Hello!
Welcome back to another episode of Diagnosing a Killer.
I'm Kenna and I'm Koa.
And I think I went, hello!
How's everyone doing?
Yeah, pretty good actually.
I went to go see a baseball game with most of the fam, you and Kace, slept in.
It was his birthday the day before we were recording this and I didn't feel like getting
up neither did he.
Yeah, we were all up pretty late last night.
Yeah, definitely.
We just had some really nice Texas barbecue for dinner which was so yummy.
So yummy.
And now we're here to talk to you guys and we're super excited.
This is another one of our cases that we're recording before my trip so this is gonna
be coming out while I'm not even in Texas but we wanted to bring you guys all the content
and we're really excited.
I'm really excited about this one.
Yeah.
Before we get started do you want to tell everyone about our handles and then I do have a couple
messages to read as well.
Sure.
You can catch us at diagnosticackiller.com.
There you will find links to research and merch.
Use that merchy merch tab.
It'll take you over to Redbubble.
Get some shirts before the convention in August.
Also on our website you can find a DAKPOD coupon code.
That'll get you 15% off of a ticket to the True Crime Paranormal Podcast Festival.
A lot of hands.
Grabby hands.
I'm definitely making sure to bring a bunch of extra business cards to Ohio so if I run
into anybody, like we strike up conversation with anybody at a bar, you're getting a business
card.
For sure.
Just beware Ohio.
Catch us on social media anywhere at diagnosticackiller other than Twitter or X which is at killer
diagnosis.
Yeah.
So, one, two, and three tier members get an exclusive bonus episode every month.
And even our tier one Patreon members also get access to ad free episodes in addition
to two and threes as well.
Yeah, absolutely.
And the bonus episode comes out every month on the 29th which means by the time you're
hearing this, the bonus episode has already been out for almost a week.
So, hope you guys have enjoyed that episode.
It was a lot off of my mind to stop talking about it.
But oh my god, speaking of the Patreon bonus episodes, I found audio recordings of the
Toybox Killer, the one I did last on TikTok.
They have like four part, five part of the whole audio and it's like even grosser, like
hearing him say it, not even just reading the transcript, like his voice is nasty.
It's like that jigsaw moment where he's broadcasting the same video to multiple people.
Yeah, exactly.
So like I said, before we get started, I do have a couple of messages that our lovely
listeners have sent us.
So we did get a message from Connie and Connie said, hey y'all, fellow Texan here just saying
I love your podcast.
I just came across the story of Mary Ann Cotton and wondered if either of you had ever heard
of her.
Crazy.
Anyway, love you, bye.
That was really sweet.
I hadn't heard of her but I actually did look her up and put her on my list and it's
like a wild one.
She got convicted of murdering her stepson but she was like suspected of a bunch of different
murders like in her family.
Really?
Yeah, so thanks for the lovely message Connie and of course I responded.
I always respond on the Instagram if you guys send a message.
So we appreciate that and then we have another one from Kirstie.
Kirstie said, hey, as you ask in your episodes, I'm listening from the Netherlands but originally
from the UK.
So hopefully that crosses off places on your listen map.
I only started recently with your Elliot Roger episodes but I love the style of the episodes,
so much information with the heart.
That's really sweet.
That's Kirstie.
Yeah, we definitely try to get as much info out there as we can without sounding like
a documentary.
Yeah.
We definitely do our due diligence in our research.
I know that we've talked in previous episodes about our different research styles but either
way, we want to bring you guys all the content and if there's anything that we ever leave
out, just let us know.
Yeah.
We're not perfect.
It's true.
We're sometimes for brevity's sake.
If it doesn't really pertain to the case or maybe a mental diagnosis of some kind, then
we usually don't put it in there.
I don't care to know what Jeffrey Dahmer's favorite fruit salad is.
Yeah, exactly.
It's out there though.
You might, yeah.
Just kidding.
So just let us know.
And lastly, we got a message from Andrea.
Andrea said, hi, Koala and Kenna.
This is Andrea, Louie's sister.
Just wanted to say I love listening to your podcast, Keep Up the Great Work.
In the Jodi Areas podcast, you had said to message you about Rainforest Cafe.
So I just wanted to let you know that we have a Rainforest Cafe here in Ontario, California.
Love you, bye.
I was like, oh my God, thanks so much for letting us know.
Let us know about your Rainforest Cafe.
Well, I love that.
You can really tell in these messages that obviously people are listening but they're
like, oh, I know that they would really appreciate it if we gave them a little info about places
that they haven't been to.
Yeah, absolutely.
I've never been to Ontario.
I've been to California but not that part and of course not in the UK at all.
It's really fun to hear from you guys and hear what people have in different spots or
even just where you're listening from.
It's really cool.
I really enjoy it.
And it's more personal than just the map that we have.
For sure.
I love when y'all's playing off with love you, bye.
Oh yeah, that's so great.
It's so awesome.
It's like the subject's like, hello, signature love you, bye.
That is our thing.
Love you guys.
Thanks so much.
Love you guys.
Yeah, seriously, it's always great to hear from you guys.
I love all the positive words.
Yes.
Are you ready to get into this case?
Yes.
All right.
Is it Sherry Papini?
No.
You have any more guesses before I go into my content?
Is it Diane Reteer?
No.
I don't think it's a name.
Diane, I don't remember.
I don't think, I don't know if you'll know this case.
Like if you do, I won't be surprised but if you don't, I also won't be surprised.
Is it a woman?
Yes, it's a woman.
Let me just say the story.
I mean, we're already here.
I'm about to get into it right now.
All right, fine.
This is what's happening.
So today, we are going to be talking about Brittany Norwood.
Brittany Norwood.
Again, if you don't know her, I won't be surprised because...
Brittany Norwood.
I think it's just because I went to high school with a Norwood, so I think that's why it sounds
familiar.
Probably not the same gal.
It's not the same gal.
I'll tell you that.
Definitely not the same gal.
It's not.
Yeah, no, I think that's why it stuck in my head specifically.
I think once we start getting further into the story, you might be like, oh, I think
I've heard about this.
Content warning.
Brittany Norwood also contains descriptions of sexual assault, racial bias, and graphic
physical assault.
If this episode is not for you, we encourage you to find another one of our episodes.
Remember your mental health is very important to us, and we love you.
Love you.
Bye.
So yes, Brittany Norwood, and I'll just go ahead and get into it because why am I wasting
any more time?
Keep saying that I'm going to get into it and then I don't get into it.
Okay.
Brittany Norwood was born on May 18, 1982, to Earl and Larkita Norwood in Washington
State.
As far as I can tell, she had four brothers and four sisters, as she was a very big family.
The Norwood family was known as being really well known around the neighborhood and even
admired while the children were growing up.
There's actually even a couple of articles that Brittany was featured in as a young kid
because she was super active in the community.
One of these, she was working with some fellow classmates in sixth grade on a project about
religion, and it was posted in the Federal Way News Tribune.
Both Earl and Larkita had been described as friendly and generous, and they raised their
children to be the same way.
So the parents, Earl and Larkita, owned a furniture upholstery and fabric business that
went well for a while, but it also had its troubles as well.
The two were known to stay extremely dedicated to their children's needs even through the
rough patch with the business, financial needs, I mean.
On top of this, friends and acquaintances noted that the family never complained even when
needing to put thousands of dollars into their children's extracurricular activities.
So just like really great people.
Yeah, they want everything for their kids.
Absolutely.
Of the sports the kids played, Brittany was extremely into soccer as a kid and well into
adulthood as well.
Earl was known to attend every single one of Brittany's games, and he was always dressed
very formally, notably wearing a collared shirt, a jacket, and slacks.
Like he's like, I wanna look the greatest to watch my daughter play.
What a dad.
Brittany knew from a young age that she wanted to pursue her dream of playing on the US Women's
National Soccer Team, and she would work very hard at soccer her whole childhood because
of this.
Her rough behavior during games was something that people took notice of, but always stated
that it never translated off the field.
It's like she's just an aggressive soccer player, but she's not an aggressive person.
Brittany would attend Decatur High School in Federal Way, Washington, where she was also
involved in cheerleading, and she would graduate in the year 2000.
After she graduated, she would move to Long Island, New York to study sociology at Stony
Brook University, and would receive remarkable praise as a soccer player playing through
her junior year.
While she was in college, however, numerous reports would be made against Brittany from
her roommates, teammates, and classmates about Brittany stealing from them, like specific
items.
What?
Okay.
It's kind of like, it goes out of nowhere.
Yeah.
They would refer to her as a kleptomaniac, like most of the time, like it was that bad.
I wonder what the psychology behind that is.
Exactly.
You didn't want for anything as a kid as far as we know.
Yeah.
So why do you feel like you have to steal things?
It's like a slight risk situation that probably feels pretty nice or something.
Or maybe she didn't like the idea of people calling their family perfect all the time
when she was growing up.
She's like, oh, well, I'll like show them.
I need a rebel.
Yeah, exactly.
I don't know.
Give me your socks.
I still can't figure out like the motive.
Huh.
That's very interesting.
From her friend and fellow soccer player, however, she would be referred to as quote,
very sweet, funny, and amazing soccer player, stealing was her only vice end quote.
It was something that was really like something deal.
Yeah, it was a high.
Exactly.
Most people actually seem to laugh off the constant stealing, like made it like not so
much a big deal, a stating quote, oh, that's just something she does.
End quote.
That's just Brittany.
Yeah, like don't leave your shit out around her.
No, that's like a fucking.
It's a problem.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah.
I think it's definitely a big time in pretty much everyone's life that they've taken something
that they weren't supposed to.
I just find that very interesting that there's something commingling with like endorphins
and stuff like that that makes someone want to do it all the time.
Well, I think that, you know, as a kid, everyone steals something once or whatever.
And usually you figure out that that's wrong or you get in trouble and then you don't do
it again.
Right.
But she's kind of been getting away with it.
Well, especially if people are laughing it off.
Exactly.
There's no ramifications.
Yeah, exactly.
Eventually, though, she would be reported enough times and she would actually lose
her scholarship and ultimately be expelled from the school when she was a junior.
Okay, well, that's a big consequence.
Yeah.
Well, it was classmates, roommates and teammates alike.
Like everyone was like reporting her on.
She stole my cleats.
Yeah, exactly.
They're on her feet.
Just pushing her over and jacking them up for her feet.
Now in 2007, allegations of Britney stalking her ex-boyfriend also surfaced.
A restraining order from the same ex had also been filed against Britney as well, but she
would continuously reschedule the hearings due to like work conflicts, despite receiving
letters about how important it was for her to attend.
After a year of dodging the court proceedings, the restraining order had actually expired,
as the boyfriend did not have any way to prove his domestic violence claims because she wouldn't
show up to this hearing.
Which is honestly like kind of lame because-
No, you don't show up.
You should be granted the restraining order.
Exactly.
Like she didn't show up.
Like clearly.
Yeah.
But I don't know what the prosecution or whatever is like, oh, she didn't show up.
She's clearly not stalking you.
She's not here.
She doesn't even want to be around you.
Yeah, exactly.
But I don't know.
But I didn't know that.
I don't know if it's any different now, but yeah, the restraining order had been filed,
but it had been over a year since it had filed.
So it kind of just like fell into the-
Or I guess like maybe she just wasn't contacting him anymore and then-
Maybe.
At all and then yeah.
But I just feel like-
They should grant it.
Yeah.
Like that person doesn't show up because they're afraid of a court proceeding.
Like no.
I completely agree.
The same year, 2007, Brittany would move to Washington, D.C., Maryland area to live with
one of her four sisters.
She would initially begin working at the William Intercontinental Hotel and was actually quickly
promoted to management.
However, this would not last long as Brittany was very interested in opening and owning
her own gym and becoming a personal trainer.
Okay.
So that's like a positive thing.
Yeah.
But you know, I'm already concerned because I see the kleptomania already or I guess,
I don't know what would the proper term be for that if you have that kleptomania.
You have that.
You have the boyfriend that wants the restraining order and then you have her thrusting herself
into work.
And I think that it's, I just, it sounds like a Kristen Gilbert.
It really does.
I can't stop thinking about Kristen Gilbert right now.
I think that with the personal training, like the motive behind that might have been like
stealing people's stuff because you're working one-on-one with people.
You have access to like a lot of their maybe like information or belongings or whatever.
I don't know.
She clearly wants to make a lot of money.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And she's clearly interested in doing something physical.
Yeah.
Interesting.
So speaking of money, she found herself in a position currently at this moment that she
wasn't able to open her own gym because she didn't have enough money.
So she decided to apply at a place that sold like active wear and gym wear.
So she could kind of be like in the community and just not working at a gym.
One of these places that she applied for was Lulu Lemon Athletica and Brittany would ultimately
get the job.
Do you know this case now?
No.
Okay, cool.
So you probably don't know it.
If you don't know it now, you probably don't know it.
This was recent, was it not?
This was in like the murder was in like 2011.
Murder?
Well, diagnosed to be a killer.
Well, diagnosed to get clustered.
Who dies?
So on March 12th, 2011, Rachel Ortley, the manager of Lulu Lemon and Bethesda, Maryland,
how do you say it?
Bethesda?
Bethesda, Maryland, arrived in the morning to find the door unlocked.
Rachel thought this was strange, but she assumed another store employee had either just been
there before her or someone had just forgotten to lock up the night before.
Once she entered, she came across merchandise strewn all over the place and the mannequin
is completely apart as well as drawers open and racks tipped over like a rent sacking.
The rent sack.
Upon entering, she immediately grabbed her phone to contact any other employee that
might have been there and simultaneously called out to see if anyone was inside.
Once she yelled, Rachel noted a strange sound that sounded like groaning coming from the
back of the store.
Of course, this completely scared her and she ran outside to dial 911 and also grabbed
a nearby man by the name of Ryan and briefly explained to him what she heard and asked
him to come investigate with her.
She said, I don't want to go in there alone, which I don't know.
Ryan agreed to help Rachel and she would stand at the front door while he went back to hear
what the groaning was.
A minute later, Ryan yelled at Rachel to call the police.
Rachel immediately called 911 and told the dispatcher, quote, I think someone's dead,
end quote.
What Ryan had come across was a scene out of a horror film.
He told Rachel that there was a body of a woman laying face down in the hallway and
another woman tied up in the bathroom, seemingly barely breathing and possibly assaulted.
Oh my gosh.
At this point, Rachel would phone 911 again to give them the further information that
she had gathered.
Montgomery County police had responded to the 911 call and arrived at the scene to discover
the same trash place.
On the floor leading to the body and woman, there were two bloody footprints, one kind
of big and then one smaller.
But there was blood everywhere.
Yeah, so it was probably hard to distinguish that in the first place.
Exactly.
The body of the 30-year-old woman was that of Jaina Murray, a manager of the Lulu Lemon
store, and the employee that had been closing the night before this incident.
She was the manager on duty.
Oh, she was the manager on duty the night before.
Yes.
She was in there all night.
Yes.
That's awful.
The other woman, 28, was none other than Brittany Norwood.
Brittany's hands and feet were zip-tied and she had cuts all over her chest, legs, arms,
and face.
Oh my gosh.
Police would rush Brittany to the hospital to tend to her wounds and began searching for
any leads to find the perpetrator of this horrific crime.
There were no security cameras, however, or even eyewitnesses except for one.
Brittany.
Brittany, she was alive.
She also was working overnight.
She had been working that night before as well.
Okay, so we're cool.
But they didn't know this at the time.
Okay.
Well, I guess Rachel knew that, but police didn't.
Once Brittany was stable, police would return to the hospital to question her about what
had occurred that night before.
Brittany explained to police that her and Jaina had closed the store the evening prior, and
while she was leaving, she realized that she had forgotten her wallet.
She called Jaina to let her back into the store, and alarm records showed that the door was
indeed unlocked at 10.05pm.
Okay.
According to Brittany, two men wearing dark clothing and ski masks then entered the store,
attacked both women, and sexually assaulted them as well.
She stated that Jaina tried to fight back when being sexually assaulted, and the two
men responded to this by ultimately ending her life.
So how did she, was she, she was stabbed or?
I'll get to it in just a second.
Okay, okay.
While police initially thought that Brittany was a victim of this crime, they quickly realized
while talking to her that most of what she was claiming happened did not add up.
Jaina had been savagely attacked with at least 331 wounds inflicted with five different
weapons.
What?
Yeah.
Like, I'm sorry, that's not like a, oh they got mad and they beat her to death.
Or that they were looking to rob and or sexually assault.
Yeah.
Like if you, in most cases that we've covered, if there's a sexual assault and you know,
the person is unfortunately murdered, it's usually very, I wouldn't say quick, but you
don't take too much.
You don't use five weapons and hit, stab, whatever.
Yeah.
300 times, that's crazy.
So out of these weapons, they concluded that it included a knife and a hammer that actually
came from a toolbox that was in the, the stores like storage.
It was the toolbox killer.
On the other hand, Brittany's wounds were relatively minor and superficial and appeared
to be self-inflicted.
Like they were all on her front, not on her back or on the back of her head or, yeah.
Forensic experts even noted later on that she had a cut on her forehead as well, but
the blood that dripped from it was straight down, which would appear that she would be
standing straight up.
And so.
But she was found laying down.
Yeah.
It's literally like Dexter, like the blood spatter to match what she was wearing.
She was looking in a mirror when she did it.
Exactly.
The bloody footprints on the floor had come from two pairs of shoes, one being size 14
Reebok sneakers, which were found inside the store.
What?
And Brittany's personal shoes.
So she wore, oh my gosh.
We don't know yet.
Wait.
We don't know yet.
The perpetrator, whoever that might be, left their shoes behind.
And working at Alululemon, which I'm assuming that they have shoes.
Yeah.
So they just picked out some off the rack.
Yeah.
Put them on for the purpose of the crime.
And then put their own shoes on to leave.
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On top of this, the bloody shoe prints ended before the exit door, indicating that the
person who made them did not leave.
Never left.
Yeah.
So they were going to go take a jog around the block or something.
Just leave them down an alley all the way around.
It was terrible.
Yeah.
Lead them to another perpetrator.
It was like in the embassy group when they were running.
Yeah.
She just paints a sign with an arrow pointing to a dude.
He did it.
It was terrible.
So investigators would do further testing and actually came to the conclusion that neither
one of the women had been sexually assaulted like Brittany claimed.
Oh, what?
Jaina was even found with a hole in her pants like next to her genitals to suggest that they
had been like ripped, but there was no physical evidence of sexual assault.
I wonder why she would claim that if it didn't happen.
Well, like there's ways to tell that that happened.
Absolutely.
I think that, and I'll get into it a little bit more, but I think that she was just trying
to make these people look like the worst people in the world.
Yeah.
She's saying anything she can.
Yeah, there's demons.
Probably like, oh my God, how horrible.
We need to go find these guys and not really like focus their attention on her.
Although her story seemed extremely unreasonable, police did not have any concrete evidence
to make an arrest or even hold Brittany at all.
So they began searching for leads in the case.
Detective Dimitri Rubin, who had done the questioning of Brittany, was really suspicious
of her from the beginning of her story.
Did you mean to say Rubin?
Oh, okay.
He stated about this quote, the amount of trauma that Jaina suffered wasn't normal.
It's just the little voice in the back of my head.
Something's just not right.
The way Brittany's describing these two guys, they're racist, they're rapists, they're robbers,
they're murderers.
It's like the worst human being you could possibly describe, right?
It doesn't say two crazy people off the street that screams an inside job.
Oh, I got the heave.
But I'm sure they're looking at her like there's no way she could have perpetrated this crime.
We got to look at other leads, potential other leads.
And it's kind of interesting, I do like that theory when investigating a crime.
Go ahead and throw out the what-ifs and just, it's all just going to come back around to
that person, right?
Like, let me go ahead and test all of these theories and when they are disproven, then
the evidence only points to one person.
Exactly.
It's always going to point back with the evidence.
The thing is, is like, okay, obviously we all know that Brittany was the one that did
this.
Clearly.
Her name is her title.
No, she doesn't have a size 14 shoe.
No, her name is on the episode, we all know.
But at this point, like, police don't know what she's capable of.
She is obviously in a criminal mastermind, so all of this shit's going to come out and
it's just a matter of time.
Like, police just are going to do their jobs.
They should detectives, you know, whatever.
And it's going to come out.
I'm sure they're also trying to eliminate any potential, you know, possibility that
someone helped with the crime as well.
Exactly.
They need to make sure that it's just her.
Only her.
Absolutely.
So meanwhile, the store owners had offered a $125,000 reward to anyone who could help
police find and convict the two male suspects.
She call.
Yeah, right?
She's like, I think they went that way.
Yeah.
Can I get my 120K?
Yeah, for real.
Police would question the neighboring stores, because it was in like a strip mall, for anybody
that may have heard something that night.
Employees in the Apple store next door had explained that they indeed heard an altercation
through the wall the previous evening.
Surveillance footage from inside the Apple store.
This is funny.
It's not funny, haha, but it's like, okay.
It showed the two employees standing next to the shared wall, like kind of like leaning
into it and then walking away while the security guard was just listening to his iPod.
The security guard was not interested in shit.
He's like, that's not my thing.
Not my problem.
Not my store.
God, it's terrible, but.
I bet they looked at him like, bro.
He's fucking serious right now.
You hear something.
Go investigate.
Yeah, but he doesn't get paid to do that.
Exactly.
And it's just, I mean, not to diminish the job of a security guard, but.
He's not a cop.
Yeah.
I'm sure he doesn't have a cop.
Yeah, he doesn't have a cop.
Yeah.
He's just gonna phone the police.
He's like, bro, I get paid $16 an hour.
Yeah, that's very true.
Not gonna go over there.
Yeah, at least call the cops.
I think it almost is like, they don't think he heard anything, because he was like on his
iPod.
You know what I mean?
He's just like, that's the officer that he puts his iPod in.
What do they call it?
Headphones?
They're not earpods.
Airpods.
No, they are earpods.
Earbuds.
This is in 2011.
They wouldn't have had earpods.
Yeah.
And I'm pretty sure Earbud is that Golden Retriever movie.
Earbuds.
Anyway.
So the Apple employee that did hear something would state that she heard women arguing,
then one saying, quote, talk to me, don't do this, talk to me, what's going on.
Oh my gosh.
And then followed by screams and the sound of something or someone being hit or dragged.
But nobody called the cops.
So specific.
Yeah, oh yeah.
After this, she heard the same voice, but she said it was weak this time, saying, quote,
God help me, please help me, end quote.
And nobody called the cops.
Like what?
Nobody called.
Because the other Apple employee testified later that he thought the noise was, quote,
just drama.
Oh, it's just two girls.
They're just so dramatic.
Oh, you've hit me.
Stabbed me.
Oh, they're so dramatic.
Girls are so dramatic.
Those hysterical women.
Meanwhile, someone's getting like with their black bile.
Like causing all this magic to happen in your brains.
You women's.
Yeah, I guess this was Freud that was working at the Apple store.
But he had male hysteria.
That's very true.
Although they called it PTSD.
It's PTSD when it's a man.
It's hysteria when it's a woman.
Yeah.
Mental breakdown.
I know which episode was that.
15.0.
So long ago.
So police would continue their investigation and they would get a warrant to search Jaina's
car.
Okay.
So they would find and collect a blood sample that would later be identified of being a mixture
of Brittany's and Jaina's blood.
In her car.
Yeah, in Jaina's car.
Okay.
When questioning Brittany, police asked her if she had moved Jaina's car, which was found
three blocks away at a farmer's market.
Oh, she thought that was ditching the car.
She thought she was like clever.
Yeah.
She explained that the men had ordered her to and told her if she didn't come back in
10 minutes, they would kill her.
Like that seems like a perfect opportunity to escape.
To escape.
You have a car.
You're in a car.
You're outside the building.
Yeah.
Moving three blocks away.
Like you know how fast cars can go?
Just step on the skinny pedal.
I'm sure she also couldn't claim that they were in the car forcing her to do it.
Oh, of course.
She said that they stayed at the store and they told her to go and come back.
Yeah.
But she also stated that she even saw a police officer while she was moving the car, but
she just decided not to say anything to him.
She's like, I'm fine.
I can handle this.
I'm a big girl.
Yeah.
What?
Oh, I'm gonna go and leave the car.
I'm going to leave the car.
That's fine.
I can handle this.
When asked why she didn't just flee when she was out of the building away from the perpetrators
in the car, she explained that the two men had seen her home address on her ID and she
was worried that they would try to find her.
They just glanced at it but gave her her ID back.
Right?
Like, oh that's interesting.
No, I have a photographic memory you can keep it.
Exactly.
So while the investigation was still going on and within a week of the murder, the community
would hold a vigil for Jane and Murray.
As the night went on, news began to spread throughout the vigil.
Brittany Norwood had been arrested in connection to the murder of Jaina.
Wow.
This is at her, sorry, this is at her vigil.
Yes.
Oh my gosh.
A week after the assault on March 18th, Brittany Norwood was charged with first degree murder.
Police would keep the details of the arrest and crime very tightly under wraps and would
actually not release any information to the public until nearly seven months later at
her trial.
What?
Just anyone screwing up the story, they wanted all the evidence to be right there.
Wow.
And they were like, we're not releasing any information about this.
Nope, no press release.
All they know was that she was held for it.
Wow.
Yeah.
During the time awaiting trial, the Lulu Lemon Store was closed and boarded up, which I
just had to put that in there because I thought that's like really sad.
Like, it's probably like a mom and pop owned, you know, franchise or whatever.
But they had to keep it closed, of course, because it was an active crime scene essentially.
I'm sure they were collecting evidence that whole time as well.
Yeah.
You would think so.
But Brittany's trial would begin on October 26th, 2011.
It was then that the grueling details of what actually happened that night were exposed.
So on the night of the murder, Brittany and Janna were closing up the store and Janna
asked Brittany if she could check her bag.
This was very common and still is in high end retail stores because the merchandise
is super expensive.
Obviously, they don't want anyone stealing it.
Yeah, I worked for a company that did that for sure.
Yeah.
Everybody had to look at each other's bags before we left.
Yeah.
And not for nothing.
Not for the other before, but Brittany is a klepto.
So it's like, okay, might as well check her bag.
That makes so much sense now because I was going to ask what's the motive.
Yeah.
So Janna had found a pair of stolen yoga pants in Brittany's bag.
So it's unclear whether or not Janna asked Brittany about the pants or if there was just
tension.
But either way, like Brittany knew that Janna saw the pants.
But either way, Janna thought to herself that she would just give her superior a call once
Brittany left the store and she wasn't going to say anything to her.
The two had both left the store, Janna locking up, and then they both took off.
A few minutes later, Brittany called another store employee to ask for Janna's number
as she had left something behind inside but didn't have her number.
Or she just said that she didn't.
Exactly.
The employee gave her the number and Brittany then called Janna.
Janna had just gotten off the phone with her boss who she had informed about Brittany's
theft.
And the superior told Janna that she would just deal with it in the morning.
She was like, go ahead and go home, I'll figure it out tomorrow.
So once Janna answered Brittany's call, Brittany explained that she left her wallet inside
and asked Janna to come in and unlock the door for her.
Once inside, Brittany attacked Janna, ultimately, of course, brutally killing her.
So that was the 10 o'clock thing that the alarm was turned off.
Yes, exactly.
So Brittany then staged the scene to look like a robbery and put on a pair of men's shoes
from the store.
Begin tracking blood around the floor.
She would then move Janna's car and come up with her elaborate plan.
What were the people at the Appalachian store doing there so late?
I don't know, maybe they closed like an hour later than Lulu?
Yeah, maybe they were like 10, 20, 18, 15.
So Brittany would then return to the store where she cut herself up numerous times, bound
her feet and hands and laid on the bathroom floor.
Police believe that there was a nearly 90 minute time frame since Janna's death and
Brittany laying on the bathroom floor.
90 minutes in between.
90 minutes in between of what?
So she was-
Janna passing and Brittany laying on the floor, which means she had an hour and a half to
do all this planning and then she literally laid on the floor all night.
All night long.
That's another thing that I was gonna ask was like, because this is the next morning.
Does she think that maybe she was gonna be loud enough that the Appalachian store employees
would call the cops?
Yeah, I think so.
I think she was waiting for someone to show up.
Like there's no way that they didn't hear the ruckus, like the police are gonna be coming.
And then they didn't.
Or the manager showed up the next morning.
Or someone's gonna be looking for my ass because I'm not home yet.
Or nobody's heard from me in a few hours or something.
Wow.
Exactly.
I know, honestly, that's the creepiest part of this whole thing to me.
She literally laid down a deceased person for probably eight hours.
Just for her fucking story.
That's so-
Like how far are you willing to go for a pair of leggings?
For a pair of leggings.
Like all over a pair of leggings.
Well, she was afraid she was gonna lose her job is what it was.
Yeah, but like it's just like you said it was kind of just like a, oh well, I'll just
start working here.
Yeah, exactly.
So it wasn't even like a career or anything like that.
But it could ruin her reputation and her career.
Well, she already knew what happened.
Last time she got reports of theft.
That's true.
You know, she got kicked out of school and everything.
That's true.
During the trial, prosecutors showed the jury all of the evidence, including phone calls
and video footage of Brittany claiming to not know the type of car that Jaina drove.
What?
She's like, oh, I don't even know what kind of car she drives.
But she drove it.
Yeah, exactly.
She drove it at least once.
The evidence was so overwhelming in fact that Brittany had to alter her plea to self-defense
as opposed to not guilty because they were like there's literally no way to do this.
Like you could not like physically could not put in a plea of not guilty.
Not have done it.
Yeah, exactly.
The jury deliberated for just 21 minutes before finding Brittany Norwood guilty of first degree
murder.
21 minutes.
This sounds like a girl that's kind of entitled, honestly.
This sounds like a girl that was really entitled and thought that she could just get away with
it because she's never had to deal with any of the consequences most of her life when
stealing things for a while, you know, until it got really bad.
Yeah, I just, ugh, yeah.
Well, it sounds like entitlement.
Again, like I said earlier, I think that she thought there's no way they're not going
to believe me if I have cuts all over my body.
I'm found tied up.
I tell them I'm sexually assaulted.
There's no way they're not going to believe me.
They're going to go looking for these guys and then I'm going to get away with Scott
Free and they're never going to find the guys.
Yeah.
And my problem solved.
I got to keep the leggings.
You know what I mean though?
Like she didn't think about the consequences.
Or the fact that they might be able to seat their bullshit.
And how old was she at this point?
Because I'm thinking about that whole frontal lobe thing about learning consequences and
stuff.
28?
28, yeah.
She sounds like she's a 14, 15 year old girl.
In the thinking process.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, it's just wild.
She definitely didn't, it was most definitely a rage crime.
With the amount of wounds that Jaina had, like that's ridiculous.
And I'll talk about that in just a minute as well.
I went, yeah, like you said, the rage behind it, I'm wondering if it wasn't just her taking
out every bit of uncomfortability or frustration she's ever felt surrounding Cleptomania.
Yeah, she's like, I got confused.
I got caught once again or not even caught in her mind.
She probably thinks I got, what's it called when you accused?
I got accused.
Yeah, she's more mad about that.
Yeah, exactly.
So at Brittany's sentencing, Jaina's family showed home videos of her and they were adamant
that Brittany not be eligible for parole and serve out her entire life sentence.
Well, yeah, the crime was brutal.
Yeah, absolutely.
The judge would agree and Brittany was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of
parole on January 27th, 2012.
In 2015, Brittany contested her conviction using a Maryland state law that guarantees
circuit court defendants the right to appeal.
Her lawyers would argue that she did not receive her Miranda rights early enough in the investigation
and was thus improperly questioned by detectives.
What was I supposed to give her Miranda rights when she was unconscious in the hospital or
asleep or something?
Yeah, when was I supposed to do that?
The court bluntly stated about this quote, the evidence of Norwood's guilt was overwhelming.
End quote.
That's, yeah.
It's like all they responded with.
Mic drop.
Yeah.
They were ruling them just saying that effectively has ruined her chances forever appealing again.
Well, I mean the brutality of the crime is outrageous.
Yeah.
I think in a way, I don't want to say unmatched because like how do you compare apples and
oranges but it's very extreme.
331 wounds at least.
That's not total.
That's as many as they found.
Yeah.
Exactly.
That is absolutely brutal and content warning for you guys, if you do research this crime,
there are crime scene photos online, not of the body but just as much of blood and stuff.
Oh, I see.
Well, not that I could find.
I didn't look, try to look.
I should have said that about Jodi Arias because oh gosh, those things are, those pictures
are everywhere and it's just heartbreaking because you know, the Alexander family has
to deal with that.
Yeah, absolutely.
That's awful.
So Brittany Norwood remains in the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup,
Maryland to this day and she has been living a relatively quiet life since 2015 as there
is not really much known about her online since then.
She's like, she was like, I can't appeal anymore, might as well just shut up.
I'm just going to be quiet.
Yeah.
Which is probably what she should do.
Honestly.
Of course her parents do not agree with the decision and they continue to show support
for their daughter, hoping that one day she will be released.
Do you think it was just like a mental break?
Do you think that there was something that just snapped and she just raged out?
Yeah, I think so because I was going to say that she was never diagnosed with any mental
disorders, but it is known that she was actually going to try to attempt to plead insanity
at first, but her lawyers weren't able to prove any mental disability.
Well, I wonder if it's not a CTE thing.
It might be.
And they won't know that.
Yeah, they won't know that until post-mortem.
I mean, yeah.
Yeah, no, it's just a really like giant horrible story, you know, from the beginning and this
is a smaller case that I decided to bring this time.
But I think it's like really important.
Like there is no underlying mental disorder that we know of, but you're completely right.
I didn't even think about CTE.
And even if there's not a mental disorder, like we want to cover cases like this as well
because of that brutality of that crime is just so unfair and like over something so
little, like there's no way that there's not a mental disorder in there is what I'm trying
to say.
Yeah, exactly.
Like there's no way.
I agree.
Yeah, especially with the brutality of the crime and, you know, the lengths that she
attempted to go through to cover it up.
Yeah.
And, you know, I'm sorry, but you just, I feel like if it was like a snap or something
that she wouldn't have that wherewithal to kind of cover it up.
I agree.
And maybe that's what it was.
Maybe it was just a scramble to try to figure out a story or something.
Yeah.
I mean, she had eight hours to think about what she was going to say.
Yeah, exactly.
But she also, like I said, had 90 minutes in between the killing and her laying down to
like being a victim.
Yeah.
She had so much time and yeah, in the eight hours on top of that, she had so much time
to reconsider.
Why even stay there?
Why not just escape?
Why not just leave the scene?
Well, she's totally thinking like I was the only other employee with her here last night.
So clearly it's yeah.
I don't know, man.
I think I think personally like she did snap in that moment and then she was like, oh shit,
like what am I going to do?
People that are kleptomaniacs, if you will, are also very good at like lying and they're
very manipulative.
And I think that's something that she was, I think she was thought that she was going
to outsmart everybody's story.
Well, even kleptomaniac can be an impulsion and a compulsion at the same time.
So I think that maybe it's also that it's like a snap decision and then I'll just pay
for the consequences later if there are any.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, obviously our thoughts go out to Jaina's family.
I do hope that Brittany is getting the help that she needs in jail, but you know, we can
never really count on that, especially because she wasn't diagnosed with anything.
But anyway, that's the Lulu Lemon murder story and that's what it's known as.
But yeah, Brittany Norwood, I didn't think that you knew that case.
And so I was like, I'm going to bring this one, see if she catches on.
Like I think that I saw maybe a YouTube, because I watch a lot of that chapter, Dave's
Lemonade or Dreading.
And I always talk about those guys because they're my favorite and I'm obsessed, but
I'm pretty sure one of them had done a case on this.
And so I think it sounds familiar, but I'm also like severely ADD.
And so I'll be walking around the house with my wireless headset and just like listening
to true crime 100% of the time.
And so I think I heard it, but I didn't really retain it.
Yeah.
So yeah, thanks for bringing it.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you guys for joining us.
We are on the countdown for the festival.
I think by the time you hear this, it'll be maybe two weeks.
And then we go to the festival three weeks.
Yeah, three weeks.
Yeah, I think to the day actually, because we're going to leave that Thursday.
So three weeks to the day.
And then we're going.
We're definitely getting some merch working for you guys.
We're going to have some freebies.
We're also going to have some Patreon merch as well.
If you sign up for the Patreon, you get something special, but we will have some freebies.
So definitely come by and stop by and say hello to us and buy us a beverage and do whatever
you want.
Do everything that's fun.
I'm just going to have to ship Lui a pen.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Okay, well, we love you guys.
Thanks so much for joining us and we will see you later.
Love you.
Bye.
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of Mac.
What is it?
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Whoa, whoa.
So Brittany- oh sorry, go ahead.
Oh, no, no.
When you said, oh.
Start recording when you're just randomly talking.
There you go.
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The cat.
Whole place.
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Absolutely.
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