Filed under: News
The young woman who stands accused of killing a yoga store co-worker in Bethesda, Md., on March 11th will face a judge on Monday afternoon.
Brittany Norwood (pictured above) is charged with the first-degree murder of 30-year-old Jayna Murray (pictured below). Norwood worked with Murray at the Lululemon Athletica yoga apparel store in an upscale suburban area of Bethesda.
According to police reports, Norwood told authorities that she and Murray closed the shop and left on the evening in question. When Norwood realized she left her wallet at the shop, though, both she and Murray allegedly went back to retrieve it. According to Norwood, it was then that they stumbled upon two masked gunmen who sexually assaulted them and left them for dead.
The next morning, a store manager heard groans coming from the back room and called local authorities. Police discovered Norwood had been tied up and Murray, the victim of a brutal beating, was dead.
As police interrogated Norwood, though, they began to find holes in the 27-year-old's story, which was also contradicted by physical evidence that they found on the scene.
Investigators discovered that there was no evidence of sexual assault at all. The two sets of bloody footprints, which Norwood said belonged to the alleged masked intruders, were actually traced to her and a pair of size 14 shoes that belonged to a mannequin display in the store.
A manager at the Apple store adjacent to Lululemon also told police that some shoppers in his store overheard two women locked in a heated discussion on the night in question.
Montgomery County police detectives summarized that Norwood had self-inflicted wounds and then tied up her own arms and legs after killing Murray. Authorities also found out that Norwood, who is a gifted soccer player at Stony Brook College in upstate New York, had been sued by her landlord for delinquent rent in the Columbia Heights section of Maryland.
Norwood was arrested on Friday, after her fourth police interrogation.
In an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America," Murray's parents said:
"We believe very, very strongly in the U.S. justice system and we are going to let the justice system prevail."
Given all of the evidence authorities have found so far, Norwood appears to be guilty. As the case goes on, the truth will come out and we will find out exactly what happened to Murray.
Watch the incident here: