Norwood faces the possibility of life in prison without parole. Her sentencing is Jan. 27.
An elaborate tale
A homicide in Bethesda
The Crime Scene
At first, Murray’s slaying and Norwood’s tale had merchants and shoppers fearful of random killers around Bethesda Row. Murray was found March 12 when a manager at Lululemon arrived at work to find the shop in disarray and called 911. Murray was dead in a back hallway, surrounded by blood. Norwood was in a bathroom, tied up and moaning.
From a hospital bed, Norwood began to tell detectives a string of lies. She said two masked men slipped into the store after closing and attacked her and Murray. It was an elaborate tale of a double rape and a threat to slit her throat. She said that one of the men pummeled Murray and that one dragged her by her hair. None of it was true.
Norwood soon became a suspect. Her story didn’t add up. The evidence — bloody shoeprints, her own minor injuries, blood in Murray’s car — didn’t track with her account. She was charged seven days after the slaying.
Jurors convicted Norwood, even though prosecutors never presented them with a motive for the killing. That night, authorities have said, Murray checked Norwood’s purse as the two left the store — a common anti-theft procedure. In the purse, Murray found a pair of yoga pants that she thought Norwood had stolen.
The two women left for the night, but Norwood called Murray and said she had left her wallet behind. They met back at the store.
In his closing argument, McCarthy reconstructed a gruesome narrative from the autopsy, testimony from employees at the Apple Store next to Lululemon who heard screaming and grunting, cellphone records, burglar alarm records and forensic evidence.
He said that Norwood was guilty of “mutilating” Murray after luring her back to the store by calling her and telling her she had left her wallet.
“The wallet was nonsense,” McCarthy told jurors.
Alarm records confirmed that the two reentered the store at 10:05 p.m. A short time later, Apple employees began to hear screams and the sounds of something being hit or dragged.
“The killing begins almost immediately,” he said.
McCarthy said that Norwood probably struck Murray in the back of the head. Taking out a key piece of evidence — a heavy, metal blood-stained peg that had been used to hold merchandise — McCarthy pounded it on a table. He projected an autopsy photo showing cracks in Murray’s skull.
Forensic evidence suggested Murray staggered from the blow, lifted her hand to the bloody wound on the back of her head and fell into a wall, leaving behind a bloody print. Murray tried to make it to a rear exit, which also became smeared with her blood.
“This was her last mad dash to try to save her life,” McCarthy said. “She’s trying to flee. She’s trying to save her life.”
After the attack, Norwood staged the scene. She used size 14 Reebok sneakers to track bloody prints around the store, trying to make it appear as though a large man had been there. She staged a robbery and tossed mops, brooms and chairs around the store.
Prosecutors said Norwood’s lies showed the cunning and guile of a killer who knew what she was doing. Defense lawyers said the lies should have been seen in the context of their absurdity: an illustration of just how out of control and delusional Norwood was.
Staff writers Dana Hedgpeth, Katie Rogers and Michael S. Rosenwald contributed to this report.
Loading...
Comments