the opportunity here to just have the manager come over, but she didn't want that, right?

She chose to call Jaina because she either wanted to have a conversation with her to try to work things out or she already made her mind up that she was going to kill her. Yeah, it's got to be one of the two, right? To me, there really are only two options here. The defense did not call any witnesses. In his closing argument, prosecutor John McCarthy reconstructed the attack for the jury. The attack began almost immediately after the weapon. after the women entered the store, Brittany probably hit Jaina in the back of the head with the merchandise peg.

Jana staggered, lifted her hand and fell into a wall. She tried to get to the rear exit, but the attack continued. McCarthy said there were dozens of opportunities, multiple times, that Brittany could have stopped this. The defense emphasized that the killing wasn't planned and that Brittany was not in in her right state of months. And I want to go back to the statement by the prosecutor. There were dozens of opportunities multiple times that Brittany could have stopped this. Yeah, especially when you hear there was like, what, 300 and some attacks?

Yeah, different injuries and all that. What does that tell you? She wanted her dead. Yeah, that's what I'm taking from this as well. Also, if the prosecution's theory is correct, that Brittany was attacked immediately upon entering the store. Does that also kind of rule out the, oh, they had a conversation.

Brittany asked her to not turn her in, and then it went bad. Well, it tells you that her intentions were to murder her as soon as she came through that door. That she'd already made her mind up before she even talked to Jane. Right. On November 2nd, 2011, Brittany Norwood was convicted of first-degree murder. And Gibbs, it took the jury less than

an hour to find her guilty. Not hard to believe, though, right? No, it's really not. We talked about it either last episode or a few episodes back where, you know, when you go through a trial, I think as a juror, however long that trial lasts, are you kind of gauging, right, as you go through? You're not supposed to, I don't think technically, right? You're just supposed to take in all the facts. You're not supposed to try to figure that part out until you get in the jury room. But I think it's human nature that people develop their decisions kind of along the way. So that by the time most jurors get in that room, they pretty much already know which way they're going.

Yeah. Whether they're supposed to or not. But I'm with you. I just don't see with the evidence that was presented that a juror really could have seen it any other way. I mean, you could try, but at the end of the day, you're like, it's just too much leaning the other way. I mean, really, the only question was going to be first or second degree, right? I could see how maybe a juror would have said, I'm not convinced that the whole thing was premeditated. Yeah. Now, obviously, there was a ton done afterwards to try to get away with it. That part's not in doubt. One juror told the Washington Post that all of them voted for first degree murder. They discussed a lesser charge, but no one was convinced.

So I think that tells you everything you need to know right there. Yeah. Another juror said that Brittany made the decision to continue the attack and noted, how do you hit someone 300 times? and not think that you're going to kill them. That's a really strong point. It really is. And we mentioned the prosecutor saying she had a lot of different points where she could have stopped it. Could you not also argue that that's premeditation, right?

After her first couple hits and the person's incapacitated. Right. Are you then not making the decision that you are going to kill this person? I mean, Chena had 107 defense wounds? Yeah. I mean, that's 107 times you could have stopped. On January 27, 2012, Brittany was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Judge Robert Greenberg said he could remember two crimes in his entire career that matched the brutality of the murder of Jana Murray.

The judge also described the Apple Store employee's failure to respond to the cries for help. as callous indifference. I mean, we talked about it. Yeah, and I didn't want to paint him in too bad of a light, but obviously he did. Jane's parents expressed their wish for Brittany to receive life without parole. Jane's sister said the family was shadows of their former self.

It changes everybody that is involved. Yeah, how could it not? Right. You cannot be the same person after, Losing a child, losing a sister, a brother, it's going to be different. Brittany Norwood apologized at the hearing, saying, I know whatever I say, it will not take away the pain of losing Jaina. I am truly sorry. She asked for the possibility of parole, not for herself, but for her parents.

I don't know if I believe that. I don't believe that either. Her defense asked for a gift she doesn't deserve. the gift of hope. And yeah, they're right. She doesn't deserve it. No. And shouldn't get it.

I am completely fine with life without the possibility of parole. You think her family, you think Janice family wants to sit there and think that this woman might get parole one day after beating their daughter to death? No way. You know, murder's bad. Murder's wrong. But there are a lot of different types.

of murder. There are some heat of the moment type murders. And this might be heat of the moment in part. But over the course of 20 minutes and 300 plus blows or stabs or whatever they were, there's ample opportunity to stop, get that person help and ensure that they live. Yeah. And she took none of it. No.

she was more worried about getting in trouble for stealing, whatever she was stealing from the story. Right. The repercussions of what was going to happen to her, defense attorney Douglas Wood added that he believed the Murray's would be able to move on and the Norwoods wouldn't. Jane's father, David Murray, said after sentencing that he was appalled by this statement. Wood clarified that he didn't mean to imply the Norwood's lost more than the Murray's and insisted that, Brittany was truly sorry. That might be the dumbest statement

I've ever heard a defense attorney made. It's a really shitty thing to say. Terrible. Yeah. And not just insensitive, just dumb,

too, on top of it. So as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, you know, the murder of Jane of Murray. And I said it early on, right? It's often called

the Lulu Lemon murder by the media was extremely horrific. It was shocking. And I think, you know, people are drunk. on to it in large part because of this very elaborate false story, right, that Brittany concocted

of two armed killers, which, you know, had downtown Bethesda on edge for some period of time, fortunately, her ruse and cover kind of cracked under repeated questioning and forensic evidence. You know, one of the things that you and I touch on in some of these episodes is how senseless some of these murders are, right? What are we talking about here? A little bit of shoplifting? Yeah. Now, I know Lulu lemon items are expensive. I get that.

Yep. But losing your job, maybe a shoplifting charge, and you're willing to kill. this young woman who had her whole life in front of her. Yeah. And ruin yours. And ruin your life. Now, she didn't think that. She probably thought, oh, I'm so smart. I'm going to get away with it. It's just hard to believe that people can think about things and be like, yeah, yep, this is the right thing to do. This is what I'm going to do. This is how it has to happen. I'll never understand. But that's it for our episode on Jana Murray. We got a voicemail. You want to check that out? Let's hear it.

Hi, guys. M. Gibby, just so you know, on the front. This is Hannah. I'm from Knoxville, Tennessee. Been listening for a hot minute. Go Balls. Just wanted to say y'all did an episode of Crystal Gale Pike a while ago here in Knoxville, Tennessee. Horrific murder she committed.

Not sure if you realize or keep up with it, but her execution is tomorrow morning. She's had several appeals. and they've all been denied. And just so you know, from earlier episodes, y'all don't talk about it so much, but she denied having a last meal for her last meal, I guess. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that. And I also wanted to throw out a suggestion of the Zoo Man, Knoxville. I know y'all, I don't know if I missed something or not,

But he was, he targeted text workers. So just wanted to throw that out there. Look that up, Knoxville, Zoo Man, or Zoo Man, Knoxville, maybe. But anyway, love your show. Love you guys. And still, Team Ghiby and as well, Govost. Love you. Bye.

All right. Love you as well. Absolutely. And I'm sure she left this voicemail a little while back because we did talk about it on Patreon. We did. that Krista didn't die. No.

Two lethal injections and she's still alive. At least at the time we're recording this. But it was a horrific case. It really was. All right, buddy. That is it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.