Who is Lululemon Athletica’s Brittany Norwood?

Montgomery County police say Brittany Norwood, a 28-year-old employee at Bethesda’s Lululemon Athletica store and a former Stony Brook University student, concocted an elaborate web of lies to cover up the March 11 murder of her coworker, Jayna Murray, 30.

According to a press release issued by the Montgomery County Police Department, Norwood said she and Murray were sexually assaulted by two men wearing masks, who also demanded she move Murray’s parked car to a different location.

Police say medical examinations and forensic evidence unearthed inconsistencies in Norwood’s story, which ultimately led them to believe she was the perpetrator and not a victim. Doctors’ examinations corroborated officers’ suspicions, as there was no evidence either woman had been raped and cuts on Norwood’s body were consistent with self-inflicted wounds. Police also believe Norwood cut a hole in Murray’s pants to make it look as if she’d been assaulted before binding herself with rope.

Now, Norwood, a former sociology major and standout soccer player, is being held on first-degree murder charges. Police have not identified a motive in the killing.

“Her cunning and her ability to lie is almost unparalleled,” John McCarthy, Montgomery County state’s attorney, told District Court Judge Gary Everngam during Norwood’s first court appearance on March 21, according to The Associated Press.

According to the News Tribune in Washington state, Norwood is from Federal Way, Wash. But a local resident’s memories of Norwood differ dramatically from the vicious killer area police have described.

Brian vanBlommestein, Norwood’s high school soccer coach, told the News Tribune she was a “great kid” from a large family. “It’s hard to fathom that this could be something that could happen,” vanBlommestein added.

Similarly, Norwood’s college friend and former soccer teammate Leanna Yust told the Washington Post she was “so sweet so funny,” but said the Washington state native was a thief. “She was my best friend in college,” said Yust. “We had a falling-out because the girl was like a klepto.”