A police detective testified Monday that a Bethesda yoga shop employee, who claimed she and her co-worker were victims of an attack but now finds herself on trial for her murder, appeared “credible” during her interview with authorities that March morning.
A defense attorney for Brittany Norwood has said she was in a “horrific” argument with Jayna Murray in which Norwood “lost it” and “unfortunately and stupidly” beat her to death at the Lululemon Athletica store where they worked. The prosecutor says Norwood, 29, committed first-degree murder and spent several hours trying to cover up the crime.
Murray, 30, was found dead on the morning of March 12, sprawled facedown in a pool of blood. Norwood, too, was found lying in the store, appearing to lapse in and out of consciousness.
Det. Ruvin Dimetry testified Monday that Norwood talked freely with him and Det. James Drewry that morning, saying that two masked men had entered the store after closing time, sexually assaulting and beating both Murray and her.
“She appeared credible at the time we were talking to her,” Dimetry said in the Rockville District Court. He said that during the interview, Norwood had been crying, shaking and that it was hard to watch. When Norwood claimed that she had been raped, Dimetry treated her like any other sexual assault victim.
He didn’t suspect her of lying because everything in her story appeared to add up.
“When they [Norwood and Murray] were first attacked, she said that it happened right by the fitting room and she had dropped her purse, and at the scene her purse was right by the fitting room,” Dimetry said. “She said there were zip ties used, there were zip ties. She said Jayna was dragged and Jayna’s hair was on the floor. She said they were assaulted with a coat hanger and there was the hanger.”
By the time the two detectives walked out of Norwood’s house and got to their car, they began questioning the story. Compared to Murray, who authorities said suffered 322 distinct injuries, Norwood had little abrasions on her body. Men’s footprints in blood leading to the door, but then stopping abruptly also appeared strange.
“After I saw the shoes, I started looking at things differently,” Dimetry said.
Before the jury entered the courtroom Monday morning, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy informed Judge Robert Greenberg that semen had been found on the defendant during an examination. But Norwood had told detectives that she had no recent sexually activity before the incident. “This goes to her credibility,” McCarthy said.
But Greenberg said that since there was no clear definition of “recent,” in terms of weeks, and Norwood was not asked how recent, the evidence could be thrown out.
