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45 - Jennifer Holiday and the Lululemon Murder
43 Plays17 days ago
Sam tells the amazing survival story of Jennifer Holiday.
Jeff tells the story of the Lululemon Murder. Was someone really murdered over yoga pants?
Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.
Enjoy!
Sam's sources:
Jeff's sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lululemon_murder
- https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/lululemon-murder-store-employee-suffered-over-300-blows-severed-spinal-cord-in-fatal-attack
- https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/md-court-of-special-appeals/1699427.html
- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bang-to-rights/id1621252969?i=1000577991946
- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rotten-mango/id1517954480?i=1000497245376
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Transcript
Introduction & Sparkly Wand
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, Sam. Hi, Jeffrey.
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome to Down the Rabbit Hole with Jeff and Sam. I'm Jeff. And I'm Sam. Yes, you are. And you are just a fairy goddess with your wand. Thank you. Oh my god, thank you. I found this little sparkly, shiny wand with a pink ribbon on it and rhinestone.
00:00:42
Speaker
It's hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world. Anyway, this is my thing that I will hold in my hand today as we record. It is very fitting. Thank you. I wouldn't expect anything else. Nor would I.
00:00:53
Speaker
I'll keep my swords. Thanks. Yes. You can have all those damn clinging swords that you want.
Podcast Availability & Listener Interaction
00:00:59
Speaker
I thank you guys for listening. We're on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Amazon.
00:01:06
Speaker
And we're here for a good time. Not a long time. But that was good. But a good time. And what about our email and Instagram? You can find us down the rabbit hole, pod at gmail.com. Send us recommendations, stories, updates. Just say, hi, how you doing?
00:01:22
Speaker
um Instagram down the rabbit hole, pod. There is something magical about that. Instagram. Did you just hit that on the microphone? I did. Can you please control your one? I can't control the one. It controls me.
00:01:36
Speaker
no it's not the one. It's the wizard. Jeffrey. Okay. Okay. I will try. kidding. just kidding
00:01:44
Speaker
Anyway, we're here for a good time, not a long time, as we said. um Hello. Hi. We have not done this in about two weeks. You know, we went through a point where we got so far ahead yeah that the show that came out, who I don't even know what today is, the past Thursday, we recorded. No, I thought it was Friday. I know.
00:02:04
Speaker
For the record, it is the 8th of April, and this will
Sam's Aruba Adventure
00:02:08
Speaker
come out on the 10th of April. So this is, we're actually like live-ish, kind of. Um, the last show we recorded, like, I don't know, two weeks ago, you even went to an island in the middle of nowhere. I did. How was that? night Oh, honestly, it can't even fit all of the whoa, yay into a podcast episode.
00:02:28
Speaker
Aruba stunning the water, the beach, everything that everyone mentioned, um, worth it. The sun was wicked, just wicked.
00:02:40
Speaker
And, uh, There were a lot of white people that my friend Happy and I were looking at that were fire engine red. And it was... I know those people because in Hawaii, I would see the same people when I lived Hawaii. don't get I don't get it.
00:02:56
Speaker
That's their stupidity, right? You know, and it's like, I get that some people are like, oh well, i have to sunburn first and then it turns to tan. I don't understand that. I've never burned, so I don't get that. mindset.
00:03:08
Speaker
The moment I walked out in the Aruban sun, like it was, i could tell it felt different. I knew it was different and it was different even than Mexico sun, Dominican sun. It was, you could just feel it already sizzling you. So I went right back in and I bought s SPF 50 and 60, which I never wear ever yeah put that baby on every 15 minutes. And I came back everyone was like, you're not as dark as I thought you were. And was like, Oh, i didn't really have a choice because it was either burned to a crisp.
00:03:36
Speaker
but yeah Or just a little golden brown. So, you know, I'll take a little golden brown. There's one picture that I have in my mind that you showed me. can I share it with the people that listen? don't know. It depends on what it is The hallway picture?
00:03:51
Speaker
Go right ahead. They know I'm a mess. Yeah, she's a hot mess. My favorite picture is one that I'm sure was not posted on Instagram. I'm positive. Not yet. Sam here laying in the hallway of the hotel.
00:04:04
Speaker
Mind you, in the middle of the hallway of the hotel, face down on the floor. i think you were asleep. that Is that right? and think I did take a good solid like minute na minute nap. yeah i yeah we just Face down on the red carpet of the hallway.
00:04:23
Speaker
That was my favorite picture. Mind you, I'm in like a little mini black dress and high heels and I'm just oh looking cute, looking cute on that red carpet. I and we we had been out and about and doing our thing. I mean, as is expected on a tropical, all inclusive escape.
00:04:41
Speaker
My go to is drink from the moment I get to the airport until the moment I get back to the airport. That's just how I do it, right? And i accepted that full swing. ah Mind you, I hadn't had any alcohol in a month.
00:04:57
Speaker
so So hit me hard, especially that night. We were dancing. We were doing the thing. Then we went upstairs, I think, to like change, you maybe get a snack or something, get into clothes that were not little mini dresses.
00:05:11
Speaker
And I got off the elevator, and there's this whole transition of pictures of like, me dropping something in the elevator, me spinning around. And like, you can see happy in the, in the mirrored part of the elevator and she's just dying laughing. And then I made it a few steps into the hall. was like, I can't make it. I gotta stop.
00:05:30
Speaker
We were only like five doors from the elevator, mind you. So it was just a hard time. And happy. You rocked that song. I want to dance with somebody.
00:05:41
Speaker
You rocked that song. I saw the video of that. Well, hello. First, first I saw, I get a picture from Sam as she's in Aruba. And we typically, when we're not together for a weekend, we don't chat that much, right?
00:05:55
Speaker
But I get a picture from you in Aruba with, I want to dance with somebody performed by Jeff Rogers. And I'm like, what the fuck is this we thought that was the funniest it was all so funny and then then the next thing i get to the video of happy rocking it yo happy you can sing girl you cannot know not just sing you can perform yes she can that was really good she can indeed lord so what's new with you what did you do on the weekend while i was oh my god
00:06:28
Speaker
I had a massage.
Jeff's Relaxing Weekend
00:06:29
Speaker
I went to the float tank and I floated sensory deprivation. Oh my God. It's amazing. I've done it. This is my fourth time.
00:06:39
Speaker
ah keep saying I'm going to it. I should try it. We should go. we should go. Let's do it. Let's sit on our time. um And then what watch tv It was so quiet.
00:06:53
Speaker
loved every minute of it. I watched, oh yes, I watched the show you recommended to me on Max. It's called The Pit, about an emergency department and all the chaos that comes along with the emergency department and the relationship between the nurses and the doctors and the charge nurse and the...
00:07:11
Speaker
Yeah, I love it The cool thing about that show, there's so many cool things about that show, um but the main attending doctor was yeah on the original ER, and I saw one of his posts on Instagram that was like, 20 years ago, this was me, and it was him as a little baby resident, like and it's just cool because now he's playing this role as an attending, and I mean, we've talked about it since, but the accuracy in that show, you know, the the conversations that go on between patients and the providers um the atmosphere in the waiting room everything is pretty freaking accurate um yeah that was a good show it's wild it's wild and then i watched um oh the first season of true detective oh my god with um matthew mcconaughey and uh yeah i gotta watch that
00:08:06
Speaker
Oh, God, what's his name? what but Woody harlson Harrelson. Really dark. That is as dark as it gets. I loved it. Loved every minute of it. You know I love that.
Jennifer Holliday's Survival Story
00:08:16
Speaker
Wait, where's my show to watch?
00:08:17
Speaker
Wait, wait, wait. Was it called? the The True Detective? True Detective. Season 1. I tried to watch season 4 with Jodie Foster. Can't. Didn't care for that. How old is that show?
00:08:28
Speaker
So season 1 came out, I think, in, like, eh-ish 2015. Oh, okay. okay But it's set in the ninety s 95, 2002. Really good. Can we cheers, queers? Because I really want this poppy. Oh, I know. Honestly, I've been... Yeah, this is San Jeffrey.
00:08:47
Speaker
Oh, here we go. I'm drinking a root beer poppy. i'm drinking a ginger lime. know I knew.
00:09:00
Speaker
That looks like root beer. It smells like root beer. Wow, that looks so refreshing. does. Oh, it looks like a beer, straight up like a beer beer. Okay, cheers, Chris. Okay.
00:09:16
Speaker
It tastes not quite A&W good. Well, obviously nothing's as good as A&W. But good. Tastes like woop beer. Woop beer. It tastes like woop beer.
00:09:29
Speaker
Woop beer. woop beo i like woop beer. All right, let's flip a coin to see who goes first, Jeffrey. hey Tell me when to stop. Oh, wait, I brought... um I don't know what we just did.
00:09:44
Speaker
we We're very comfortable in a microphone now, can you tell? Wait, did you already pick a coin? I did. You brought one from... Well, no, I brought one from Aruba. I didn't bring it with me here, of course, because i would require a foresight.
00:09:56
Speaker
Okay. I just waved my wand. You didn't. Bippity-boppity booped me. All right, you, sir, are going to be the hell yes side, and i shall be the fuck no side.
00:10:07
Speaker
Where was that one from? The tray. No. I know that. Why did you just snore at me? Where did that one come from, though? I can't remember. It's getting to too... many from around everywhere? It's so good, though.
00:10:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's good. Okay. Okay.
00:10:26
Speaker
Did you drop it? You didn't drop it. It went in between my legs. Oh, you didn't drop it Fuck no. Tis my turn. Okay. Tell me a story, Sam. All right. Is there anything else?
00:10:38
Speaker
Was there anything else that we needed to say? ah This is coming out on the 10th. Oh, yeah. Sarah in Norway. Cassidy in Alabama.
00:10:50
Speaker
Born in the same day, the same year. i think at the same time. Really? Really? I think-ish, like same part of the day.
00:11:02
Speaker
Different continents, Norway, Alabama. Just both of them are beautiful, beautiful young women and happy birthday to them. Happy birthday. Yes, Sarah Cassidy.
00:11:12
Speaker
There you go. Okay. I think that's it. Anything else? Probably. Okay. Well, if you think of anything, just spew it out. Spew.
00:11:24
Speaker
Okay, here we go. 9-1-1, how can I help you? Somebody shot me, and this man here helped me on the side of the road. Someone shot you? Uh-huh.
00:11:37
Speaker
And my arm is in half right now. And this man, this man right here, the one right in front of me, he helped me out. There's muffled voices in the background. Okay, where are you, ma'am?
00:11:50
Speaker
Just please hurry. Okay, are you from this area? Mm-mm. Okay, let me speak to the gentleman that's helping you, okay? ah I don't know.
00:12:04
Speaker
Police officer's speaking on the other end of the line. I've got another gunshot wound here. Yes, ah same one, same one, same one. You're the same? Uh-huh, yep, please hurry. Oh,
00:12:21
Speaker
you got me. In March 2007, two women came together to meet face-to-face for the first time. Two years prior, Stephanie Davidson had been the Lufkin police dispatcher who answered the 911 call from Jennifer Holliday.
00:12:38
Speaker
Holliday was a 27-year-old EMT in Lufkin, Texas, when her life forever changed. It was May 29, 2005. Jennifer had just picked up her 18-year-old cousin, Anna Franklin, from where she had been babysitting.
00:12:51
Speaker
The two young women stopped at a convenience store on the way home. As they pulled out of the store lot, they noticed that a truck that had been parked in the same store began following them. After following closely for many miles, the driver of the truck pulled out a shotgun and started shooting at the woman in their Explorer.
00:13:10
Speaker
Jennifer was forced to swerve off the road. Franklin tried to dial 911 as they skidded to a halt. Unfortunately, the driver of the truck, 31-year-old Eric Parnell, had approached the Explorer.
00:13:23
Speaker
When standing just a couple of feet away, he shot into the car. Franklin was instantly killed by the blast. Holiday was wounded in the arm, chest, and neck. She had at least 40 shotgun pellet wounds.
00:13:36
Speaker
As she poured blood, Parnell dragged her from the car and into his vehicle. He walked back to the SUV and tried to drag Franklin's body away from the scene. The only thought Holiday had was to get his weapon that he had left on the front seat.
00:13:50
Speaker
She managed to grab it and throw it out the window. Unfortunately, she looked around to find multiple additional guns.
00:13:59
Speaker
He got back in the car and drove them miles away. He pulled off onto a back road. As he slowed, she remembered thinking, Okay, so should i try to drop his grab his gun and use it? or should i i mean, I'm going to die regardless, so should I at least go for it?
00:14:16
Speaker
Throughout the drive, he had been behaving erratically. He became violent at points. He would rage, hit her, and then start laughing hysterically. They pulled over. Parnell forced her out of the truck and sexually assaulted her.
00:14:29
Speaker
Then they got back in the truck. He was a completely different person. He would cry and then ask her what happened to her, ask her what happened to her arm and why she was bleeding. As he became more unhinged, Holiday clung to her own crazy idea.
00:14:43
Speaker
She began to formulate a story that made Parnell out to be a hero. She changed the way she talked to him. She soothed him and spoke to him with affection. She thanked him repeatedly for the night, pretending that she had enjoyed the sexual assault and for saving her life.
00:14:59
Speaker
She invented a story about a stranger who had shot her and left her for dead on the highway, and then told Parnell that he had come by and promised to take her to safety. He began to believe her stories, but as she was convincing, and but she was very convincing and her own and her manipulations he started to believe were fact.
00:15:20
Speaker
She continued to believe though. She was running out of time. Her clothes had been removed and discarded during the assault. So she used a shirt of his to make a quick tourniquet to slow the bleeding.
00:15:32
Speaker
She asked Parnell to allow her to use his phone to get help for the wounds.
00:15:39
Speaker
Initially, he wouldn't allow her to use the phone because he had multiple warrants out for his arrest related to domestic violence, assault, and making terror threats. She eventually convinced him as she continued to praise him as her savior.
00:15:52
Speaker
He agreed but threatened her life before allowing it. He claimed he wouldn't be to blame for whatever happened to her if she didn't behave. Once they arrived at Parnell's isolated home, her eyes were immediately drawn to the small cemetery at the front of the property.
00:16:08
Speaker
The 911 call was what you heard at the beginning of this.
00:16:14
Speaker
By the time the call occurred, Lufkin police had already found Jennifer's abandoned car and Anna's body. The call was cryptic enough to allow the police to piece together that she was the missing driver and she had been abducted.
00:16:27
Speaker
Parnell allowed her to continue to talk to the 911 operator, Davidson. He demanded that only paramedics come, no police or other law enforcement. Holiday continued her praise of Parnell to keep him cooperative and subdued.
00:16:40
Speaker
After a few hours of persistent bleeding from her many wounds, Jennifer became lightheaded and was unable to concentrate enough to tell Davidson the directions to his home. Parnell was convinced to get on the phone and personally provide 911 with his home address and assist them in getting there.
00:17:01
Speaker
Do you think the paramedics can find it if it's a long driveway? Parnell says, I don't know if they can or not. That's why I want to walk to the end of the road. I don't know. it's It's right before the cemetery.
00:17:12
Speaker
Okay. They should be able to find it. It's kind of a ways out there, and it takes them a few minutes to get there. How is she doing? Is she getting faint or anything? I know she says she's lost a lot of blood.
00:17:24
Speaker
She acts completely okay, but I know she's scared out of her wits. So am I because I'm the one that picked her up and I'm scared to death because I got blood on me from head to toe. Well, you're doing a great job, okay?
00:17:35
Speaker
The ambulance is not far from you, all right? As they waited for the ambulance, Jennifer continued very weakly to thank Parnell and give him fake details from the night. Gosh, she's smart. She is so fucking smart.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, yeah he bought into the story fully. One hour after the 911 call, paramedics showed up at the very rural and isolated property.
00:17:59
Speaker
Davidson told Jennifer to walk out of the house towards the ambulance. As she walked away from the house, Parnell was right behind her. At one point, she believed she was hallucinating from blood loss because the trees seemed to be moving across her vision.
00:18:11
Speaker
A moment later, she understood that it was not the trees, but a SWAT team. They easily and rapidly overwhelmed him and took him into custody. Within 24 hours of the attack, Eric Parnell was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated sexual assault, and kidnapping.
00:18:27
Speaker
In December 2005, during jury selection, he pleaded guilty to all charges and received a sentence of life imprisonment. jennifer Jennifer survived that horrific attack and the night that followed.
00:18:39
Speaker
However, as a direct result of the shooting and the injuries to her arm, she lost her job as an EMT, which meant that she lost her insurance. she went count She underwent countless expensive surgeries and her medical bills piled up.
00:18:52
Speaker
She went into massive debt and could not afford additional desperately needed surgeries. By 2007, she was left with minimal basic function in the left arm, significant nerve damage,
00:19:03
Speaker
a repaired hole in the bone and a 20 inch scar running down the back of the arm. Even after five grueling surgeries, she still did not have fine motor skills in the extremity. In September of 2007, CEO of Memorial Hermann hospital heard her terrible story and covered all of her medical bills.
00:19:22
Speaker
well She was able to receive a few more critical surgeries and regain movement in her elbow. She continues to struggle daily, but maintains a positive attitude and motivation to keep moving forward.
00:19:33
Speaker
Damn. She's smart. Right? Yeah. Smart. Like to think about the trauma that she had already endured, but for her to think like, oh, I'm going to feed into this crazy. I'm going to.
00:19:50
Speaker
Smart. So smart. Keeping a cool head as she's bleeding out. First responder. There you go. Fucking ah That is not a shock. they They have to think two steps ahead. They do. You know? I mean, all of the the the dangers and stuff that they pose.
00:20:08
Speaker
Like, you never know what you're going up. I think about it like this. Like, we're in the emergency department. We're steps are removed from what they see when they get to a scene. You know what I mean? Yeah. and And some of them have told me their stories, and it's just insane.
00:20:24
Speaker
It really is. I mean, it really is. Because... i mean, even... Yeah, police officers, EMTs, you know, you talk to them about because they bring you the patients, right? So if you're doing CPR on someone that fell off a building or was pushed off a bridge or hanged themselves or whatever it is, you know, you're doing it in a very controlled setting. And, you know, the outcome is not guaranteed, but it's very controlled. But, you know, being that first responder that's the first to breach the door and find that, you know,
00:21:01
Speaker
Yep. So chairs to the police, paramedics, EMTs, all the first responders. Thanks for what you do. to
Lululemon Break-In Discovery
00:21:11
Speaker
Okay. So my story is we're going to go to Bethesda, Maryland. It's the 11th of March, 2011. We're going to start with Rachel. She's the store manager at the Lululemon there in Bethesda. She was opening the store at 8am and she walks past the Apple store to get to the Lululemon store.
00:21:28
Speaker
um she A lot of people were waiting in line at the Apple store because that was the second generation iPad day that that was going to come out. So you can imagine that the line around the Apple store was so fucking long.
00:21:42
Speaker
It's wild. I think I have Generation 11 right now or something like that. That's crazy, yeah. She walks past everybody in line. She goes to the Lululemon store and she's about to get the key in the lock or put the key in the lock when she realized that the door was open.
00:21:56
Speaker
So she thought maybe the employees that closed last night, maybe they forgot to lock the door. then when she went into the store, it was messed up. Like the clothing was on the ground, stuff was knocked over. Then she thinks maybe it's not the people that closed last night.
00:22:09
Speaker
This is kind of unsettling to her. Did somebody rob the store? That's what it looked like. ah Rachel runs out of the store because she doesn't feel safe, rightfully so. And there was a guy in line at the Apple store who noticed her and got out of line and asked if she was okay.
00:22:23
Speaker
This man's name was Ryan Ho. He had been in line at the Apple store waiting to buy that second generation iPad. She tells Ryan what she saw. And she's like, what if somebody is in that store?
00:22:36
Speaker
so ryan Ryan, being a good human that he is, goes into the store with her. just want to say, though, i this is that's wonderful. Good for him. But also, like maybe just stand with her outside and call 911.
00:22:49
Speaker
like Does that not cross people's minds? Oh, absolutely. like You could just stand outside with her, sir. like We don't have to go back in. But then I know you. And you would think, what if somebody...
00:23:02
Speaker
And that story needs help. Yeah. And... So I would go in, but Ryan didn't have to. Ryan did not have to, but that shows human nature, like I said the first time.
00:23:16
Speaker
Right? Because he didn't have to, but he did because she was scared. And so Ryan was probably also scared. Yeah. But he went in there to help Rachel. ah Things were knocked off the rack. The cash registers are open. Receipts are everywhere.
00:23:27
Speaker
They're probably thinking it was a robbery. And then they get to the back of the store and there was glass everywhere. And there was also blood everywhere. Even bloody hand marks on the wall and a trail of blood to the back of the store. It looked like somebody had been dragged to the back of the store in the blood.
00:23:44
Speaker
Ryan goes back even further and that's when he sees a body lying in a pool of blood. Whoever it was, was dead. They even had a rope around their neck. They can't tell who it is though.
00:23:55
Speaker
Suddenly Ryan hears moaning. Someone needs help. He followed the moaning and that led him into the bathroom. And there was another victim who had slashes all over her body. Her arms were above her head as she was lying on the ground and her arms were bound by zip ties.
00:24:10
Speaker
There's a hole in her yoga pants. The hole was at the crotch and that it exposed her genitals, but she was alive. So they call EMS and they're like... um EMS is now on their way. so they're thinking maybe it's one murder and one sexual assault.
00:24:24
Speaker
It was like a ah lot to take in. So they couldn't tell right off the bat. Rachel realized that the two people that were there, one was dead now and one was injured, are the two that closed the store the night before. Jaina Murray, she was 30, and 28-year-old Brittany Norwood.
00:24:44
Speaker
ah Brittany was the one that was still alive. Jaina, she was pronounced dead. She was a graduate from Johns Hopkins. She was working on two master's degrees. She was loved. She was smart.
00:24:56
Speaker
One of her degrees was business administration. um So the job at Lululemon would allow her the opportunity to be able to attend business seminars. Sounds horrible. She had a very bright future.
00:25:08
Speaker
She was described by people who knew her as loving and compassionate. And Jaina was devoted to her family. The police arrive. and this is not normal for a town like Bethesda. The police were a little shocked.
00:25:21
Speaker
ah They found Jaina covered in blood with her face bashed in. and also, randomly, they found a toolbox on Jaina's back, which is sort of peculiar. Not sort of, it's very peculiar. Her underwear was also split open at the crotch area, so maybe she was sexually assaulted. and she had no pulse, so Jaina was pronounced dead.
00:25:39
Speaker
But the toolbox stuck in their mind. It had a hammer, a wrench, and a couple of box cutters. And they were all bloody. They found Brittany. Her shirt was pulled up and she had gotten gashes or she had gashes all over her stomach.
00:25:53
Speaker
Near Brittany was a bloody rock on the ground. That could have been what the killer used to bash on Jaina's head. There was also a wooden hanger with serrated edges lying next to the victim.
00:26:05
Speaker
There was a lot of Windex on the ground and paper towels. And two different sized footprints.
00:26:11
Speaker
one was maybe One was like a 5 or 6 size, and that was probably a woman's. The other one was a size 14, huge, probably a man's, or Bigfoot's. um But the big footprint stopped at the sink, like the shoes were taken off possibly.
00:26:26
Speaker
And at the back of the store was a fire exit. The buddy bloody footprint stopped right there. There was even blood like blood on the fire exit door, one of those doors you have to enter the key or the alarm will go off. Uh-huh.
00:26:39
Speaker
Uh, past the door, there was nothing, no blood, no footprints. The police were thinking that maybe the perps forced one of the victims to open the door, but then they saw somebody or something. So they closed the door.
00:26:50
Speaker
The paramedics take Brittany to the hospital. Thankfully, she only had two wounds. One required stitches and the other one, ah bandaid. And they tell Brittany, they need to know everything that happened because the perps are still out there. Brittany was kind of shaken up, but she agreed.
00:27:05
Speaker
Brittany said that her and Jaina closed the store at 9.45 p.m. and they go their different ways. Jaina takes her car. Brittany, she's going to take the bus. But when Brittany gets to the bus station, she realized that she forgot her wallow wallet at the Lululemon store.
00:27:20
Speaker
And that wallet has a Metro card in it, so she couldn't take the Metro. ah She called several people to get Jaina's phone number so Jaina could meet her back at the store. Turned out that Jaina had left her laptop at the store, so she could use the excuse to go back anyway to get her laptop.
00:27:36
Speaker
So Jaina pulls up at the store, and she parks in the no-parking zone. They both go in the store. They don't lock the door because they're not going to be in there for very long. Brittany said that she couldn't find her wallet, so Jaina is like, don't worry about it, we'll find it tomorrow, use my MetroCard.
00:27:53
Speaker
That's when, according to Brittany, two men show up, both dressed head to toe in all black, faces covered with black masks, one had a black backpack. Brittany said she couldn't tell anything about either one of them, not even their skin color, but according to Brittany, she thought maybe they were white, based on the way they spoke.
00:28:12
Speaker
The big guy punched Jaina in the face and started dragging her to the back of the store. The short one grabbed Brittany by the hair and started pointing a knife at her. She was taken to the back as well.
00:28:22
Speaker
During this, they were called, both of the females, according to Brittany, were called dirty whores and dirty bitches. According to Brittany, they kept calling her the N-word. They're screaming, where is the money? Where is the money? Over and over again. And they forced Brittany to open all the safes. And now Brittany is stuffing money into their bag.
00:28:42
Speaker
He was telling Brittany to, quote, shut up or you'll never have kids. He was also saying a lot of other horrible things to Brittany, according to her. um He then grabbed a wooden hanger and he sexually assaulted her with it, she said.
00:28:58
Speaker
And he wouldn't stop until she enjoyed it, he said. Then he hit her on the head. She sort of blacked out all the while she could hear Jaina screaming from the back of the store.
00:29:09
Speaker
Those screams get lower and lower and then they stop. As Brittany was telling this, she was saying that she was tied up in the employee bathroom and she could see down the hallway and there was just so much blood.
00:29:22
Speaker
The cop who interviewed Brittany said she was inconsolable, which is fair. The cop that was talking to Brittany didn't yet know that Jaina was dead. And Brittany kept asking about Jaina.
00:29:34
Speaker
How is my friend? How is my co-worker? What's up? What's going on with Jaina? And the cop said he would find out for her. and I mean, Brittany was blaming all of this on herself, right? she had not Had she not forgotten her wallet, none of this would have happened.
00:29:49
Speaker
And the police assure her that this is not her fault. These were horrible humans that did this to you.
00:29:56
Speaker
But now we're going to get to Jaina's autopsy report. The report said that Jaina had 331 separate wounds. Those were separate wounds that weren't overlapping.
00:30:07
Speaker
If you think about the body surface area, 331 wounds is huge. Her skull had 13 fractures and she had 105 self-defense wounds.
00:30:18
Speaker
This was from her trying to block someone that was trying to hurt her or injure her. The medical examiner said that he had never seen so many self-defense wounds in one victim.
00:30:30
Speaker
This means that Jaina was alive and she was fighting until the very end, until she died. And the fatal wound was a three and a half inch deep blow to the back of the head.
00:30:41
Speaker
This one would have severed the spinal cord and ultimately this one was the cause of death. But also she could have actually had her severed, like her spinal cord severed and still been alive for moments after that. Yeah.
00:30:57
Speaker
Which is fucking hard horrifying to think about, you know? Jaina was alive and fighting until the very end, until she died. There were also five different pattern wounds all over the body, not just one pattern.
00:31:11
Speaker
This meant that five or more different weapons were used. Maybe the worst part is that Jaina had lumps of her own hair in her hands, like she had not only been fighting, but she was grabbing at her head to shield herself from the blows.
00:31:26
Speaker
This really rattled the detectives and the town went insane. Two beautiful young women attacked, no suspect, sales on Bethesda Row where this happened. This is, but it's an outdoor shopping center.
00:31:40
Speaker
Bethesda Row is, you've got the Apple store, you've got the Lululemon, you've got restaurant restaurants. And it's a very high class area. It's this, like you said, it doesn't happen. It's Montgomery County, Maryland, you know?
00:31:53
Speaker
So the town is insane. yeah Like i said, two beautiful women attacked, no suspect. Nobody was going to Bethesda Road to shop anymore. They were like, I'll get that iPad somewhere else.
00:32:05
Speaker
ah Nobody was shopping there. Now cops are thinking that maybe this is just a robbery that turned into a rape or a murder. A rape and a murder. But this is really rare.
00:32:17
Speaker
It's very rare that robbers rape. Usually a criminal has a particular m M.O., um And now nobody is saying that you don't have people who rape and then rob also, but that's rare.
00:32:31
Speaker
It's odd, you know, whoever did this was sadistic. Maybe this wasn't their first crime or first time to do that. They were there to hurt somebody. So the detectives go to the Apple store and they get statements and they look at the CCTV.
00:32:45
Speaker
The Apple store was the only store that had CCTV. Lululemon didn't have it. None of the other places have it. So the Apple store was the only store that had it. 2012, man. Before cameras were everywhere.
Murder Investigation & Suspects
00:32:58
Speaker
They were watching the ct CCTV when they see two men come into the frame.
00:33:04
Speaker
That's exactly what Britney was saying. One had a backpack on, both wearing black, and it was around 10 p.m. They were walking away from the Lululemon store. There was just no evidence that they walked out of the Lululemon store. So this is pretty fucking wild. Like, they're watching CCTV. They see these two men that Britney was describing.
00:33:24
Speaker
Holy shit, right? So they start interviewing the Apple employees. Jane, Ricardo, and the security guard are the ones who closed Apple Store that night. Jane said that she heard the screaming, she heard the banging, she just thought, hmm, it's Friday night, maybe that's coming from the street, right? So she didn't react to it.
00:33:43
Speaker
But then she walked to the back of the store where she heard the screams. There in the back of the Apple store, like on the video, you can see her going back to the back of the store and listening. She could hear something was happening at the Lululemon store.
00:33:55
Speaker
There was high-pitched screams, grunting, and dragging noises, is what Jane said. She gets Ricardo, and he hears the screams too. Ricardo decided to bang on the wall like an annoyed neighbor.
00:34:07
Speaker
And so when he did that, it sort of stopped. The sound stopped. Jane said she heard two voices. One said, please don't do this. Just talk to me. And then Jane said she heard another girl, or maybe it was the same girl, say, God help me.
00:34:24
Speaker
God help me. So the Apple employees go on with their night. They felt like it was co-worker drama. Now they never call 911. I know.
00:34:35
Speaker
and know. Damn it. I mean, what's the worst that could happen if you call 911? What is the worst? Like, if you hear this in the Lululemon store and you're in, I'm not blaming Jane and Ricardo. They were fucking working at the Apple store.
00:34:52
Speaker
But they had the, I mean. But it's a missed opportunity. What's the worst? Police come. There's nothing. There's nothing there. It was co-worker drama. That's the worst, right? Yeah.
00:35:03
Speaker
on their part for calling 9-1-1. So Apple employees go in with their night. Coworker drama. They didn't call 9-1-1. Police are putting together a timeline. They see that Jaina had called Rachel around 10 p.m. saying, quote, we just locked up and I'm on my way home.
00:35:21
Speaker
Apple employees start hearing the banging noises around 10 or 10.05. Rachel, the Lululemon store manager, checked the alarm system and it was engaged at 9.45 p.m.
00:35:32
Speaker
At 10.07, the alarm was disengaged. So the crime occurred between 10.07 and 10.30. So maybe the Apple employees had it just a little wrong because it was like 10.07 when the alarm was turned on.
00:35:45
Speaker
The only two suspects are the men in the CCTV footage. The cops decide to stake out the Lululemon to see if the guys come back. Guess what? The guys did come back.
00:35:56
Speaker
Yeah, they did. You were saying, no, they're not going to come back. They did come back. The police take them in. The men said, wait, what the heck? Like they had no idea what the fuck the cops were talking about.
00:36:08
Speaker
They were walking on Bethesda row, but they didn't murder anyone. They pull out the CCTV. One is tall. One is short. One has a but a backpack on and they both were wearing all black.
00:36:20
Speaker
Cops are like, is this you? And they say, yes, that's us. And the cops said, but are you guys doing? What are you guys doing there? And they essentially say they are busboys at the restaurant and it was the end of their shift and they were walking home from the restaurant because they live in the same direction. And that's the way they walk every single night that they get off work.
00:36:39
Speaker
And the cops call the restaurant, they confirm it, verified. The guys worked there and indeed they were working that night and they always walk home in that direction. so it wasn't them.
00:36:51
Speaker
and Think of the odds of that, right? The odds of that, that it would be two people who look exactly like she says. Okay. um Cops get the call about a homeless man named Keith.
00:37:03
Speaker
Callers say Keith is violent. um It's probably him. He makes unwanted sexual advances on women all of the time. He's at the bar every single night, except for the night of the murder.
00:37:15
Speaker
Okay. Cops look for Keith and they find him about 10 miles away from Bethesda. He checked into a local hospital. He was bloody and he had been beaten up. So cops talked to him.
00:37:26
Speaker
Keith said he had gotten into a fight with another homeless man. And after investigating, the cops agree that it's not Keith. So in a sense, this is like the perfect crime. And the way that there was zero evidence left behind.
00:37:40
Speaker
None. And it's a violent attack. um Cops are still coming to the store ah cops are still combing the store for something extra, another clue.
00:37:52
Speaker
So they find a shoe on the top shelf. The top of the shoe had blood on it, but the bottom of the shoe had no blood on it, sort of like they had been cleaned off. And the shoe was the exact match to the footprints that had.
00:38:07
Speaker
in the store but now the cops are confused they're like did they leave barefoot did the person take off the shoe clean it off put it on the top shelf again and then leave barefoot so the cops go back to britney again because they just keep hitting this dead end she was the only one in the hospital or she was only in the hospital for one day she only had superficial wounds The doctor said with the exception of the very superficial and injuries, Brittany was basically not injured.
00:38:38
Speaker
But the cops ask her the story again. Everything is the same. Every little detail is the same. And again, she's shaken and she's she's crying. So they feel like they are traumatizing her all over again.
00:38:50
Speaker
Traumatizing her all over again. But there was just one new detail. Brittany said that she was pushed down onto Jaina's body and she saw her. The short man pushed her down onto Jaina and said something like, and i'm paraphrasing here, better be better be glad you aren't as pretty as her, or we would do this to you.
00:39:11
Speaker
But nothing else was new, so the cops leave. They go to Rachel at the Lululemon store and they said, do you guys sell these shoes?
00:39:22
Speaker
Like these particular size 14 men's shoes, do you guys sell them? And Rachel explains, no, we absolutely do not sell those. We have those size 14 for men who come in and buy yoga pants or exercise pants.
00:39:36
Speaker
Sometimes when men need workout pants, they have to like be measured. So the men have to put the pants on and then they will use those shoes to measure the length of the pants because those like tennis shoes or running shoes are different than flip flops. You want to be in running shoes when you have your pants measured.
00:39:54
Speaker
So the cops asked Rachel, did the men come in with these sample shoes on? And Rachel said, no. They came in and they put those shoes on, period. They didn't come in with them on because we don't sell those shoes.
00:40:08
Speaker
Honestly, the detective is like, what the fuck? Nothing is making sense. A lot of things don't sit right with him. Stuff is bothering him. To the detective, there was the fact that not only was there one set of footprints, not two, maybe Brittany and Jaina never stood up.
00:40:25
Speaker
But where was the other criminal's footprint? Also, the detective thought it was so crazy that Jaina had such horrific wounds and she died because of those wounds and Brittany was basically wound free.
00:40:40
Speaker
The other thing that was bothering the detective was that all of that stuff used to hurt the women from was from inside the store. The toolbox belonged to the store.
00:40:52
Speaker
The zip ties belonged to the store. And the back of the Lululemon store wasn't organized. So if you, for example, grant if you were saying, Sam, go to the back of the Lululemon store and get me the toolbox, you would go to the back of the store and it would take you minutes to find the toolbox.
00:41:10
Speaker
And then the zip ties, right? and So whoever that's part of the stuff that doesn't make sense to the detectives. Yeah. Also, the Apple employees never mentioned a male voice, only possibly two female voices.
00:41:26
Speaker
And Brittany's description of the men, her descriptions of the killers gathered many nasty criminals and rolled them into one insane criminal.
00:41:38
Speaker
And then she made two of those people. It sounded like it would be more of a murderer than a robber. But these guys were also misogynistic, rapists, racists, and murderers.
00:41:51
Speaker
And not only one of them, but there were two of them. And they work as a team. That it was way less likely. The detective is now considering the possibility that the victim that who lived, Brittany, was the murderer.
00:42:05
Speaker
He even told his wife in secret because he was so scared to say it out loud. Because if he falsely accused a victim who was saying she had been sexually assaulted and it isn't true, his career?
00:42:17
Speaker
done And then he thought about the car.
Brittany Norwood's Motive & Conviction
00:42:21
Speaker
Jaina parked the car in front of the Lululemon store illegally in the no parking zone. It should still be there the next morning, but it wasn't.
00:42:30
Speaker
Nobody in the Apple line had seen the car there at 5 a.m. when they got there. And Jaina's car was really obvious because it had Texas tags on it. Then another cop who wasn't even working the case said he drove past a parking lot about three blocks away from the Lululemon store where he saw that car at midnight with the lights on inside of it and it looked like somebody was in there.
00:42:53
Speaker
He drove again and passed that car at 2 a.m. and the lights were off nobody he was in there. So the cops found the car in that same parking lot that that cop was talking about. And the car in the car, there was blood everywhere.
00:43:06
Speaker
There was blood on the steering wheel. There was blood on the handle, like the driver's side handle of the door, and in the back seat. And the DNA showed that it was Brittany's and Jaina's blood.
00:43:19
Speaker
And there was a hat in the back seat as well. They tested the hat, the DNA on the hat, and it belonged to Brittany. The detectives had a crime scene analyst go over every single thing at the crime scene again.
00:43:35
Speaker
They had every single one of the zip ties used to tie up the young women. And only one of the zip ties had this weird distinctive mark on it. It was this like a serrated mark, Right.
00:43:48
Speaker
Remember the wooden hanger. This looks like Brittany used the wooden hanger hanging from the rod, held her hands up in the air, kind of put the zip ties around her wrist and fell down. And that tightened the zip ties around her wrist.
00:44:05
Speaker
Remember how she was found with her arms above her head. She could totally move like she was laying on the floor, laying flat on her back on the floor. Her hands were flat above her head.
00:44:17
Speaker
yeah Now, she could have moved her hands at any point, but she didn't. Because she wasn't zip-tied to anything. Because she wasn't zip-tied to anything. She was just laying there with them around her wrist.
00:44:31
Speaker
Um...
00:44:33
Speaker
So the main detectives take, he takes this back to the team. This is high profile. I mean, they cannot be wrong about this. Did Brittany Norwood kill Jaina?
00:44:44
Speaker
Is this possible? And why the fuck would she do it? The cops decide to question Brittany, but not as a suspect. Catch her in a small lie. And then they they can try to move to a bigger lie.
00:44:55
Speaker
So they asked Brittany if she knew what Jaina's car looked like. Do you know the color, the make, the model? Brittany said she thinks she's seen it once before, but she doesn't really know it. And the cops say, so she's never given you a ride home or anything like that. And Brittany said, no, she had never been in her car before.
00:45:14
Speaker
and the cops are like, it's just odd, you know, your hat and your blood or in her car. And basically right then and there, Brittany said, oh shit. And she immediately leaves.
00:45:26
Speaker
So she's done. And now the cops, they know it's her. They just let her go. They don't want to press it. She calls the station and she wants to speak to the detective again.
00:45:37
Speaker
She remembers something. Suddenly she remembers something new. So now Brittany comes into the station willingly. Suddenly Brittany has a story about the bad guys. They were worried that people were going to notice Jano's car in front of the store. So they get Brittany to find the keys and then they get her to drive the car a couple of blocks away.
00:45:56
Speaker
Interesting.
00:46:02
Speaker
so the cops asked did one of them get in the car with you she said no and so the cop said so you could have done anything she said she couldn't because they knew her address And the cop is like, oh come on.
00:46:17
Speaker
Really? So these two random men who are robbing the Lululemon store, they know your address? You've never mentioned this. She said knew matt they said, they knew my address and they they would kill me.
00:46:30
Speaker
And the cop said, how did you get back to the store? She said, she walked back. They were like, you walked back three blocks to the Lululemon store. It's over the top.
00:46:42
Speaker
So they say, Brittany, why don't you just start from the top? Tell us all of the story again. And she tells the story again for the first time. It seemed like the cops were like, we do not believe you.
00:46:55
Speaker
So the other cops didn't believe her. And when we tell your family who is sitting outside, they are not going to believe you either, said the cop. So they get Chris, Brittany's brother, to come into the interrogation room and they go over the details. Brittany denies everything.
00:47:10
Speaker
They decide to leave Brittany and Chris in the room together. Fucking brilliant tactic right there. Chris and Brittany had zero idea they were being recorded. And it's an interrogation room.
00:47:22
Speaker
Come the fuck on. You dumb people. Criminals. Yeah. no, there's not a camera in here. and that mirror on the wall, there's nobody behind it. Just a mirror.
00:47:35
Speaker
It's a team of officers are in the other room watching all of this too. Brittany is constantly saying, do you think they're recording? Do you think they're listening? To which Chris responds, no, I've looked.
00:47:47
Speaker
Oh, has he? Yeah, big No idea why he says this. Chris is like, did you do this? And she said she didn't want to talk about it there. They would talk about it when they got home. Chris said, I'm fairly certain you're not leaving here.
00:48:03
Speaker
Chris said, know I said in front of the police, it's not convincing, but this is really convincing. The evidence is convincing. Then Chris said, was it shoplifting?
00:48:14
Speaker
Turns out the cops had done some footwork on Brittany. In college, she was on the soccer team and she joined the team. Once she joined the team, like tons of shit started going missing from the locker room. The team confronted her, she broke down, they forgave her, but nobody trusted her anymore.
00:48:30
Speaker
And then there was the time she was at the hairdresser. like She got her hair done, the price of the hair $1,000. was a thousand dollars And she said, oh my God, I must have left my purse in the lobby. Let me go back to the lobby, get my purse, and I'll i'll pay you the $1,000. Well, then she got to the lobby and she said the $1,000 had been stolen from the purse.
00:48:49
Speaker
How dare they let this happen? It was such a nice beauty shop. How dare they allow this to happen? Brittany had also stalked an ex and had a restraining order filed against her.
00:49:00
Speaker
Even after the restraining order, she followed her ex and his new partner. Okay. So now we're back in the, now we know a little bit about Brittany, this great citizen.
00:49:12
Speaker
And we we're back in the interrogation room. And Chris said, was it the shoplifting? What made you fight her? Brittany said, I really just forgot my wallet. Chris says, so she caught you stealing.
00:49:24
Speaker
I have a plan. First of all, you can you can't plead insanity because you've talked to way too many people. The docs and the police know you're not insane. Number two, we have We have to somehow make it look like she attacked you.
00:49:39
Speaker
We're going to need a good defense attorney. We're going to need to make it seem so embarrassing. And Brittany starts crying and she said, i didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. She said, Jaina was going to tell the manager.
00:49:52
Speaker
And at the end of this shit show, Brittany was arrested on the spot. Everyone in Bethesda is finding out about this. Brittany who they were all supporting as now the criminal.
00:50:02
Speaker
Like this blows people's minds. She killed Jaina. Jaina's family actually found out about this on the way to Jaina's funeral. Like literally in the car on the way to her funeral is when they find out about it.
00:50:16
Speaker
Brittany was in jail for seven months ah waiting for the trial to start. All she talked about was her hair and her nails while she was in jail. and Jaina's family decided to attend the trial because they needed to. They needed, you know, to see this for themselves.
00:50:32
Speaker
At the trial, people found out that Brittany had worked at the Lululemon in Georgetown, but was fired from there because of shoplifting. But then the Georgetown Lululemon hired Brittany back only to transfer her to the Bethesda Lululemon store.
00:50:51
Speaker
uh jaina had checked britney's bag and apparently this is a very common practice at the end of the shift people in retail stores check each each other's bags they did a bag check and when jaina checked britney's bag she had a pair of yoga pants in there and jaina was like oh you bought some yoga pants so i just need to see receipt and britney was like oh i don't have the receipt and that's when the whole thing started because of the yoga pants And this is the story that Jaina herself told to the managers.
00:51:21
Speaker
Rachel ah told to Rachel, the manager of the store that night. She called Rachel at 9 46 PM. One minute after engaging the alarm system, she called Rachel to say, yes, she was stealing. We had the bag check.
00:51:37
Speaker
She, she took a pair of pants. So she killed Jaina over a pair of yoga pants. Just horrific. I mean, Lululemon's good, but not that good.
00:51:47
Speaker
I hear the pants make you fart. According to the timeline. What? Somebody said once you put them on, it doesn't matter. she puts them on. She farts all the time, over and over.
00:52:01
Speaker
According to the timeline. that Okay. Sorry. This is and a serious story. Yeah. Sorry. According to the timeline, the detectives piece together. The crime started with Jaina being hit in the back of the head by a rod.
00:52:14
Speaker
then jana red tour ran toward the front of the store knocking things over britney called her before she could reach the front door jana escaped and ran to the back britney was cutting her the entire time she was running jana was bleeding everywhere Jaina is trying to leave. Brittany dragged her into the hallway where she was brutally murdered.
00:52:33
Speaker
Brittany moved Jaina's car because it was parked in the no parking zone and it would be noticed. Drove three blocks away, thought about what she did, came back, put the size 14 shoes on and re-walked over her own footsteps.
00:52:46
Speaker
Washed those off and put them back on the shelf. Then gently cut her own skin on the abdomen. Then she used the hanger or zip tie to tie her hands up. She laid down with her hands above her head until morning time.
00:52:59
Speaker
That's a fucking psychopath. Brittany was found guilty and was giving given life without the possibility of parole. The judge said, you know, Brittany gets to see the sunrise.
00:53:09
Speaker
Brittany gets to see the sunset. And she's currently incarcerated at Maryland Correctional Institute for Women. In 2015, the Court of Special Appeals for Maryland only denied... They denied her request for a new trial, so she will die in prison.
00:53:26
Speaker
And a lot of people will agree that that's the appropriate sentence that she deserves. ah Jaina's family created the Jaina Murray Foundation to remember her life. They said of Jaina, people have always commented that it was her smile and it was her hugs. Whether you knew her for two seconds or for a year, that's how she greeted you.
00:53:43
Speaker
She wanted people to feel comfortable and happy. And that is reflective of the kind of human beings we want to inhabit our society. And in the Lululemon store today, there's the mannequins in the front and the front of the store, I think has stained glass windows. But in the front of the store on the top of a shelf, there is a ah love. The word love is stained glass and it's on the top of the shelf. And that's a memorial to Jaina. And that is the story of the Lululemon murder.
00:54:15
Speaker
I mean, what a dumb ass, what a horrible psychopath.
00:54:21
Speaker
Insane person.
00:54:25
Speaker
I mean, you know, I, for yoga pants, like it,
00:54:34
Speaker
a
00:54:37
Speaker
it was so violent and brutal. 300 and something stabs. Different wounds. 331. 331 and 105 defensive wounds.
00:54:49
Speaker
five depends Yeah. It's just, I mean, it's just wild because you think about like,
00:54:58
Speaker
why could Jaina not get away? Like, what Brittany was just insane. Fuck. Absolutely insane. I didn't know if you, so I didn't know if you were going to know that one or not. and I knew the story, but some of those details, a lot of those details, like I didn't know the depth of them. Yeah. i mean But I kind of tried to format it in a way that you wouldn't know who did it until halfway through.
00:55:29
Speaker
i mean, you did a really good job because had I not known the story and for those listening, I think it'll come as a shot. Yeah. And you can see, you can see the video on YouTube.
00:55:43
Speaker
Chris, her brother. no they're not recording. Do you think though that he was actually trying? I don't know. Maybe that's a fair point. That's a very fair point. Maybe he's getting her comfortable and saying like, no, no, no, they're not recording. Absolutely not. Because why in the fuck would you say they're not recording?
00:55:59
Speaker
No, they're not waiting for you to confess right now. Oh, there's a mirror in this room. It's so pretty. It's so pretty. Nobody's behind it. Yeah. ah what Okay. What a bitch.
00:56:12
Speaker
What a bitch. All right. so that's the show ah done twice kind of because we cut off in the middle. Whatever. um What else do we have?
00:56:25
Speaker
Alan, you've got some work to do this week, buddy. yeah Our overqualified, underpaid master publisher extraordinaire. and content creator. And content creator.
00:56:36
Speaker
Ashley, our ultimate and epically unmatched hype queen editor. Kelsey, our incomparable swag and merch creator. As always. Together, our first.
00:56:47
Speaker
And forever. fan Fans. And that's it, folks.