The Shocking True Account of the Lululemon Athletica Killing

A great job of both reporting and storytelling. This was an absolutely horrible event but a thoughtful telling and analysis of it was important to do. Mr Morse did that in a completely engaging way. Couldn't put it down.

I first read "Murder in the Yoga Store" because I was bored and didn't want to invest in a long novel. It's a tragic, horrible case. I read this one, eagerly ordering it on the day it came out, and then when I was finished I re-read "Murder in the Yoga Store" (yes, I am a little obsessive).

Having read them both, back to back, this one is more clinical and removed. MITYS does a better job of setting the scene and letting the reader get to know Jayna Murray (the victim) as a person you'd want to get to know--quirky, sweet, honest, ambitious. Having gotten to know her, we feel more for her in the end. This more is more detailed but removed in it's approach. I felt I was reading Jayna's resume, rather than getting to know her as a person. This one covers more of the detectives on the case, how they arrived at their conclusions, the procedures they followed. It's more focused on the crime.

If you're obsessive you'll probably read them both. If you're only going to read one of them, "Murder in the Yoga Store" is a quick read and more enjoyable (as it were--not that we should "enjoy" any part of this horrific and completely senseless crime).

This book details the very horrific murder of an employee inside a Lululemon store in an upscale neighborhood in Bethesda. Reading the details of this crime are fairly disturbing, but once you see the photos of the crime scene...it is just so hard to comprehend one person doing this to another, under any circumstances. One of the things that I found most disturbing was that employees in a neighboring store actually overheard the attack, and took NO action. Apparently this is something called the “Bystander Effect” which holds that someone “is less apt to call 911 if others are around,” because they either convince each other that there must be another explanation for what they are hearing, or assuming if it really is an issue, someone else will call. This is also known as “diffusing responsibility.” This is a story that can’t help but stay with you, especially because there is no justifiable reason for it to have occurred. But it also provides a very good lesson, if one was ever needed. If you see something (or hear something), SAY something. Better to call for help and be wrong than do nothing and be more wrong.

How could anybody kill another human being? That's the question that interested me in this well written book.

One thing was very clear. Brittany was raised in a very nice, very loving family. Her other brothers and sisters seem to have turned out well. Nor did they reject her even after the murder charge, but stood by her throughout the trial. Clearly, Brittany never suffered from lack of love.

So why did Brittany end up not just murdering another young woman, but practically butchering her? Stabbing Jana again and again in a furious rage?

In a desperate attempt to cover the deed, Brittany lied and claimed two men had come into the yoga store after closing. They slew one woman, and raped and tied up Brittany.

It was a story that started to unravel almost from the very hour the two women were found.

At one point, Brittany claimed the men ordered her out into the parking lot to move Jana's car. This made no sense. Why wouldn't Brittany have run away? The men didn't have guns. They couldn't have shot at her if she fled. Why would she have moved the car and then returned to the store where the two men had just murdered Jana?

In the end, it was clear Brittany was the killer.

For years, Brittany had been stealing. Out of the purses of her friends. Or small items from stores. And then she would lie about it. Just brazenly lie. She wanted to have lovely, expensive things, and racked up credit card charges she couldn't easily repay. So she apparently turned to prostitution.

One by one, all the moral guideposts in her life were overturned. Until, in the end, she killed.

I was pleasantly surprised when reading this book as I've read many many true crime books and this one ranks way up there on my personal favorites. The detail about the two families was not only interesting but painted a story too good to be true. But in just one fraction of a second, both families were crushed and defeated. The victim was a joy to be around and the murderer also enjoyed the tightness of family and friends. In many ways both ladies were very much alike but only one withheld the rage within and in a blink of an eyelid, she imploded. Once the rage exploded she could not rein it in and she savagely attacked the girl over and over again. When her rage subsided, she calmly cleaned up and walked out the door. The pacing is steady yet taut leaving the reader wanting more information about these girls. The book certainly kept me engaged and intrigued in a true crime story that will rock your soul.

Wow! A true shocking murder exposed in this amazing, easy reading & full of suspense book.

I like the sensitive way that the author reveals true facts about this horrific crime, but I don’t like that this murder really happened.

The book gives us details of what evidence the investigators found in the Lululemon Athletica yoga store and what happened next days after the deceased Jayna Murray was found with more than three hundred wounds on her body. There is also information about the second person found alive in the store, the interviews that took place and what happened at the courtroom trials.

I appreciate that the author let us know a bit story of the victim’s life and the killer’s life before the tragedy and also gave us information about their families.

There are many quotes I've like in this book. Here are some of them:
“Evidence doesn't lie. People do.”
“Life is too short to miss opportunities.”
“If you’re afraid to do something, go do it.”
“With guidance, she’ll set the world on fire; without guidance, she’ll destroy herself.”
“Always moving forward. And the only way to do that was through self-awareness and self improvement.”
“Friends are more important than money.”
“Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to.”
“Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.”

I first became aware of this horrific crime while viewing an episode of Dateline. Without divulging any spoilers I was completely floored by the brutality of this crime and the souless, empty shell that calls itself a human being. By viewing these type of shows I have developed an enormous respect for the homicide detective. What these people deal with on a daily basis has to chip away at the way they see other human beings and what their capable of doing to one another. The book is well written and layed out very well. With that aside the book is heavy on ones heart and difficult to understand the mindset of such animals.

This is a story also about how corporations do not care for the welfare and safety of their employees. They knew Norwood was a thief, yet they allowed a criminal to continue to work for them.....it would not have been hard to anticipate that some sort of a confrontation at some stage might have taken place. And sadly it did. Also the employees in the Apple Store who heard the murder and did nothing are named and shamed-a good thing.

This book was fantastic! I had heard about the Lululemon murder but didn't really know many of the details and had absolutely no idea at how horrific the crime was. I was glued to the book, although it was hard to read about the torture that the murder victim was subjected to. I have read many fiction and non-fiction books on crime but this one really affected me and stuck with me for a while. The author did a fantastic job describing the personalities of the victim and the attacker, as well as describing clearly all of the hard work that went into solving this case. It was very, very interesting.

This book is so fabulous. One "green flag" that it's a good book is that this crime took place a while ago. This book was not a sensational rush job. It is meticulously researched and presented. Really a work of art.

The killer and victim are young women with no history of violent crime. Although on deeper exploration, the killer was very troubled - a ticking time bomb. In a way, the victim was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There is a discussion in the book about the employees in the Apple store who chose not to call the authorities. From the savagery of the crime, could the victim's life have been saved. Maybe not. But if the police had showed up 5 or 10 minutes after the attack, that definitely would have precluded the killer from staging the coverup, and may have resulted in less of a scandal (although probably not that much less) and maybe easier sentencing.

The book also talks about the killer's inability to pay bills and make a living having a job at lululemon - a wider comment on our society - and unfortunately, it looks like she was working on an ad hoc basis as an escort to make ends meet. Through a chain of events explained in the book, the killer evidently saw the victim as an obstacle to getting a new job, and hopefully away from a risky, degrading lifestyle. It's just very sad to think about - no excuses for the killer, but to me it goes towards explaining the frenzy and rage behind the attack.

For some reason, this is a case that fascinates me. I think most of it is wondering how the killer thought she'd get away with it. This book doesn't really answer this question, but it definitely gives a lot of background of both the victim and the killer, as well as the dawning horror that comes over the team as they realize that one of the victims is actually the killer. Very well written. I enjoyed it very much.

Washington Post reporter Dan Morse has written an engaging, if not overly ambitious account of the murder of Jayna Murray, an employee of the fashionable lululemon athletica in Bethesda, Maryland, on March 11, 2011. The culprits, two "white" men in black garb, horribly murdered and reportedly sexually assaulted Jayna and beat her co-worker, Brittany Norwood senseless, calling her a [N-word]. Then the two used zip-ties to restrain her and left her in the athletica's restroom. The problem is, as we learn, there were no assailants. Thanks to the gut feeling of Soviet-born Detective Dimitry Ruvin and Montgomery County's excellent forensics team, the unthinkable soon became apparent. There weren't two men -- it was Brittany who committed the murder, then attempted to cover it up. In fact, Brittany, a compulsive thief and liar, also was a part time prostitute, seeking out wealthy clients on Craigslist. When trying to shoplift an article of clothing at the end of the day of the murder, she was caught shoplifting by Jayna, who agreed to put the matter off until the following day. But as Brittany walked to the subway, she was dogged by worries. Jayna could ruin her chances of getting a new job she thought she had in the bag.

Unfortunately, the turn of events not only could cause her to lose her current dead-end job, it undoubtedly would have obliterated any chances of her landing the new job. Brittany knew about the ramifications of her shoplifting if she was caught -- she knew it could ruin her current employment and the promising job interview. She could have easily avoided everything, but her compulsive theft robbed Jayna her life and it cost Brittany her future. And in court, when she could have thrown caution to the wind and come clean about her sordid deed when addressing Jayna's family, she stopped short of admission, destroying any chance for mercy (not to mention it would have been the decent thing to do.)

In fact, she STILL refuses to acknowledge her crime, clinging to the false legal hope that it might help her in the future.

Dan Morse can't be faulted for leaving things out of his book, but he repeatedly begs questions that aren't answered until the second half of the book or not discussed at all. For example, sexual assault was alleged early on and dutifully reported by Morse; however, when evidence began to mount against Brittany, he says nothing about the fact that there was no male DNA in either victim. The detectives knew this early on, but we don't hear there was none until page 234!

What did the police say when they got that news? We're told how they reacted to everything else, or almost everything else. We also don't know how they reacted to the news of the alleged thefts. Morse reports Brittany's thefts of her co-workers, roommate, even her sister. But we don't know what lead Detectives Ruvin and Jim Drewry thought in context, and how it figured into their thinking even though we, the readers, had already been informed of those thefts. I also found myself wondering about what their interviews with lululemon's manager and staff were like. Ironically, the decision to fire Brittany already had been made and I'm pretty sure Brittany's co-workers must have provided some decent interviews.

Except for these few criticisms, the book was well written. Of particular interest was Morse's documentation that two of every ten people have no sense of conscience, which astounded me. I wish he had spent more time in the courtroom and less space on character development. Fortunately, once one gets the idea what the various people were like, and Brittany's despicable predilections (which, frankly, were more interesting than the wholesome but uneventful life of the victim), one can flip ahead until the story picks up again.

The photos were very helpful, though small. I would have enjoyed a few courtroom photos, too. All in all, a very worthwhile book.

Awesome book. After meeting Mr. Morse, I was anxious to read the book since I had heard about the crime through our PD Citizen Academy classes.

Mr. Morse tells the factual events that unfolded on the night of March 11, 2011 at the Lululemon Athletics store. Not only does he keep to the facts, he goes behind the scenes and gives you a glimpse into the feelings and reality that the families faced. He gave the characters life and did it beautifully. The crime, the players, the trial, the aftermath...

I pray we see a great many more stories like this from Dan. I will be anxiously awaiting to read them.

The book was very captivating, and on my first glance, upon its arrival, I was quickly was hooked. I myself, am a long time YOGI and have researched, and studied various techniques. This story intrigued me so much that I had a great deal of difficulty understanding how and why such a violent crime between two people who practiced and lived the art of meditation could have even committed. If you want a book that will keep you reading ~~ buy all of these from your local the store web site. SemperFi -- SgtMac. usmc

I found this book to be very interesting and hard to put down after I started reading it. The writing is excellent and his research into this case was excellent. Once you start reading it, it will be hard to put down. The characters, especially Jayna, will become important to the reader and you care about them. Also, the author was clear and easy to follow. Sometimes true crime books are hard to follow, but that is not the case here. I highly recommend this book.

A fantastic read, The Yoga Store Murder by Dan Morse is a truly spellbinding story of the real life events that made headlines across the country and captivated the Washington, DC region for years, most especially the affluent community of Bethesda, Maryland. Grabbing us from page one and not letting go until the very last page. This work is remarkable on several levels. Its brilliantly straightforward prose takes us through this extremely fascinating police investigation and the the twists and turns surrounding this great true crime eplic.

Having worked just 5 minutes from the Lululemon store in Bethesda, MD for 45 years, I was well aware of this horrendous murder just 3 years ago. Now fully retired, my husband and I live in Scottsdale, AZ and my neighborhood book club chose The Yoga Store MURDER as this months reading choice. It was AMAZING!!!! Unfortunately, the story is right out of a made for TV segment of Law and Order filled with lots of details. Dan Morse's investigative account of this unbelievable story is just absolutely fascinating. You will definitely have trouble putting this book down once you start it. Dan Morse was very gracious when I contacted him and asked if he would call us to answer questions and discuss the book during our gathering even with the 3 hour time difference. He filled us in about more details of the case and explained things that we questioned that were left out of the book. I am definitely looking forward to reading many more books by him in the future. Congrats Dan - many thanks for the time you spent with our book club! We are all wishing you well...

What a great book -- incredibly deep reporting that captured previously unknown details and tight, action-packed writing that made this book a fast read and very hard to put down. (My husband can attest to my bedside lamp being on well past 1 a.m.) I followed this case closely as a DC-area resident and still learned plenty of new, interesting details about how the detectives solved the case and how these two young women's paths crossed. I don't frequently take the time to rate books on the store but felt the need to spread the word on this one. Great stuff.

A true account that reads like the best of detective novels, this book will haunt you. I could not put it down. Two gifted and accomplished young women's lives crossed and, in a single night, their lives were lost. The author artfully describes the characters - families, detectives, forensics professionals. You feel like you know them and that each one has been deeply moved by this senseless murder.
I look forward to reading more from this author.

The Yoga Store Murder is a compelling thriller set in the wealthy Washington DC suburb of Bethesda, Maryland. A tightly written account of a brutal murder in a yoga store, the book includes a fascinating description of the meticulous police work required to solve the crime. This is an exhaustively researched true story that reads like a murder mystery. I devoured this page-turner in a few hours.

Dan Morse has written an account of a heinous crime that happened smack in the middle of "it cannot happen here" and from page one keeps you turning pages. It is solid proof of all we know about murder: anyone can take a life, and it can happen anywhere. The victim is so unlikely; the perpetrator will shock you, and the setting is like something out of a television series. Morse's journalism skills are evident. His details bring the story off the page. Morse's work surpasses most true crime books on the shelves and I look forward to more of his work.

Well written book that takes you inside a crime. Author did an excellent job bringing the characters to life as you get a behind the sciences look at a brutal murder and subsequent trial that captured the attention of many in the region. Highly recommend the book!

A great true crime book--- definitely a cut above the typical true crime book. The author is a journalist at the Washington Post and reports this bizarre case in a compelling way. I wish he would write more books.