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things that don't work on their own chips without dip macaroni without cheese and me without you today we're
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talking about a case that is genuinely hard to process it left season Hobs at investigators in true disbelief for
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numerous reasons and I want to warn you there are some graphic descriptions of violence that may be difficult for some
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to hear I'm Olivia Lavo the Creator and host of the case valal presents Bakersfield 3 podcast Casey and I have
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carefully chosen some of case file's most unforgettable cases to feature here where you'll get a visual Guide to the
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story today we're diving into case number 210 Jana Murray on March 11th 2011 employees closing at the Apple
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Store in an upscale area of Maryland were exhausted after a crazy day of the launch of the iPad 2 it was 10 p.m. and
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the store manager was tallying up receipts when they heard a banging coming from next door the man thought
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they also may have heard screaming and asked the store's senior manager to take a listen they decided that it sounded
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like an argument but not necessarily an emergency that they needed to intervene in but about 10 minutes later the Apple
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employees heard a woman yell God help me please help me and then a dreaded silence now despite hearing that the
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store manager and security guards decided that everything was probably fine I know there are parts of this
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story where when you hear them you're going to think to yourself what in the world but regardless the employees
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locked up the Apple Store and went home without calling police or investigating the situation further for themselves the
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woman's pleased from help were coming from the active wear store Lululemon which was nestled in a high-end shopping
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district lined with boutiques and popular restaurants earlier that day a Frid Frid day 30-year-old Jana Murray
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showed up to Lululemon to fill in for a coworker Jana was a salesperson and supervisor known for her bubbly and
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ambitious personality she didn't mind coming in on a day she was usually off as she knew the shopping center would be
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especially busy with the launch of the new iPad next door Jina got to work early that day and sat in the office
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where she did some homework for her master's program in business and communication having worked at Lulu
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lemon for 2 years Jana was impressed with the company's business model Jana's coworker 28-year-old Britney Norwood was
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also working the 300 p.m. shift that day and came into work after a relaxing afternoon of yoga and lunch and
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manicures with a friend Britney had transferred to the location a few weeks ago from another store while G hoped to
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go on to work for Lululemon corporate Britney's dream was to open her own gym as a personal trainer she was in High
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Spirits that day because she just secured a job interview at a local gym the following week now that Friday Jana
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and Britney found themselves swamped as it wasn't just a particularly busy day but the usual third salesperson who
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should have been there had called in sick and no one else could come in to cover that last minute but the women
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managed to hold down the fort and by 9:00 p.m. they had closed the doors like usual by 9:45 they said good night and
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went their separate ways the next morning the store manager arrived shortly before 8:00 a.m. and found the
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door unlocked as she entered the store she found the lights on and mannequins were toppled over clothing was all over
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the place there was a Smash TV on the floor and then she saw a bloody footprint she called out and thought she
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heard someone moaning the manager immediately ran out of the store and called 911 there's two people there's a
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woman that's alive and she's breathing she's tied up one person seems dead and the other
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person is breathing oh my God while she was waiting outside for police there was
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a young man who was waiting for the Apple Store to open and he asked if everything was okay she explained the
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situation and he offered to go back inside the store with her and when he walked in he started following a bloody
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trail that led to the back of the store and up to a closed door there was a large puddle of blood that had seeped
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from behind this door the man tried to open it but there was clearly something heavy that was just on the other side
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blocking it he was able to jam it open enough to stick his head through where he saw the body of a woman that was
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propped up against the door blood was everywhere there was rope tied around her neck and a toolbox was on her back
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with numerous blood soaked tools that had been thrown around her body the man turned to run and on his way out he
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nearly tripped over a pair of legs that were protruding from one of the staff bathrooms it was another woman whose
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ankles and wrists had been bound by zip ties she was covered in wounds and soaked in blood her yoga pants had been
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ripped open and he noticed there was a large Rock next to her body at this point both the man and the store manager
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were in a state of shock as officers arrived and raced inside they quickly determined that the woman in the hallway
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by the emergency exit had been dead for hours it was Jan and Murray the woman tied up in the bathroom was Britney
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Norwood she still had a pulse and was rushed to the hospital now police start combing through the store and they were
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just in shock at how horrific the scene was the registers and the store safes had been emptied out and among the
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scattered merchandise smashed TV and toppled over mannequins was one of the most gruesome and bloody murder scenes
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that the detectives had ever encountered in their careers Britney regained Consciousness she was covered in
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lacerations and wounds from the hospital bed she began to recount the events of the night the brutal attack Britney told
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detectives that shortly after both she and Jana left the store around 9:45 Britney realized said she had left
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her wallet behind and called Jana to ask if there was any way she could be let back into the store coincidentally Jana
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apparently had also left her laptop behind so she told Britney sure I was going to turn around anyways meet me
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there and we can grab our things and she was like well I noticed I didn't have my
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my laptop anyway so it's fine so I just met her back in front of the store it was just after 10: p.m. when the women
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met back up Jana opened the door and deactivated the alarm Jana grabbed her laptop while Britney tried to find her
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wallet but had no luck so Jana gave Britney her metro card so she could get home and told her she'd keep looking for
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her wallet the next morning and then within an instant the women realized they hadn't locked the door behind them
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as a masked man came out from behind a clothing rack he hit J over the head with a metal bar as another man came out
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from behind another rack and grabbed Britney one man took Jana to the rear hallway while Britney's attacker drived
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her to the bathroom Britney told detectives that he called her racial slurs and viciously sexually assaulted
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her using a hanger from the store at one point the attacker hit Britney on the head with a hard object that was
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presumably the rock that was found by her body causing her to drift in and out of Consciousness while the assault
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continued at one point Britney said she could Hear Voices coming from the Apple store next door and she prayed that
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someone would intervene and rescue her but nothing happened when the voices died down the masked man pulled Britney
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to her feet and ordered her to open the cash registers and safe as she complied with this Britney could hear Jana
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screaming from the rear of the store her screams became quieter and less frequent
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before stopping all together the next thing Britney remembered was being loaded into an ambulance Britney blamed
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herself for the ordeal believing it would not have happened if she hadn't forgotten her wallet after 48 painful
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minutes of recounting the night's events she asked is my friend okay now as Britney had been forced to open the
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registers in safe she and her attacker had treed blood throughout the store the size 7even and a half new Balan
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shoeprints belonged to Britney meaning the shoeprints from the pair of men's size 14 rebok sneakers belonged to her
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attacker authorities believed that the attackers had watched the two women go back into the Lululemon store from afar
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and saw an opportunity to rob the store and then followed them inside now the store didn't have indoor surveillance
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cameras however there were cameras pointed outside the back of the Apple Store and those cameras captured the
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back car park shared by Apple and Lululemon as to is began watching the night's previous recordings nothing
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initially stood out but at around 11 p.m. just after the attack took place two men entered the frame they were both
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dressed entirely in black and one of the men wore a ski mask rolled up like a beanie and had a backpack slung over his
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shoulder the pair seemed to be in a hurry as they walked from the direction of Lululemon and out of the view of the
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cameras the detectives went Fram by frame trying to get a clearer picture of their faces but it was just too blurry
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regardless they were certain that these were the two suspects they were looking for as detectives focused on identifying
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the two masked men another lead came in as detailed in the book The Yoga stor Murder by Dan Morse the day after the
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attack Jana Murray's pointec was found in a car park three blocks from the lemon store given that there was plenty
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of parking much closer to the the store when Jana returned around 1 p.m. this seemed a bit odd and then an officer
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came forward to report that he had been patrolling the car park at around 12:30 on the night of the attack 90 minutes
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after the two masked men were captured walking away from Lululemon as he drove past Jana's car he noticed the
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headlights were on and someone was sitting in the driver's seat 2 hours later the officer returned to the car
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park to find the car in the same spot with the lights still on this time the officer couldn't see if there was anyone
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still in the driver's seat so while he took note of this it didn't seem like there was anything necessarily wrong so
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he drove off that said he patrolled this car park a third time 1 hour later to find the car empty with the lights off
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detectives considered that J's murderer may have been the person spotted in the driver's seat but they were at a lost to
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explain why and the police tip line was buzzing off the hook with calls from concerned locals phoning in their
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suspicions on who they thought was responsible and one name kept coming up Keith locket Keith was a 40-year-old
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homeless man with a reputation for getting drunk and verbally abusive and therefore many local women were afraid
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of him the manager of a nearby homeor store recalled seeing Keith walked past Lululemon on the Friday of the attack
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he' had a backpack over his shoulder which struck the manager is odd because he had never seen Keith wearing a
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backpack before Keith had also been in the company of two other men whom the manager had never seen before now Keith
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had a long wrap sheet that included robbery assault and battery and it didn't take long for officers to locate
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him he was in a hospital out of town being treated for facial injuries including a swollen eye his clothes were
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covered in spots of dried blood now when detectives heard this they rushed to the
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hospital speculating that Jana or Britney may have injured him in self-defense and it made sense that he
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would seek help from a hospital that was out of town to try to fly under the radar Keith's bloody clothes were taken
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for DNA analysis and when he was questioned he strongly denied having any involvement in the attack but he did
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admit to being near the Lululemon store when it took place as detailed in the book The Yoga store murder keiith told
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the detectives that he had also been assaulted on the night of the attack against his facial injuries he said he
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was assaulted by a short man who hung out with a much taller man now this stood out to investigators because the
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surveillance video that they had showed two men and one was noticeably taller than the other Now Keith told detectives
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the these two men recently began working together to Rob stores in the area he then became emotional and told
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detectives that he was standing across the road from Lululemon when the two men entered to rob the store and cut the
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lady he said quote I seen it with my own eyes but detectives didn't know what to
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make of his statement because he was confused he seemed incoherent and he told officers that he suffered from
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schizophrenia over the course of the interview Keith's story changed multiple times and the blood on Keith's clothes
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were determined to be his own and none of his DNA was found at the Lululemon store so with no physical evidence
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linking him to the attack Keith was ruled out as a suspect now this next bit of info about Jana's autopsy is graphic
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but we're including it because it shows just how vicious this attack was now the
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medical examiner initi assumed that Jana had been in a car or bike crash given that her face and scalp were covered in
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that may bruises and cuts Jana's face was so disfigured by various injuries that her features were
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unrecognizable the crotch of her leggings had been slashed which suggested to the me that like Britney
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Jana had also been sexually assaulted fibers of rope found in Jana's clenched hand
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matched the piece of rope tied around her neck indicating that she had struggled to try to set herself free
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however her death was not caused by strangulation but from a stab wound to her skull in total Jana had sustained 13
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skull fractures and at least 331 separate injuries of which 152 were to her head and five or defensive wounds
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J's injuries had been caused by six or seven various objects that had been taken from within the store and from the
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toolbox that had been placed on her back meanwhile 3 days after the attack Britney had been released from the
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hospital and was resting at home and her parents had flown in from across the country she was surrounded by her eight
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siblings she was extremely close with and they dropped everything of course to be with her they were extremely worried
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about Britney as she had become very withdrawn and was hardly sleeping now detectives were desperate for more
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information so they decided to try to interview Britney once more but she was really struggling to relive the violent
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attack she did however recall that the two men were laughing as They carried out the robbery the rape and the murder
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describing it as like a scene out of a video game like Grand Theft Auto now while detectives were interviewing
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Britney at her house a sergeant went back to the Lulu Lemon Store as he was just really bothered by one detail of
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the crime why were only Britney's shoe prints and one other pair found in the store when there were two masked men
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involved in the assault furthermore why was there no bloody shoeprints outside of the store either at the front or back
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entrance as the sergeant re examined the front of the store he noticed a table had been pushed up against the wall and
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all the commotion that's when he noticed that the table had drawers underneath opening one he pulled out a pair of
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shoes men's rebok size 14 sneakers the tread was an exact match to the larger bloody shoe prints that were left in the
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store the store manager then explained to detectives that those particular shoes were owned and kept at Lululemon
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for their male customers to try on when buying pants this was a major breakthrough as a forensic examiner
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concluded that the rebok prints appeared to have been staged as the print patterns were inconsistent with what
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normal movement would show as detailed in the book murder in the yoga store by Peter Ross range one of the detectives
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said this brought him to the conclusion that the footprints never left the store
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because the killer never left at this point 6 days had gone by after the murder and Britney was asked to come
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to the police station where a detective asked her to recall the night's events for a third time now she retold her
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story and when she finished detectives asked if she had ever been in Jana's car before Britney said no but detectives
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knew that this was a lie do you know what kind of car she has um I don't I saw it once but I don't know
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the Mak model I don't know you see after they found Jana's car they found traces
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of blood inside that belonged to both Jana and Britney but there still wasn't enough evidence so instead of
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confronting Britney about it they let her go home the next day Britney came back completely voluntarily saying she
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wanted to get something off of her chest with two of her siblings waiting outside
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she said there was something she had been leaving out of the story out of fear they said where her keys I have no
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idea I don't one of them punched me in my head and made me look through her coat
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and her bag for them when I finally found them um they said if I was to pass anyone and open my mouth I can consider
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myself dead and that one of them would be watching the entire time she said yes I did go
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into J's car the night of the murder and she claimed that this was because Midway
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through the assault her attacker ordered her to move J's car which was parked outside the store and threatened her to
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stay quiet not alert anyone then the detectives did something interesting they called Britney's siblings inside
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the interview room and proceeded to tell them your sister is a killer now after dropping that little bombshell they laid
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out extensive evidence that pointed to Britney as the lone attacker and it turns out those two men that had been
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captured on surveillance video around the time of the attack while investigators had managed to track them
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down and find that they were two kitchen hands hurrying to make their late night
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shift at a nearby restaurant and further interviews with Apple employees that overheard yelling that night revealed
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that it started out with two different female voices that sounded like an argument prior to the screaming began
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and Britney's injuries that she received while at first seemed extensive were really just a bunch of Fairly
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superficial cuts and there was no evidence she hadd been sexually assaulted despite her gruesome story of
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the attacker using a coat hanger and J's autopsy found no sign kind of sexual assault either investigators believed
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that Britney obviously slashed Jana's leggings and her own to try to make it seem like they'd both been raped now
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with all this evidence stacked against her detectives were still absolutely dumbfounded as to what the motive
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possibly could have been so let's explore a bit of Britney Norwood's background she came from a large family
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of high Achievers including herself she did good in school she excelled in sports and got a soccer scholarship to
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Stony Brook University where she was named the team's Most Valuable Player Britney's goal was then to become a
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social worker as she was majoring in sociology and psychology but she was eventually asked to leave the university
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after multiple students accused Britney of stealing from them now apparently Britney never told her family she got
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kicked out and just pretended to graduate Britney got a job at a hotel where she was quickly promoted and given
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the title employee of the quarter but things weren't all Rosy in her life after a bad breakup with a boyfriend she
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broke into his house and stole various things including blank checks that ex ended up filing a restraining order
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against her and claimed that Britney was physically abusive and he was afraid of
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her now Britney ended up violating that restraining order but was never arrested
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for doing so so now with her new goal of becoming a personal trainer Britney left
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her job at the hotel and started working at the Lululemon Store in Georgetown Washington DC so shortly after getting
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the job in DC at Lululemon a cooworker accused Britney of stealing money two months before Jana's murder Britney was
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fired and her boss also accused her of abusing her store discount but Britney disputed this and in the end management
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at Lululemon decided not to fire her after all and instead transferred her to another store Regina Murray worked after
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meeting with her future co-workers Britney sent one of them a text that read you have such a solid team I know
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this is going to be a great experience over the coming weeks several employees at the store noticed that certain items
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were missing when these employees confronted the store manager she checked the roster and noticed that Britney had
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been working each time that something had disappeared now two days prior to the murder at a weekly leadership
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meeting which included J and Murray the team huddled together and discussed how they were going to catch Britney in the
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act so she could be legitimately fired they joked about setting up a Manny cam inside the store but in the end the team
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decided that the best force of action would be to announce to all staff the possibility that there was a thief among
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them and then see what happened and before their co-workers left on Friday March 11th Jana commented I have to
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close with the thief tonight do you think I will catch her J and Britney worked happily together that evening but
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when it came time to lock up Jana asked to look inside Britney's bag it was store policy to do so and when Britney
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opened up her bag Jana spotted a pair of Lululemon yoga pants with the tags still
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attached but there was no store receipt Britney denied stealing them and claimed
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that she had bought them earlier that day as the computer system had already been shut down for the night jet told
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Britney not to worry they would sort it out later and then the two left the store on her way to her car Jana called
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the employee who Britney claimed sold her the yoga pants the employee denied doing so so Jana called her boss Rachel
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who told Jana not to worry about it now that they had caught Britney in the ACT Rachel planned to dismiss her the
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following day but just as Jana began driving home her phone rang it was Britney who had apparently lost her
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wallet and needed Jana to let her in the store as detailed in the book murder in
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the yoga store after being let inside Britney likely asked Jana what was going to happen now that she had been found
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with stolen merchandise although the details of the conversation aren't known their
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escalating voices could be overheard by the Apple employees next door forensic analysis showed that Britney first
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attacked Jana in the Back store room by hitting her on the head with a metal bar
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Jana attempted to fight back but the violent attack continued final blow was from a knife that was kept in the back
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room of the store now Jana had parked her car in a no standing area right outside thinking that she was just
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running in for a few minutes and knowing that J's car would draw attention there
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Britney rummaged through her bag until she found her keys and she drove JS piaac to a parking lot three blocks away
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where she sat to think about what to do next Britney returned to the store to begin staging the crime scene where she
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used the rebok that were there for customers to try on she pushed over mannequins and then she injured herself
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and put her hands and feet in zip ties all she had to do then was just wait for someone to find her Britney's brother
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and sister sat there in shock as the detectives listed the evidence pointing to Britney's guilt they did not believe
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that she could unleash such a brutal assault resulting in Murder over a pair of stolen yoga pants and the detective
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himself struggled to come to terms with Britney's guilt telling her family quot I didn't want to believe it at first
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either I really did not want to believe it on Friday March 18th one week to the day since the attack Britney was
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arrested for first-degree murder the day of the arrest coincided with Jana's funeral where over 200 people gathered
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to say goodbye including the founder and CEO of Lululemon as Jana's parents drove
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to the chapel they received a call from detectives informing them that they made
00:27:23
an arrest her parents were horrified to say the least to learn that the person who had killed their daughter was
00:27:31
Britney Norwood I mean can you begin to imagine following Britney's arrest the state prosecutor met with Jana's family
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to see if they would accept a plea deal instead of going to trial the plea bargain entailed that Britney would
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serve 15 years of her sentence and then become eligible for parole which I truly
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cannot believe that the prosecutor's office would ever want to offer a deal in this case
00:27:58
but especially one where perpetrator might have to only serve 15 years I don't know they must have really been
00:28:05
worried the case wasn't that strong regardless J's family refused to accept this thank God and the case went to
00:28:12
trial the jury deliberated for only 20 minutes before finding Britney Norwood guilty of first-degree murder of G and
00:28:20
Murray as both families cried at the verdict Britney remained still and Silent showing no emotion but at her
00:28:28
sentencing hearing Britney broke the silence that she had maintained during the trial and begged the court for mercy
00:28:35
and a chance at parole quote for the Murray Family what do I say when your daughter is gone I'm the one convicted
00:28:43
of her murder what do you say I know what I say today won't take the pain away of the loss of Jana and I hope for
00:28:51
the Murray Family someday you'll be able to find forgiveness in your heart I am truly sorry j at the horrific nature of
00:28:59
the assault and murder committed by Britney an emotional judge told the courtroom that one night he went home
00:29:06
and banged his fist against a table 300 times this was to mimic the hand movements of Britney as she attacked
00:29:15
Jana it took him over 8 minutes to do this he told Britney you mutilated this woman with every blow of your hand you
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had a chance to think about what you were doing and you reveled in the gore and the lies that you told afterwards
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were incredible you are one hell of a liar man Britney was then sentenced to life imprisonment without the
00:29:39
possibility of parole thank God okay now this is heartbreaking Jada Murray's brother was in the military and serving
00:29:47
time in Iraq during the murder and while he was stationed in Iraq shortly after she was killed he
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received a package that his sister had sent him just before the murder so as detailed in the yoga stor murder her
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brother opens this package that he knows that she sent shortly before she was killed he does this knowing that this is
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going to be the I cannot believe how emotional I am the last communication I'll ever have with her and um there's a
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card and it said things that don't work on their own chips without dip macaroni without cheese and mean without ye you
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inside she had signed take care and be safe I love you and miss you Jana now I want to go back to some of
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the details that we went over at the beginning of the story now on the day that Britney Norwood savagely murdered J
00:30:44
Murray seemingly because she exploded over knowing that she was going to get fired from her job as a salesperson at
00:30:52
the Lululemon store because she stole yoga pants she took a yoga class that day she went to lunch with a friend and
00:31:03
got her nails done I mean sounds like a really lovely afternoon and then it results in the most horrific senseless
00:31:12
murders so I mean really sounds like a normal actually rather lovely afternoon and it just makes you realize how truly
00:31:22
sociopathic the most seemingly normal people can be which yes I know we know that but you don't don't see that in
00:31:28
women that much and I also think the red flags in her past like stealing from friends or even breaking into her ex's
00:31:38
house that's a massive leap to being a murderer like yeah that makes it seem like okay there's something off with her
00:31:47
but I wouldn't think that this person would be capable of this horrific murder I don't know I think this is one of
00:31:54
those cases that once you hear it you you never for get it because it really is that horrific and shocking anyhow I
00:32:04
would love to hear what you think about all this thanks for bearing with me as I
00:32:09
got very unexpectedly emotional I've been covering crime for my entire adult life but pregnancy hormones and this
00:32:18
horrific of a case I don't know just took me for surprise anyhow thank you for watching