Nation & World

ROCKVILLE, Md. — A former Federal Way, Wash., resident convicted of killing her co-worker at an upscale yoga-clothing shop in the Washington, D.C., suburbs and then spinning an elaborate lie about being attacked by two masked men, was ordered Friday to spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Brittany Norwood, 29, tearfully apologized to the family of her victim in her first public statements since her arrest in March.

A jury two months ago convicted Norwood of first-degree murder for bludgeoning and stabbing 30-year-old Jayna Murray, a co-worker at the Lululemon Athletica shop in Bethesda. Murray had more than 330 distinct wounds on her body.

The judge was unmoved by Norwood's tears, telling her that her crime "exemplified the worst of human nature" and that she was "one hell of a liar." He rejected defense pleas she was capable of rehabilitation.

"You mutilated this woman. And with every blow, you had a chance to think about what you were doing," said Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg in imposing a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

The violent nature of the crime, and the initial accounts by Norwood of two killers and rapists on the run, rattled the community northwest of Washington, D.C.

Prosecutors said Norwood, who was a standout soccer player for Decatur High School when she lived in Federal Way, attacked Murray with at least five weapons, including a knife, a merchandise peg and a hammer, during a fight March 11 after they closed the shop.

They said Norwood lured Murray back to the store by falsely claiming she forgot something inside. She beat Murray for at least 20 minutes and doctored the scene to support her story that intruders had attacked and sexually assaulted them, prosecutors said.

Murray was found the next morning at the back of the store. Norwood was nearby, tied up, moaning in apparent pain, and with self-imposed wounds.

Material from The Seattle Times archive is included in this report.