March 21st, 2011 
Many are speculating as to why Brittany Norwood may have killed Jayna Murray. You’ve heard of pop psychology with everyone having just enough knowledge of psychology to be dangerous. Well, that is what is happening here. We’ve all watched too many TV shows and movies, and are trying to figure out the motive. Perhaps we should leave it to the professionals, but we just can’t help ourselves.
Jayna Murray
Brittany Norwood's photo That I took from Facebook before her account was shut down.
Many of us can’t imagine that anything business-related at a yoga clothing store would have brought about such a violent murder. Like many, I wondered if there was a sexual relationship between the women, or if it was jealousy over a man. From what I am hearing locally, Jayna had a long time boyfriend who she had dated for 5 years. They had even discussed marriage, so it does not appear that either of these two motives would be true in this case. I’m sure these two motives are disturbing to Jayna’s family and boyfriend, so we should all stop discussing them.
The other motive people are talking about is that Jayna knew about Brittany stealing from the store. Let’s face it, with the recession we are still recovering from, there are a lot of folks with unpaid parking tickets, and people struggling to pay their mortgage or rent. Not everyone with financial issues turns to stealing and other illegal activities. Many times, people with plenty of money will steal from stores, just look at Lindsay Lohan and Winona Rider.
That said, with the other two motives pretty much ruled out, it does seem that motive must be work-related. I feel like if Jayna had discovered something, she would likely inform her manager right away, before confronting Brittany. Having worked in retail, I know that there are HR and legal procedures that you follow. It seems more likely to me that Jayna caught Brittany in the middle of something illegal on the night of the murder — not before. I’m wondering if Jayna didn’t return to the store — not to meet Brittany — but to see if she was still there, or if she went back, and to see what she was up to. This would explain the loud argument heard at the Apple store.
According to one of my readers who commented in my first article with Brittany Norwood’s Facebook photo:
Well. I happen to be the hairstylist to Btittany and the pic here that quite frankly does tell a better story about who Brittany was on the surface. She was my regular client and as the earlier person said she came from a very loving family. However the accusations about her character has validity… In this picture Brittany had not paid for this hairdo. She ordered imported hair and received a full weave… At the end of her service she claimed that someone in the salon had stolen her money out of her wallet. I was devastaed that this could happen at my workplace so I immediately told her not to worry about payment. As the time went on Brittany called me to say that she would bring the Money for the hair in…. She never showed up with the money and later deleted me from her facebook page. I was totally embarassed because I assured the owner of the salon that she would be back with payment but never showed up. After doing Brittany’s hair for about 4 or 5 years and developing a close relationship with her I never expected this . She seemed to be a very nice and determined young lady with a huge future. So I am in total disbelief and need to follow this story so that I can have closure. As for Brittany… I think whatever punishment should come with some psychological help and that my prayers are with both families because getting over this whole ordeal will not be an easy FEAT!
So, it does appear that Brittany may have had a history of stealing.
- Miss A
*BRITTANY NORWOOD’S FACEBOOK PHOTO REVEALS SEEMINGLY NORMAL WOMAN*
*FELA SEKOU CLAIMS BRITTANY NORWOOD WALKED OUT ON BILL FOR HAIR EXTENSIONS*
I think the perceived motives (whether stealing, sordid love triangle, jealousy, etc) are all speculation and should be deemed as so until a confession or additional evidence comes to light. Just as the sexual relationship speculation can be seen as hurtful to Jayna’s family, accusations of a long history of stealing could be hurtful to Brittany’s. There have been two accounts of stealing that I have heard/seen: one from the stylist quoted above and an account from a former soccer teammate who played with Brittany for one year, who did not witness any stealing but “heard stories from other teammates”. This is definitely something tragic and my thoughts are with both families who have to deal with the loss of their daughters (albeit in completely different ways), but again, no true motive has come out and we do *both* families a disservice by continuing with this.
This case is so terribly tragic. And…it was very hinky from the beginning.
I was dying to know the motive, and thought it was a romance/crush gone bad, but in fact…you were right, it was THEFT:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/maryland-yoga-shop-killing-brittany-norwood-stolen-merchandise/story?id=13183233
Thank you for your informative posts on this case
I’ve sat here for ten minutes trying to figure out what to say. We have all speculated about why, what, who, when we read news stories. However after being on the other side of it and knowing the person that everyone is speculating about. All I can say is that what we don’t realize is how much our curiosity makes us look truly foolish in situations like this. Jayna was one of just a few people in my life that I truly love and adore. If you knew her even a little you would know that some of those speculations are as outlandish as they could possibly get. As to the quote that states they hope Norwood gets “psychological” treatment. It seems that there is something inherently evil in the heart of a person who can do what she did how she did it. It’s ridiculous that alcoholics have a “disease” and child molesters are “sick” and can’t be cured.. but psych treatment can rehab a murderer with that kind of hatred and malice in their heart….
One fact that no one has discussed literally makes me sick.. Brittany stayed in the store all night with Jayna’s deceased body.. What kind of person does that? I can’t get past that thought.
I think everyone should remain silent. No one knows what really happened but the two girls and GOD. Let GOD do his work, and whatever he feels should take place will happen. Let’s move on
I think there’s very good reason for our curioisity and concern. This kind of killing – a woman killing a woman, under any circumstances – is a total anomaly. It almost never happens. If it wasn’t related to personal relationship, it makes it even rarer. Naturally, we want to know, or wonder, if this is a completely random occurrence – and outlier – or if there are things we can take away from it. That is, what does it say, if anything about “us”? As a people, or perhaps if you’re a woman, about women, and about cross-cultural relations among women. Most people who don’t know anything about the killing I’ve talked to simply say, wow, what a sociopath, and leave it at that. That’s a very comforting
“distancing” strategy. Is anyone aware of ANY incident like this anywhere? Yes, we can await the trial, but trials do not always reveal the larger truths, if there are any, and the prosecution and defense may just plead this case out, and there won’t even be a trial.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she looked at a possible future as a convicted shoplifter, black, unable to find another job after that, and thought of killing to cover the evidence. This is just speculation. But, if that were so, now she has to look from behind bars.
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