Community Corner

Jayna Murray Remembered; Lululemon, Bethesda Businesses Expected to Contribute to Reward Funds

Residents take to the Web to remember the 30-year-old Arlington woman killed in an attack by two masked men at Bethesda's Lululemon store Friday.

Update, 2 p.m.: Montgomery County Police are expected to update the media on the investigation into Murray's death at 3 p.m. At the press conference, a spokesperson for Lululemon is expected to announce the company's corporate contribution of an additional $100,000 to the reward. Several other Bethesda businesses are in the process of contributing to reward funds, according to police.

Original Post: Condolences are pouring in over Twitter, Facebook and the Lululemon Athletica website for Jayna Murray, the woman  at the Bethesda Lululemon store Friday night.

Murray, 30, lived in Arlington. Another victim, a 27-year-old female employee who was sexually assaulted and bound, is recovering.

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Meanwhile, police are continuing to investigate, and Federal Realty, the management company for Bethesda Row, announced on its Facebook page Monday that it’s made a $10,000 donation to Crimesolvers of Montgomery County for the case and urged anyone with information to contact police.

According to Murray’s LinkedIn account, she was an MBA student at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. She had worked at Lululemon since 2009 and before that at Halliburton as a project manager and international marketing coordinator.

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She had earned a separate master's degree in 2009 in communications, public and media relations from Johns Hopkins Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and had graduated from the George Washington University in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in international business and marketing. In 2001, she participated in a Semester at Sea program. She had also studied abroad in Madrid.

“She was just so full of life — she was always up for a challenge,” Heather Barron, a friend of Murray’s, told Patch. “She just had a good spirit about her. Her laugh was very contagious.”

Barron said she had known Murray first as a childhood friend when the two went to elementary and middle school together in Richmond, Texas, but that they had remained close friends.

Barron said that travel was a passion for Murray.

“I used to joke and call her ‘Dora the Explorer.’ She had gone everywhere, practically lived everywhere. She was very outdoorsy," Barron said.

On Murray’s Twitter account, a video shows her bungee jumping to celebrate her 30th birthday.

Employees and customers of Lululemon, an international chain of stores geared toward runners and yoga enthusiasts, posted condolences to Lululemon Bethesda’s Facebook page and the chain’s website.

In a post entitled “Our Hearts Go Out to Bethesda,” the CEO of Lululemon, Christine Day, wrote:

“We are devastated by the tragic events at our Bethesda store. We are focused on providing support to those that are most immediately impacted by this tragedy, and we know that you all feel the loss as well. Thanks to all of you for your outreach to support our stores and the people impacted. It is the outpouring of love and concern that will get us through these tragic circumstances.”

Many Bethesda residents and Lululemon Bethesda customers took to Twitter and Facebook to offer condolences as well.

“My heart just breaks for all of you. I work right up the street and know what a tight-knit group you all are.....This is such a tragic and unthinkable loss and I pray your pain soon subsides and all the amazing and wonderful memories you have of Jayna will help you get through this,” one commenter wrote via Facebook.

If you have any information about the crime, please contact Montgomery County police at 240-773-5070. Crime Solvers is offering a cash reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the arrest or indictment in this case, in addition to the $10,000 offered by Federal Realty.


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