Former Stony Brook Soccer Player Charged with Maryland Murder

Brittany Norwood, who played defense for the women's soccer team from 2001 to 2003, is scheduled to appear in a Maryland court at 1 p.m. Monday to face allegations that she killed a coworker at a Bethesda athletic apparel store.

According to police reports, Norwood, 28, initially claimed that she and Jayna Murray, 30, were attacked and sexually assaulted by masked men at the Lululemon store in downtown Bethesda, Md., on the evening of March 11.

Murray was found dead and Norwood was found injured and bound the following morning when a manager entered the store, but police later told reporters they were investigating whether Norwood had inflicted her own wounds and tied herself up. They also discovered evidence in her car, found no evidence of sexual assault, and identified only two sets of footprints at the crime scene. Norwood was arrested March 18 and charged with first-degree murder.

"When we respond to a case like this, all we had was what we believed to be the surviving victim told us," Montgomery County police chief J. Thomas Manger told Bethesda Patch. "You have to work on that assumption in the beginning. As the investigation went on, we went where the evidence was leading us."

Police have not discussed a motive, but said a witness reported hearing two women arguing the night the homicide took place.

The Bethesda community is “breathing easier,” according to Montgomery County Councilman Roger Berliner, after Norwood’s arrest Friday. But many were shocked to learn that the woman initially called the surviving victim of an attack by two masked men inside the athletic retail store March 11 had been named a suspect. The crime that police initially characterized as “random” left many in downtown Bethesda fearful and heightening safety precautions.

RELATED: to read a detailed summary of court documents obtained by Bethesda Patch.

According to Stony Brook University's online soccer records, Norwood played defense for the Seawolves from 2001 to 2003. In 2001 she was an All-America East second team selection, and in 2002 she was named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Northeast Regional Team. She was credited as being "the lynchpin of a Stony Brook defense that roared through the second half of the season" and made the conference championship game that year, according to an athletics department statement dated Dec. 11, 2002. In 2003, she played in 12 games as the team finished with a 7-11-1 record.

Citing student privacy laws, a Stony Brook athletic communications representative said Monday he could not comment on the case.