Just hours after she was found bound and bloody, Brittany Norwood spoke to a detective from a hospital bed.
“Can you tell me how my friend is doing?” she asked in a soft, caring voice.
A homicide in Bethesda
The Crime Scene
The detective, Deana Mackie, said she didn’t know. It was so early in the case, Mackie said, that she’d come directly to the hospital while other detectives were inside the Lululemon Athletica store in downtown Bethesda, trying to figure out what had happened the night before.
“I know that you’ve been through a lot,” Mackie said. “I came here to kind of figure out what’s going on.”
Norwood then launched into a stunning account: Two masked men, one pummeling co-worker Jayna Murray, the other tying Norwood up, raping her and leaving her bound in a restroom for 10 hours.
“She just was so innocent,” Norwood said of Murray, crying.
“I’ve never seen so much blood,” she said.
Norwood’s words, captured on audio, were played for jurors Thursday in the second day of her murder trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court. Prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that there were no masked men, no rapes, no one in the store that March night but the two women. That Norwood killed Murray is not disputed.
What jurors must decide is whether Norwood acted in a premeditated fashion, as prosecutors say, or whether she “lost it,” as her attorneys say, and never marshaled the intent required for a first-degree-murder conviction — and ultimately should face a shorter prison stay. At the center of the case is the horrible way Murray died: At least 322 wounds, prosecutors say, leaving forensic patterns that indicate Norwood was grabbing tool after tool from the store to continue her attack — hammer, wrench, rope, knife, a metal peg used to hold up a mannequin.
Then there are the lies Norwood told detectives, the detailed coverup and what, if anything, they say about her frame of mind.
Prosecutors say they show the cunning and guile of a killer who knew what she was doing. Defense attorneys say the lies should be seen in the context of their absurdity: an illustration of just how out of control Norwood was.
The lies to Mackie began just before 10:30 a.m. March 12.
That Saturday, a Lululemon manager arrived, saw signs of disarray and called police. Officers found Murray dead and Norwood moaning on the restroom floor.
“Do I have to talk right now?” Norwood asked Mackie.
No, Mackie said, adding that detectives were trying to find the people who did this.
“If you want to, you can just ask some questions,” Norwood said.
Norwood told Mackie that she and Murray left the store about 9:45 the previous night.
Norwood said she walked to the Metro station but realized she’d left her wallet behind. She called Murray, who had a key to the store. The two went inside, walked to the back but couldn’t find the wallet, then started walking to the front of the store.
Norwood began weaving her false tale of an attack by strangers. A man appeared and hit Murray in the face, she said. Norwood said that she tried to break for the door, but that two men threw her to the ground and one grabbed her.
Loading...
Comments