Apple employee Jana Svrzo told two managers what she'd heard, but they refused to do anything
Apple store senior manager Ricardo Rios suffered no repercussions for his negligence; instead, Apple made the security guards the fall guys
Remorseless war criminal Brittany Norwood; her family asked for a life sentence with the chance of parole. If anyone ever deserved the needle, it was her, but instead she got life “without” (read: until) parole.Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
Thanks to reader-researcher “W.”
I don’t begrudge Dan Morse profiting off this case; I’m a crime reporter myself. Crime writers work homicides, and deserve to be paid for their labors, just like any other legal trade. No one is forced to read articles or books on crime. But I do begrudge him profiting while writing disinformation. I’ll bet you the ranch that this book denies that Brittany Norwood’s murder of Jayna Murray was racially motivated, or avoids the issue altogether. And anyone denying that is engaging in a disinformation strategy.
I hope I’m wrong, but I haven’t been yet.
I blogged extensively on this atrocity; a set of links follows the excerpt.
Book excerpt: Dan Morse’s The Yoga Store Murder
View Photo Gallery — The Lululemon killing, trial and sentencing: The 2011 killing of Jayna Murray in a Bethesda, Md., yoga store by her co-worker Brittany Norwood led to intense news coverage and a new book, “The Yoga Store Murder,’’ by Post reporter Dan Morse. Here are a few highlights from the case.
By Dan Morse, Published: November 4 | Updated: Tuesday, November 5, 12:01 A.M. E-mail the writers
Washington Post
28 comments
Excerpt adapted from the “The Yoga Store Murder.”
The sounds reached Jana Svrzo as she walked across the sales floor of the Apple Store, now closed for the night. Jana was 29 years old and wore funky black sneakers and a ready smile — an easy fit among Apple’s hip, young sales army. It was just after 10 p.m. on Friday, March 11, 2011, in downtown Bethesda, and Jana, the store’s manager, had about an hour’s worth of record-keeping ahead of her, following the opening day sales for Apple’s hot new product, the iPad 2.
Now, though, she looked to her right and listened. The sounds were high-pitched yelps and squeals, and low-pitched grunts, thuds, a dragging noise, as if something heavy was being moved. Jana thought they might be coming from a room near the back exit or a room upstairs, where technicians were still on duty. She asked a security guard to help her search.
Jana and the guard split up, meeting two minutes later upstairs, where they spoke to another young manager, Ricardo Rios.
“Screaming,” the guard said. “It sounded like some lady was screaming.”
They checked out the technicians’ room. All clear. They walked downstairs to the sales floor and heard more yelling. “It’s coming from next door,” Jana said — from Lululemon Athletica, the luxury yoga store with which Apple shared a wall.
She and Ricardo walked closer to the wall. Jana now could hear someone saying: “Talk to me. Don’t do this. Talk to me. What’s going on?”
Then she heard what sounded like a different voice, maybe the one that had just been screaming. Now it was quieter: “God help me. Please help me.”
“Maybe I should just call the cops,” Jana said.
“That’s up to you,” Ricardo answered. He told Jana it sounded as if one person had just heard tragic news and the other was trying to get her to talk about it. “I think it’s just drama.”
Ricardo went back upstairs. It was 10:19 p.m., eight minutes after Jana had first heard the noises.
Wilbert Hawkins, a second security guard, had been observing the commotion. The crashing sounds, he figured, could have been a merchandise display falling over, the yelling some kind of horsing around. He and Jana and Ricardo came to the same view:
This was Bethesda; surely the noises were something explainable.
They could see pedestrians walking around and nearby restaurants that were still open. People’s instincts often work against them in such situations. The more people there are around, they assume, the more likely it is that someone will call — or has already called — for help if there really is a need.
Jana went upstairs and for the next half hour, she and Ricardo added up receipts for the day.
Ricardo left at 10:56 p.m. Jana finished 10 minutes later, and walked out as well.
The next morning, 26-year-old Ryan Haugh walked up to the Apple Store. He’d tried to buy an iPad 2 the night before and waited in the long line outside for more than two hours, but the tablets were sold out by the time he got to the door. Ryan didn’t want to make the same mistake again, so he’d thrown on jeans and a bright red Philadelphia Phillies baseball cap and dashed out of his home that morning without a shower.
It was now 7:45 a.m., more than two hours before the store would open. No other customers had yet arrived, so Ryan took a seat on a teak bench near the Apple Store.
Shortly after 8 a.m., he saw a woman approach, her orange running shoes bright against the gray morning, and go into the store next to Apple, clearly an employee about to start her day. Moments later, Ryan heard a voice.
“Hello? Hello?!”
There was an edge to it. The woman in the orange shoes came back out and was talking on her phone. “I hear someone moaning in the back,” she was saying, “and it looks like it’s been vandalized and I’m just really scared to go in.”
To Ryan it was clear she had called 911. She answered a few more questions, giving her name, Rachel. She ended the call and turned toward Ryan. “Have you seen anyone go in or out of this store this morning?” she asked.
No, Ryan said. “Do you want me to go in?”
“Would you mind?”
Ryan had never been inside a Lululemon shop. He thought it looked like a Gap, with lots of low racks and tables full of bright-colored clothes. He walked to the back as Rachel waited up front. “Anybody here?” Ryan called out. No response.
On the floor, Ryan saw scattered blood stains, which grew more concentrated as he advanced to a back corner. He noticed even more blood at the base of a purple door, as if it had seeped from the other side. He gently pushed the door. It stopped, hitting the side of a body.
Ryan saw a pair of legs extending from a body facedown surrounded by more blood. He reached down. No movement. “There’s somebody back here!” he shouted back to Rachel. “It looks like they’re dead!”
He headed back toward the front of the store, for the first time noticing two bathrooms to his right. Their doors were both open, and he saw another pair of legs, bound at the ankles and extending from one of the doorways. “There’s somebody else in here!” Ryan called out.
He approached the second woman, noting that her hands were bound over her head, and her face was bloody. “Are you okay?” he asked. She moaned, barely.
Rachel rushed outside and called 911 again.
Seconds later a police car zoomed down Bethesda Avenue, stopping in front of the crowd. The officer jumped out and told the crowd to get back; she drew her gun and went into the store.
Then, silence. No shots. No screams. More cops arrived and rushed in, then paramedics, who rolled a stretcher into the store. Minutes later, they wheeled it out. There was a woman on top, covered in a blanket, writhing in pain. The customers could see blood on her face. “Is she going to make it?” one of them asked.
The author will discuss the book on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m., at the Barnes & Noble in downtown Bethesda. Two jurors from the Lululemon trial will also be available to take questions.
[Previously, on this racist atrocity, at WEJB/NSU:
“Bethesda Cops: Black Yoga Store Worker Murdered White Colleague, Made Up Story about Masked Rapist-Killers, in Order to Avoid Jail for Thefts”;
“In 2007, Ex-Boyfriend Charged That Lululemon Murderer Brittany Norwood was Stalking Him”;
“Already in August, Lululemon Killer Brittany Norwood’s Lawyer was Playing the ‘Crazy Card’”;
“Lululemon Murder Trial, Day 2: A Bloody Video, in a Tear-Filled Courtroom”;
“The Lululemon Murder Trial, Day 3: The Apple Employees Who Heard the Murder, but Did Nothing”;
“Jayna Murray Murder on ID Channel Sunday Night”; and
4 comments:
There was a book on the case published earlier titled, "Murder In The Yoga Store," by one Peter Ross Range. It's had 162 Amazon reviews so far.
I have yet to see either.
Speaking of books, Jamie Satterfield tweets every week or so that she is still working on her book on the Christian-Newsom case. She says its slow going because of her daily work schedule.
David In TN
Reading this reminded me of the Hi-Fi murders in Ogden, Utah, a good many years ago, documented in the book, "VICTIM", by Gary Kinder.
Eventually, after far too many years, the murderers were finally executed in the Utah State Prison.
At the first execution, lots of folks in Utah, including myself, celebrated.
Outside of the prison, an organized protest demonstration was permitted in an isolated area on the other side of I-15.
I was part of a counter protest gathering, and we drank root beer and released balloons into the air.
The joys of diversity. Jerry:
http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/norway-bus-hijacker-kills-3-with-knife-police
Last night on the ID Channel (Investigative Discovery) there was an episode of "20/20 on ID Presents: Homicide." It was about "The Yoga Store murder." It will be repeated on the ID Channel early Sunday morning, November 20, at 5 am ET. You can set your DVR for it.
The show isn't bad. The racial aspect is mentioned in a roundabout way. When the detectives realized Norwood was faking her injuries and had killed Jayna Murray, they were cautious and "took it slow." Brittaney Norwood, you see, was "a typical upper middle class black kid," and accusing her of falsely claiming rape and then murdering a white woman could mean "hell to pay."
It's acknowledged that "petty theft followed Norwood where she went."
The lead detective, a light skinned black man, said of the brutal murder: "I can't fathom it. A woman doing this to another woman. It makes no sense. Zilch."
Maybe the proprietor of NSU/WEJB could enlighten him.
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