At about the time that Brittany Norwood was beating and stabbing Jayna Murray to death inside a store in a shopping mall, two employees in the Apple store next door heard sounds of the struggle coming through the wall.
The Apple Store employees were closing up for the night. One of them heard strange sounds from the other side of the wall: grunts, thuds, hysterical screams.
“Talk to me. Don’t do this,” a voice said. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”
“At that point, there was some more sounds, kind of, screams, yelps, yells,” Jana Svrzo, a manager at the Apple Store in Bethesda, said Friday, testifying on the third day of Brittany Norwood’s murder trial in the killing of her Lululemon Athletica co-worker.
The screams faded. Then Svrzo heard low, quiet tones.
“God help me,” Svrzo recalled hearing. “Please help me.”
After hearing all that, Svrzo and the other employee, Ricardo Rios, didn’t do anything about it. They neither called the police nor investigated it themselves.
I heard about all this from Jack Marshall at Ethics Alarms, who has this to say about it:
We need to agree on the proper treatment for people like this — self-centered, fearful slugs who can’t summon the fortitude and decency to help a fellow human being in peril even when it only requires a phone call. They are not quite criminals, but they are significant contributors to the evil in the world, the kind of citizens who accept the benefits of society but won’t lift a finger to contribute to it.
…
I don’t want to hire someone like Svrzo. I don’t want her as a neighbor or a friend. If I’m an independent service provider, I don’t want her business; if I’m a banker, I don’t think she’s trustworthy enough to get a loan. Her conduct is unacceptable in a cooperative society, and the one constructive thing she can do now is to serve as a living lesson to others that there are minimum standards to participating in civilization, and consequences of failing to meet them.
That would have been my reaction too, except that I’ve seen stories like this before, and I’ve learned to be skeptical. I can’t rule out evil as an explanation for her behavior; it’s entirely possible that Jana Svrzo is exactly the kind of psychopath who wouldn’t bother to help a woman being beaten to death. However, given what I’ve read so far, I feel the need to point out that you don’t have to make that assumption to explain what happened. Inaction that at first seems inexplicably callous sometimes turns out to be rather ordinarily human.
My guess is that the most critical factor in explaining her inaction is this: Until that day, I’m pretty sure that Jana Svrzo had never heard someone being beaten to death before. In fact, I’m willing to bet that she had never even seen a serious fight. And now we’re supposed to assume that she should have been able to figure out what was going on just by how it sounded? Through a wall?
That doesn’t sound possible. At least not unless she had reason to be familiar with the sounds of close-in personal brutality, perhaps from growing up in a violent family. Otherwise, all she heard was some strange sounds.
Well, then, what about the cry for help? According to the news story, she heard a variety of noises — variously described as grunts, squealing, and screams — and while this was going on, she heard someone say “Talk to me. Don’t do this,” and then “Talk to me. What’s going on?” And later she heard a different voice say “God help me,” and “Please help me.”
Again, knowing what we know now, it’s pretty obvious that something bad had happened. But it’s not hard to imagine other scenarios which Svrzo would have had to consider. She heard two people in a room, some noise, and one of them asked for help. Isn’t it possible that she was asking the other person for help? If you’ve never witnessed a violent crime before, what would be your first guess?
It’s really easy to misunderstand novel situations like this and make a dangerous mistake. About 20 years ago, I was in my kitchen, and I happened to glance out into the parking lot, where I noticed one of the other residents of our condo was kneeling next to her car, like she’d dropped her keys and they’d skittered underneath it. A few minutes later, I happened to glance out again, and she was still there, and I wondered what the heck that silly woman was up to…and then I put it together: She was elderly, she was overweight, it was winter, and the ground looked wet. She had slipped on the glare ice and couldn’t get up.
I didn’t realize what had happened the first time because she wasn’t lying down like an injured person — in fact, she wasn’t injured at all, she simply didn’t have the strength to pull herself up by her arms when her feet had no grip on the pavement. This was many years before I had to help take care of my parents (and my own knees still worked like they’re supposed to), so I’d had no experience with people who had infirmities. I had no way of recognizing what had happened from one brief glance.
Once I saw her again and realized she probably wasn’t in that position voluntarily, my wife and I went down to help her. She was fine. No big deal.
But had I not glanced down at her a second time, things might have ended less happily. She was down on the ground between two cars where it was hard for someone to see her, so she could have been stuck for long time in the freezing cold. She might even have died from exposure. And if I told people that I’d seen her there on the ground, they’d think I had let her die on purpose.
One of the things that affects how people react to a situation is their observation of how everyone else is reacting. I used to work across the street from a housing project, and whenever there was a loud bang, I’d look to the reactions of the residents to determine if it was a gunshot or something harmless, because they could tell the difference.
Svrzo called over co-worker Ricardo Rios, but according to his testimony, he couldn’t make out much of what he was hearing. So both of them heard something strange, but each of them saw that the other wasn’t too alarmed. They reinforced each other’s decision to do nothing.
If my wife had glanced out the window at our fallen neighbor and decided that she was just fiddling with something on her car, she might have laughed at my ridiculous concerns, and she might have convinced me. Later, when our neighbor’s lifeless body was discovered, we’d both look like callous psychopaths to people who hadn’t been there.
I think there’s a fair chance that Svrzo also thought that if something was really wrong, someone else would provide help. After all, how often do any of us find ourselves in a situation where we have the opportunity to save someone from serious injury or death? (In 47 years, it’s only happened to me once that I know of, and I’m not sure anything bad would have happened if I hadn’t been there.) The noises Svrzo was hearing were coming from another store in the mall. Surely if anything bad had happened, another person in the store would have helped, right?
There’s a saying — I’ve seen it used with respect to medical diagnostics: “When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.”
The point is that when faced with a mystery, the most likely explanation is probably going the correct explanation. When a patient presents with flu-like symptoms, your best bet is to assume he has the flu, at least until you learn more.
Based on Svrzo’s actions, she obviously knew something wasn’t right, but what are the chances that anything in her life experience could have prepared her for this? You and I and everyone we know will probably go through our whole lives without hearing anyone being murdered. I’m assuming she’s no different in that respect. So on that terrible night, she heard some strange hoof beats, and she decided it was probably just horses. Because, really, what else could it be?
By now, some of you are probably sputtering that I’m just making stuff up. That I can’t possibly know what was going through her head. That I wasn’t there.
True enough. But then again, neither was anyone else who is criticizing her. They read the accounts of what happened, and they consider the facts, and they reach the only conclusion that makes sense: That she’s a callous narcissist.
What I’m trying to do is point out that there may be another way to fit the facts to the known range of human behavior. Of course, in doing so, I might be making the same horse-or-zebra mistake that I think Svrzo made. Psychopaths are pretty rare, but the ordinary failures of human cognition are not, so I’m guessing this is an ordinary failure. But I could be wrong.
I decided to write this post for a couple of reasons. First of all, there are a couple of lessons we could learn, the most important one being: If you need help from strangers in a strange situation, don’t just ask for help. Tell them you’ve been attacked and tell them what you want them to do. Be very specific. Not “Help me!” but “Help! I’ve been stabbed! Get me an ambulance! Somebody get me an ambulance!”
No, I’m not blaming the victim. Jayna Murray was severely wounded and probably had no idea anyone could hear her. I’m just saying that if you or I ever find ourselves in need of emergency medical help, it’s something we would do well to remember.
(Here’s another example of the kind of thing I’m talking about: Somewhere I read about an incident in which a doctor choked to death in the middle of a medical conference dinner, surrounded by dozens of other doctors. It sounds at first like gross incompetence, but really, how many doctors have ever seen someone actually choking to death before? This is why if you’re ever unable to breath because you’re choking on something, you should make sure you put your hands to your neck and make a face like you’re gagging, so people understand what you need.)
Another lesson is that if nobody else is taking charge of the situation, it may be that you’re the one who has to take charge. If my speculation here is correct, then Jana Svrzo is not the villain that some people have made her out to be. But if something different had triggered in her brain, if she had decided that, you know, maybe she should call the police, just to be safe…then Jana Svrzo might have been a hero. And Jayna Murray might still be alive.
Wouldn’t it be cool to be the hero? You can’t be one though, unless you take action.
Finally, Jack Marshall had this to say:
…the societal condemnation of individuals who allow another human being to be harmed when they have it in their power to summon assistance is appropriate, and should occur informally, like most enforcement of social behavioral norms.
Well, there’s some evidence that people may be taking things much further than Jack intends. I Googled Jana Svrzo, and I find a blocked Twitter page, a missing LinkedIn page, an inactive flickr stream, a missing Facebook page and, well, you get the idea. There seems to be only one Jana Svrzo out there, and she seems to be hiding from something.
I’m guessing that people are harassing her. If she’s the narcissistic bitch that some people think she is, then in a sense she has it coming. (Although, really, if she’s that narcissistic, she’s not going to be the least bit bothered by what other people think.)
But if she’s just an ordinary person who made an understandable mistake under terrible circumstances…let’s not make this any worse than it already is.
What’s unforgivable is that she showed absolutely no remorse, ran away like a coward, and never even apologized to the family. The poor lululemon manager that texted jayna’s number to Norwood was devastated in court. Jana showed no emotion and she is the one who heard “loud hysterical screaming” , things crashing, being dragged, and a voice that said “God please help me”. When norwoods attorney asked Jana that if she heard someone screaming for help, would she call for help? Her reply was “I don’t know what I would do”. She is an idiot and deserves to be fired. All of jayna’s friends know what she looks like, who’s she’s married to, where she lives, and obviously where she works. Until she apologizes publicly to the family, we will never let her forget. Jayna had friends all over the world and all over the country. There is no where she can go that we can’t find her. I don’t even think she realizes how many of Jaynas friends have already seen her in dc already.
Thanks for commenting. I just have five quick thoughts:
First of all, it sounds like you have more information than I do, so perhaps I gave Svrzo more slack in this post than she deserves.
Second, that Jayna has so many friends willing to avenge her is inspiring.
Third, the fact that you do so by harassing a woman who, callous and cowardly though she may have been, didn’t actually do anything to hurt Jayna, is a little creepy.
Fourth, correct me if I’m wrong, but the reason we know what Svrzo heard that night is because she admitted it in open court, during her testimony that may have helped secure a longer sentence for Brittany Norwood, the actual killer.
Fifth, not to equate your behavior with Svrzo’s alleged misdeeds, but if you’re going to post a comment calling someone a coward, it carries more weight if you sign your real name.
Thank you for this. I really feel people need to give the Apple workers a break. Hindsight is 20/20.
I live in DC and the area in which this murder happened is a very wealthy, upscale shopping area in a very wealthy, upscale suburb of DC. Coupled with your observations, I would add that all these people were in Bethesda, for goodness sakes. A young woman doesn’t beat another young woman to death in an pricey yoga clothes store in downtown Bethesda!
Don’t think for a minute this isn’t going to haunt these Apple workers for the rest of their lives.
I cannot IMAGINE not calling the police. I’m with Jack Marshall on this one.
I guess I commend your attempt to be compassionate toward this woman, but I don’t think she deserves it. I think she deserves to be made an example of – not by being harassed, mind you, but by being shunned. Which, I guess, is probably what’s happening.
Any decent person would have _at least_ called the police.
Svrzo, Rios and the two security goons (you know them – big, hulking monsters you see in any Apple store, looking menacing and ready to go all Seth Rogen on any scrawny kid who dares try to steal a Nano) – one of whom couldn’t even bother to remove his f-ing ear buds when summoned to listen at the wall through which the sounds of murder could be heard – deserve no understanding, no sympathy, no nuanced attempts to explain away their inexcusable failure to act. No one was asking them to bust through the wall and risk injury to themselves by interjecting themselves into a possibly dangerous situation. Alll anyone could expect – and yes, the word is EXPECT – these slugs to do was err on the side of caution and pick up the frigging phone (the whole store is full of them!) and call, if not 911, at least the police non-emergency number. That even after finding out what it was she was listening to Svrzo STILL says she doesn’t know what she’d do if she heard cries for help now says it all – and it’s this statement that renders moot the writer’s point that she had probably never heard the sounds of a murder before. Having HEARD it now, she STILL WOULD LIKELY DO NOTHING!
This is not a meek little victim who was understandably clueless and wasn’t prepared for what she encountered and turned away from that night; this is a soul-deadened , amoral, self-centered freak. An immoral person would recognize the shamefulness in her actions and either make excuses for her behavior or beg forgiveness; the amoral one remains silent and defiant in admitting no wrong, becuase she either does not recognize right from wrong or doesn’t care to make distinctions between the two. That’s the textbook definition of a sociopath: It’s all about me, I don’t care about you, I will admit no wrong. To express sympathy for such a one as the writer does perhaps betrays one’s own sociopathic tendencies.
None of these people should be working in the Apple store or anywhere else that might place them in a position where they can do harm or where others might have to rely upon them. They could have saved a life that night, but they chose to ignore Jayna’s cries for help (Svrzo went back to work for about an hour more, during which she still heard strange sounds next door, before locking up for the night and going on her merry way), and for that – and that alone – they deserve to be treated like the pariahs that they are.
The writer of the piece might think himself clever in taking a contrarian position (“BY GOD, HE’S RIGHT! I hadn’t thought of it that way!”), but his is ultimately a weak, hollow argument. The ONLY victims here were Jayna and her community of family and friends. Svrzo, Rios, et al are victimizers of a different kind. I just wish that we as a society had the balls to have laws in place so that lot could be prosecuted for failure to take proper action as managers of others and security guards charged with knowing the law and having the ability to “protect”. Jack Marshall is dead-on right, and you, Sir, are dead wrong, your sympathies entirely misplaced.
WooNJ, You’re right about me, in that I do enjoy a chance to make a contrarian argument, but I’m not just making stuff up for the fun of it. History offers plenty of instances of people making tragic errors because they didn’t understand the situation, and then being unfairly condemned for it by people who weren’t there.
However, you misunderstand the nature of my sympathy for Svrzo. It’s a contingent sympathy: If she made a tragic, human mistake, then I’m sympathetic to her position. But if she’s the self-centered psychopath you say she is, then I’m right there with you in condemning her. The point of my post was to explain why I believe the former may be possible, and thus why we should not be too quick to condemn until we’re sure which case it is. If you know the facts, and my argument does not apply to them, there’s no reason for you to be sympathetic.
You provide a different picture of what happened that night than I got from the news story, but it cuts both ways. On the one hand, your account of Svrzo’s statement that she might not help does sound like the sort of admission a psychopath would make in a moment of unguarded honesty. On the other hand, from what you’re saying, there were four Apple employees who heard the murder and did nothing. That tends to support my theory that this is ordinary bad decision making, unless you really think all four people in the store that night just happened to be sociopaths.
Thanks for the intelligent dialogue, Mark. While I appreciate your willingness to listen to the viewpoints of others, I don’t believe this incredibly tragic case should be fodder for contrarian arguments for their own sake, and I don’t think one should go to extraordinary lengths to try and find some comforting explanation as to why Svrzo, Rios and the 2 security guards did nothing after hearing the sounds of Jayna’s murder. I chalk it up to 4 freaking morons, the one reinforcing the other in their blissful stupidity and – I’m making an assumption here – their desire to not get caught up in anything and simply go home after a long day.
Neither reason would come close to excusing their inaction or absolving them from some degree of culpability in the murder of Jayna. What part of “God help me!”, “Don’t do this!”, “Stop! Stop! Stop!” punctuated by the sounds of hitting, grunting, thudding and dragging did these imbeciles not understand?!?
I’m a huge proponent of the idea that (and I wish I knew who to credit with the saying) I am not my brother’s keeper, I’m my brother’s BROTHER. Jayna was our sister. The loss of this incredibly talented woman who would have contributed so much to this world is incalculable. In doing nothing – and in being totally unrepentent about it – Svrzo, Rios and the security goons have made themselves outcasts from the community. May they be treated accordingly wherever they go until they seek to amend for their inaction.
BTW, those who are compelled to try and absolve Svrzo as some bewildered innocent might want to look at 3 postings of her proclivities for death-centered “art” and the macabre at http://www.dc-sketchbook.blogspot.com/. And there’s a painting of her impish (as in the demonic kind, not the childish) likeness on a site called “Deviant Art”.
Ain’t nothing “innocent” about this f-ing freak at all. I would guess she’s made herself so desensitized to death and violence that what happened on that terrible night was not something shocking that would have compelled her to react as we normal people would by picking up the f-ing phone and banging on the wall that help was on its way.
So, Mark, why don’t you take a look at those posts and see if maybe you wanna admit that, gee, Svrzo never was a cowed innocent victim after all?
Oh, and maybe offer sympathies to the ONLY ones to whom they’re owed: Jayna Murray and her family and friends and the community that was devastated by the horror that was visited upon them by the monster Norwood while Svrzo, Rios and the 2 security goons stood by and did nothing? I saw none of that expressed in your nuanced piece. None at all.
That said, though, props to you for your suggestion of providing details as to what’s occurring if one is being attacked. Not only is that more likely to spur action byt those overhearing or witnessing the act, but it might bewilder or stop the attacker from proceeding. I would add that saying the attacker’s name (if known) could be helpful in doing so, also. God willing, none of us will ever find ourselves in that position, though.
What is it that compels certain types of people to write these sorts of weird pieces. In the midst of tragedy THIS is what your mind leaps to?
Yes, I admit it does. Why? What brilliant thoughts did you have?
Just yesterday at the motel I work at a guest came down to the front desk acting a little “off.” I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong with her, or even if anything was “wrong” (maybe she was just a weirdo?), but a quiet little voice in my mind said ‘hmm, something’s not right’ and I decided to err on the side of caution. I called the non emergency police line and asked the officer to do a welfare check. Not 3 minutes after he went into her room he called an ambulance – she was diabetic and going into shock.
I was raised by my parents to be concerned for my fellow human being, that I in fact have a moral responsibility to them – i.e. the Golden Rule. In my opinion, the Apple employees failed as human beings. However what is more important is the lesson which can be from this tragedy. Maybe, hopefully, people will hear about this story and be disgusted by the inaction of Rios and Svrzo. Then, perhaps the next time they hear loud cries for help in an alley, hear strange, violent sounds in their neighbor’s apartment or get the feeling that something just isn’t right, they’ll call 911 and save a life.
I would agree with the premise of your post in most circumstances. Most sensational stories are only so because they’re told with a complete lack of nuance. But how can you read Svrzo’s testimony and still give her the benefit of the doubt? Any given ten percent of what she heard should have been enough to compel her to call the police. Hell, the minute she heard someone scream “help me,” that should have been cause for her to pick up the phone right there, in pretty much any context.
I don’t think it’s fair to condemn everyone who witnesses a crime and does nothing, particularly when intervening would put the witness in danger. But this isn’t one of those cases. What’s the downside to making a quick call to the police? Plenty of my friends’ neighbors have phoned in noise complaints when a party got too loud; it’s not like the average person holds any compunction about reporting even a minor inconvenience that affects him or her. Her willingness to testify at trial doesn’t extenuate her guilt, either: Refusal to do so could have gotten her in trouble with the law, and there’s no nobility in speaking up to cover one’s own ass.
I’ve seen the photos taken from her Facebook page that show a keen interest in violence and the macabre. I’ll try to refrain from playing armchair psychologist, but it certainly raises a number of questions, and doesn’t cast her in a very flattering light. It also makes me discount the possibility that she might be naive or sheltered enough not to recognize the urgency of a blood-curdling scream (ever seen a horror movie?), or suspect that something serious was going on next door. Especially as a woman—every woman I’ve ever met is, to some degree, fearful that they may someday be a victim of assault in an isolated area (although perhaps in different circumstances). It’s instinctive, and for good reason.
I’m not sure what the other Apple employees heard. A security guard who’s rocking out to an iPod while on duty should be fired on the basis of being an incompetent moron, but that’s a far cry from being sociopathic human trash. I also haven’t seen any testimony from Rios that would indicate he knew exactly what was going on, but I haven’t looked all that hard. Jana Svrzo, on the other hand, clearly had an inkling of what was going on on the other side of that wall. As far as I’ve heard, she’s shown no remorse for her potentially lethal inaction. She may not have attacked Jayna Murray herself, but some of that blood is on her hands. I don’t think this kind of apathy should be punished by our criminal justice system, but ostracism seems like a warranted and almost necessary reaction.
Your argument demonstrates an admirable amount of empathy and compassion. But those are the very qualities that, had Svrzo demonstrated even a trace of them, could have saved an innocent woman’s life.
There is no difference between the story shared by the author here (about looking out his window a second time and therefore getting a second opportunity to assess the situation to recognize that the elderly neighbor was in trouble), and the Lululemon/Apple incident.
I could understand the store employees overhearing perhaps one thud, a muffled scream, and then doing nothing if the sounds did not repeat themselves. But these people heard the sounds of an ongoing struggle. They heard someone pleading for help.
And they did nothing. There is no plausible excuse for their inaction. Were it not for them, the victim might have survived the attack.
Mr. Draughn is right in his assessment. None of us were there, and therefore it is impossible to judge what we “would have done.” It is so easy to be an armchair moralist, but I would not be surprised if the majority of you did not call the police every time you heard strange noises. The last commentator stated “Were it not for them, the victim might have survived the attack.” Which is funny, because I thought were it not for Norwood, the victim would have survived. I’m not sure what it is about our society that requires a scapegoat for every situation, but I believe the blame for this horrific tragedy should be placed on the murderer alone.
The specific cite for facebook photos of Svrzo is:
http://dc-sketchbook.blogspot.com/2011/10/facebook-photos-of-jana-svrzo-apple.html
I understand your point; the only distinction I would make is that based on the photos, Svrzo is clearly not your average person who simply had a misunderstanding of which anyone is capable. My information from her social netowrking posts, before she disabled some of them (many are still available) is that she believes she is a vampire or is living the lifestyle of fantasy of a vampire. How this impacted her ability or willingness to respond I have no idea, but the point is standards of what the normal person would do, which you are focused on, appear to be inapplicable to her. IMHO. As many person’s cited, she has indicated not a shred of concern for the victim. My personal take based on her photos is that she was likely turned on by it.
I admit I’ve stopped following this story, since my point was that there wasn’t enough evidence for the level of condemnation I’d been seeing. That could have changed since I wrote about it, but I don’t go back and change my blog posts. I will say that I find the whole “she’s a goth chick so she must have wanted her dead” argument less than convincing. Did she also listen to Ozzy or Marilyn or Eminem and play violent video games?
Thanks so much for writing this post! I have worked with Svrzo, and can tell you that she is a wonderful person who goes out of her way to help others on a daily basis. I’m just so glad to see someone look at this situation rationally and see things for what they truly are in this case. Thanks again!!!
She obviously does NOT go out of her way to help others. Obviously. This is why I will never buy an Apple phone.
And to those who say they wouldn’t want Svrzo as a friend, have you ever been a friend of hers? Have you seen the compassion she shows to her friends when things are tough? Well, I have and I can tell you that I would want Svrzo as a friend any day! We all miss judge situations at one time or another, and Jana Svrzo shouldn’t be condemned as an outcast for her actions. The only person to really claim here is Ms. Norewood!