Formerly
On January 13th, 1999, 18-year-old high school senior, Hae Min Lee was reported missing by her family. She’d been leaving school that day, but had never arrived to pick up her younger cousin from school. In the time span of less than 30 minutes it seemed, the young woman had vanished. Less than a month later, Hae’s body was found in a park, partially buried. She had been strangled to death. The investigation that ensued resulted in Hae’s ex-boyfriend, 17-year-old Adnan Syed, being convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, after a judge recently ruled that the prosecution had failed to turn over evidence that could’ve altered the jury’s verdict, Adnan’s sentence was vacated. Shortly after, the state dropped the charges against him. Was Adnan Syed wrongly convicted? Was his counsel ineffective or was he truly proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?
https://audioboom.com/posts/8212419-adnan-syed-part-2
Time to Do Some Shitty Police Work
Hae’s family was absolutely devastated to learn that she’d been murdered. One of their close family friends said that it was like the whole family died when Hae died. One of Hae’s best friends called Adnan and told him over the phone that Hae’s body had been found. He asked her if Aisha was home and asked her to call Aisha and tell her that he was coming over. Several of Hae’s friends had gathered at Aisha’s house. Witnesses said that everyone was absolutely shocked, including Adnan. He kept saying, it can’t be her, they must have the wrong person. Finally he called the police department, asking to speak to the person investigating her death, but was told he’d have to call back in the morning. Friends said that he was an emotional mess.
Detective Massey, who was the secondary detective on the case, said that within the 72 hour window after the body had been found, they didn’t have any particular person of interest. They were also still looking for Hae’s 1998 Nissan Sentra.
On February 12th around 3PM, three days after Hae’s body was found, Detective Massey received an anonymous call from, what he described as, an Asian male between the ages of 18-21. The caller advised Massey that he and the other investigators should focus on the victim’s boyfriend, Adnan Syed. The caller told him that Adnan had taken Hae to Leakin Park before to have sex. He said that Hae had broken off their relationship about a week before she went missing. He then hung up. Massey then dialed *57 (which I believe is to get the number of who just called), but a recording informed him that the service was not available in the caller’s area. Just a few minutes later, the caller called again. He recalled once that Adnan told a friend that if he ever hurt his girlfriend, he would drive her car into a lake. He then hung up and never called again. It’s still not known who this caller was.
On February 26th, Detective MacGillivary with the Baltimore City Police Department, who was now the lead investigator in the case went with his secondary, Detective Ritz, to Adnan’s home to interview him. Adnan’s father sat with him while police asked him about his relationship with Hae. He told him that the two had dated, but he didn’t want his father to know. Adnan told them that he’d been in Hae’s car several times, but not on the day she disappeared. He had a difficult time recalling his exact movements on that day. Investigators also obtained a subpoena for Adnan’s phone records.
On February 28th, early in the morning hours, Adnan was woken up by police officers. They informed him that he was being arrested as they put him in handcuffs and led him out of his house. Adnan was terrified and later described it as “there’s a flood outside your house, before you can even come to terms with that, there’s a fire inside your house. You don’t really have time to come to terms with anything, you’re just trying to survive.” When Adnan arrived at central booking, he was told that he was being charged with the first degree murder of Hae Min Lee. Both Detectives MacGillivary and Ritz mentioned that they’d spoken to Adnan’s friend, Jay Wilds.
Why was Adnan Arrested??!!?? (And who the fuck is Jay…)
Investigators said that after they received the anonymous phone call that advised them to look further into Adnan, they’d subpoenaed his phone records. They tracked the recent calls and found that on the day Hae disappeared, there were several calls to a specific number. This number belonged to Jennifer Pusateri. Jenn wasn’t really friends with Adnan, but she knew him through one of her good friends, Jay Wilds. Jay and Jenn hung out often and smoked weed together. They were both a year older than Adnan and Hae. They interviewed Jenn, who gave them very little information about Hae or Adnan. She answered with a lot of ‘I don’t knows’.
After speaking with police, Jenn got a lawyer, who scheduled another interview with police for the following day. On February 27th, the day before Adnan was arrested, Jenn went to the police department and spoke with Detective MacGillivary. During this interview, Jenn told him that on the day that Hae disappeared, Jay was over at her house. He’d driven there in Adnan’s Honda Accord and also had Adnan’s cell phone with him. She was under the impression that he’d given his phone to Jay so Adnan could contact him later that day. During the afternoon, Jay received a call from Adnan and left Jenn’s home around 3:30-3:45PM. Later that night, Jay called Jenn and asked her to meet him at Westview Mall. She drove there to meet him and found him and Adnan in the parking lot in Adnan’s car. Jay got into Jenn’s car and reportedly told her that Adnan killed Hae after school and then put her body in the trunk of her Nissan Sentra. Adnan had called Jay and asked him to meet him at the 600 block of Franklintown Road. When he met Adnan, Jay said that Adnan opened the trunk of Hae’s car (which he was driving) and showed him Hae’s dead body. Jay told Jenn that he then followed Adnan to the 4400 block of N. Franklintown Road, where Adnan removed Hae’s body and buried it in a shallow grave in Leakin Park. Jay said that he’d followed Adnan to several other locations before Adnan finally parked Hae’s car in an alley in Southwest Baltimore. Jenn said that on the 14th of January, she picked up Jay from his house and drove him to a drug store where he disposed of his clothing in a back dumpster.
Investigators said that this is what led them to Jay Wilds. They said that afterwards, they went to find Jay at his place of employment and brought him to the station to interview him. So Jay was picked up around 11PM on the night of the 27th, however the taping of the interview didn’t start until about 1:30AM. There is a LOT of speculation as to what happened during that time. Jay denied having an attorney present at that time. Here’s what Jay stated during his interview:
Jay said that the night before Hae disappeared, he and Adnan made plans to go to the mall the next day. On January 13th, Adnan picked Jay up at his house around noon in his Honda Accord and the two went to Westview Mall. After shopping for a short time, Adnan asked if Jay could just drop him off at school, take his car, then pick him up. Jay specifically said that Adnan didn’t tell him where he wanted him to pick him up. Adnan left his cell phone in the glovebox, likely because cell phones weren’t allowed in school. Detective Ritz asked Jay if Adnan said anything about what he was going to do that day. Jay responded with, “Um he tells me he’s going to kill Hae. I didn’t believe him, I mean.” He said that Adnan was talking about how he couldn’t believe that Hae broke his heart. When detectives asked Jay to try to recall Adnan’s exact words, he said, “I’m going to do it. I’m going to kill that bitch.” He dropped Adnan off at school around 12:30PM. Jay said that he then went to his friend, Mark Pusateri’s home. Mark, 15, is Jenn’s brother and they lived at the same place. He said that three of them played video games.
Jay said that Adnan called him at about 3:40PM and asked him to pick him up from a strip at Edmonson Avenue in the city. He said that he got out of the car and Adnan popped the trunk of Hae’s car, which he was driving. Jay said that Hae’s body was in the trunk. Adnan reportedly was saying, “I did it, I did it. You don’t fucking believe me, I did it.”
Jay then agreed that he followed Adnan in his car while Adnan drove Hae’s car to a park and ride lot on Route 70. He said that Adnan left Hae’s car and got into his own car with Jay. The two then went and smoked a blunt for about 30 minutes before taking Adnan back to school around 4:30PM. (We know that this was for Adnan to attend track practice) Jay said that Adnan called him around 6:45PM to pick him back up at school, the two went to eat, and an officer called Adnan on his cell phone. Adnan told him that the officer told him that they were looking for Hae. Jay said that after the phone call, Adnan became frantic. The two drove to Jay’s house where he said that he got a shovel and a pick. He said that Adnan then told him to take him back to the park and ride. Jay followed Adnan in his car while Adnan drove Hae’s car. They got to Leakin Park and Adnan told him to park up ahead and he’d be there soon. After about ten or fifteen minutes, Adnan walked over and told Jay that the body was heavy and that he needed to bury her, then vomited. At this time, both cars were supposedly pulled off the road and they walked back in the woods to where Adnan had put Hae’s body. Adnan asked Jay to start digging several times until he finally started helping. Adnan threw up, then put Hae’s body in the hole. Jay described the crime scene, the positioning of Hae’s body, and her clothing correctly. He even said that she wasn’t wearing shoes. Jay denied having touched Hae’s body or helping Adnan put her in the approximately one foot hole he’d dug. Later in the interview, he denied having helped Adnan dig the hole.
After burying the body, Jay said that he continued following Adnan, who was still driving Hae’s car. He said he was looking for a place to leave the car. He said that Adnan parked it off a small side street first, but then decided to leave it somewhere else. Jay described it as “in the back of a bunch of row homes on like a parking lot” on the west side of Baltimore city. He said that Adnan got a bunch of stuff out of Hae’s car, including her purse and wallet. Adnan got into his own vehicle with Jay still driving. Jay said that Adnan told him to stop at the Westview Mall and he dumped all of the stuff he took from Hae’s car into a dumpster.
Jay told detectives that he went back to where Adnan had left Hae’s car to see if it was still there. He said that the last time he went there to check was on February 24th. He also said that he put his clothing in the trash at his house on the night Adnan buried Hae. Jay said that Adnan and him had been in contact approximately 12 times since January 13th and that Adnan joked about the situation, but would also express regret and remorse. Jay said that Adnan also “made references to the fact that he could get at” his girlfriend. At the time, Jay was dating one of Adnan’s good friends, Stephanie.
Jay said that Adnan told him that he had strangled Hae and that he thought she was trying to say something as he did it. He also said that Hae had broken the windshield wiper handle in the car during the struggle. He denied knowing where the car was parked when this took place. Jay said that he’d told Jenn about what had happened on the 13th in case he was arrested, someone would know what really happened that night. He also said that he thought he may have told his friend Chris, but nobody else, and that Adnan may have told one of his friends.
After this interview, police obtained an arrest warrant for Adnan and went to apprehend him at his home. Additionally, Jay led them to where he said that Adnan had left Hae’s car that night. In a grass lot in west Baltimore sat Hae’s car, parked near a row of small houses. Police took photos of the vehicle, inventoried its contents, then had it towed.
Things Get Fishy AF
Soon after Adnan’s arrest, one of his and Hae’s classmates, Asia McClain, realized she might know something that could help Adnan’s case. She recalled that she’d seen Adnan on the day that Hae disappeared. She’d seen him after school in the library on campus. She didn’t think it was too important since it’d only been for a short, 15-20 minute time period, up until about 2:40PM. Asia said that she had talked to Adnan about Hae, about how they’d broken up and that Adnan said she’d started date some “white dude”. Asia said that Adnan seemed to shrug it off and said that he just wanted Hae to be happy. Asia remembered that it was that particular day because she’d looked at her planner and remembered that it was right before they’d had two days off for the ice storm. The boy she’d been dating at the time convinced her to notify Adnan’s family. She went over to the Syed house, where she said there were several relatives and friends. She felt that they didn’t seem to think it was very important because it was such a short time period. She decided to write Adnan a letter in jail. She mentioned that he was on the computer at the library when they spoke. After receiving Asia’s letters, Adnan gave his new attorney, Christina Gutierrez, the letters, as well as the information to access his email in hopes that they could track whether he was checking his email at that specific time. There is no evidence that his e-mail information was ever checked. When Adnan asked Gutierrez about using Asia to confirm an alibi, she told him that she’d checked with Asia, but that the dates were wrong. Nothing else was said about it until years later. This would’ve placed Adnan in the library until around 2:40PM. He said that after that, he went to get ready for track practice, which started at 3:30PM.
Asia was not the only person who placed Adnan on Woodlawn’s campus on that day, during the time that Hae was likely being murdered. His track coach, Coach Sye, said that recalled having a conversation with Adnan on a warm January day with temperatures in the 50’s, nearing the end of Ramadan. Sye said this particular day stood out to him because the track team didn’t often get to practice outside, but the weather was nice enough to do so. He remembered that he’d asked Adnan about Ramadan and fasting, specifically because he wouldn’t allow Adnan to do the full workout that the team was doing because he was fasting. He had him doing shorter jogs around the track. He said that Adnan was there on time that day and left on time. Adnan also said that he remembered being at track that day because he’d talked to his coach about the prayers he was leading at his mosque the following day.
Sye didn’t recall the specific date, but other things indicated that it only could’ve been the 13th. In the Undisclosed podcast, it’s reported, “During the last two weeks of Ramadan, there were only two days on which the temperatures went above 40 degrees: January 12th and January 13th. There was no track practice on January 12th, however, as the team was at a track meet that day. Coach Sye was definitely there.”
At Adnan’s trial, Coach Sye testified, but was basically only asked if he took written records of attendance, which he didn’t.
Another friend interviewed by police was Debbie Warren. She recalled seeing Adnan on the 13th, while he had his gym bag. She said this was at about 2:45PM and they talked about him going to track practice. This directly contradicted the state’s timeline.
The Trials
In December of 1999, Adnan went on trial against the state of Maryland for the murder of Hae Min Lee. Not far into the trial, the judge declared a mistrial, as the jury had heard the judge call Adnan’s attorney, Christina Gutierrez, a liar. His second trial began shortly after. The state’s case against Adnan relied heavily on Jay’s testimony. So here’s the issue with Jay…his story changed so. Many. Times. It changed between police interviews and it changed between testimonies and between trials. He even admitted to lying about certain things or giving different information. Here are just a few of the things with Jay’s stories that changed:
So understandably, things change, especially as time goes on. There are actually several witnesses whose answers changed from when they first spoke to police to when they testified at trial, mostly to “I don’t knows”. However, Jay, as the state’s main witness, his story had a lot of changes. While the main point of his story (that Adnan strangled Hae, then buried her body in Leakin Park) never changed, so much else did.
Another important point to note that has been brought up MANY times by those who believe Adnan is innocent is the belief that the police coached Jay and THAT’S why his story changed so much. Specifically, after they found Hae’s body and had more specifics about what happened to her. Susan Simpson, a lawyer who now is part of a popular blog that dives deep into the case and Adnan’s innocence, came up with a theory regarding Jay being coached. In addition to the several hours before Jay’s interviews where he is with police, but not being recorded, there are some odd things noted about the recorded interviews. When you listen to the tapes, Susan described Jay’s answers as this:
”Jay does that a lot, by the way, that thing where he sounds like an actor who’s forgotten his next line. Luckily, the detectives are always willing to help him out. They give him time to think about it. They give him hints, suggestions, reminders. Their influence can likely be seen in the fact that, by the time of the second interview, Jay’s story about when track ended moved closer to the truth.”
Jay admitted that the detectives showed him Adnan’s phone records and that altered his answers to things. When Jay seemed to forget what he was saying on the taped interviews, you can sometimes hear knocks or what sounds like paper being pushed across a table. Jay will then answer after apologizing for forgetting the answer.
The second piece of “evidence” that the state hinged their case against Adnan on was the cell phone data. Kevin Urick, the prosecutor, argued that where Adnan’s cell phone pinged that day placed him in all of the right places to match Jay’s (altered) story, specifically with two calls that pinged in Leakin Park that night. A cell phone expert even testified about this data at the trial that the information was incriminating. HOWEVER. After the trial, those investigating the case that believed that Adnan was wrongly convicted, noticed something strange about the cell phone data. There was a cover sheet on the faxed phone data that read, how to read subscriber activity reports with the text, “Outgoing calls only are reliable for location status. Incoming calls will not be considered reliable information for location.” Both of the calls placing Adnan in Leakin Park were incoming. The expert who testified at the trial regarding these calls was contacted and it was found that he was never shown this cover sheet with the information about incoming calls. He later contacted Adnan’s new lawyer to sign an affidavit for his appeal saying that if he’d been aware of that disclaimer, it would’ve affected his testimony.
Essentially, the state’s timeline was that Adnan and Hae were in the parking lot of Best Buy very shortly after school, and that Adnan had strangled her by 2:36PM. They used this specific time because there was a supposed phone call from a pay phone outside of Best Buy made to Jay on Adnan’s cell phone at 2:36PM. Investigators referred to this as the “come and get me” call. They said that this is after Adnan murdered Hae and wanted Jay to pick him up. However, this timing is contradicted by several of Jay’s stories about when Adnan called him to pick him up, AS WELL AS Jenn’s story of when Jay left her home that day. In addition, Asia, Debbie, and Coach Sye’s testimonies also directly contradicted the state’s story. They alleged that Adnan murdered Hae out of jealousy, because she was dating someone else.
On February 25th, a jury found Adnan Syed guilty of the first degree murder of Hae Min Lee. He was sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years. Rabia Chaudry, the older sister of Adnan’s best friend, is a lawyer. She began lobbying hard for Adnan’s innocence and investigating into the case on her own. She contacted a journalist who covered the original case in Baltimore, Sarah Koenig. Koenig ended up producing a podcast titled “Serial” about the story of Hae’s murder and Adnan’s conviction. Though Rabia and Adnan’s friends and family didn’t always agree with Koenig on the content presented in the episodes, they understood that Koenig was telling the story from a journalist’s point of view. In a shocking turn of events, Serial exploded into the media and amassed a huge amount of listeners. This is really what brought attention to the case and to, what many believed, was a wrongful conviction. Since then, there have been several other podcasts released about the case and Adnan’s name has become even more well known. Despite the recognition that the media has given to the case, there is still so much that is unknown or not understood. Due to the SIGNIFICANT amount of information in this case, it’s impossible to address everything in a short period of time. However, here are some of the major points that are brought up on podcasts, Reddit, Facebook pages, and other sources that are questionable and either place doubt on Adnan’s guilt or point towards him having murdered Hae:
In September of this year, 2022, Judge Melissa M. Phinn of the Baltimore City Circuit Court vacated Adnan’s sentence after him having served 23 years. She said that this was “in the interests of justice and fairness” because she believed that the prosecution had failed to turn over evidence that could’ve changed the outcome of Adnan’s trial, as well as the discovery of new evidence. With 30 days for prosecutors to decide if they were going to retry Adnan, on October 11th, prosecutors dropped the charges against him. They also indicated that there are two possible other suspects that have not been charged in relation with this case. A document was found in their trial file that said one of these “persons of interest” had threatened Hae in front of a witness and another document that had information that “can be viewed as a motive for that suspect to harm the victim”. One of the two suspects has been convicted of attacking a woman in a car, as well as convicted of serial rape and sexual assault. Unsure if this is the same person. They ALSO found that Hae’s car had been found directly behind the home of one of these “suspect’s” family members! In addition to these findings, several items that were not initially tested for DNA have been sent out to have testing done.
Regardless of whether Adnan is guilty of the murder of Hae Min Lee, it seems pretty obvious that his counsel was ineffective and he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Unfortunately, with the popularity of Serial and Adnan’s case, it’s often forgotten that there is still a homicide victim, Hae Min Lee, and justice needs to be served for her and her family.
Judge Vacates Adnan Syed’s Murder Conviction, Subject of ‘Serial’ Podcast – The New York Times
Serial: The Question of Don’s Alibi | The View From LL2
Serial: Witness Asia McClain Says She Never Recanted Adnan Syed’s Alibi
Track Coach M Sye Testimony Second Trial of Adnan Syed
Adnan Syed Trials, Convictions, and Appeals Timeline – Hae Min Lee Murder Case
Maps, Documents, etc. – Serial
Police File Jay Statement Redacted Second Official Interview Information Sheet Rights
Find anything in the police case files aka “MPIA files”
https://viewfromll2.com/2015/09/30/what-the-crime-scene-photographs-show/
Match on police DNA index results in conviction in 1998 rape, murder – Baltimore Sun
A Full Timeline Of Adnan Syed’s Case, From 1999, To Serial, To The New HBO Doc
The Case Against Adnan Syed Gives Hae Min Lee More Of Voice. Here’s Who She Was.
A Timeline of Adnan Syed’s Case After His Release from Prison — and What’s Next for ‘Serial’ Subject
Adnan Syed: A Complete Timeline of His Trial, Appeal and Killing of Hae Min Lee – Biography
Find anything in the police case files aka “MPIA files”
Former D.C. dentist sentenced to 16 1/2 years for sexually assaulting patients – The Washington Post
Hae Min Lee Diary | PDF | Murder | Violence
READ: Hae Min Lee’s Diary [FULL TEXT] | Heavy.com
The Case Against Adnan Syed | Undisclosed Podcast
Serial: Evidence that Jay’s Story was Coached to Fit the Cellphone Records | The View From LL2
Adnan Syed Part 2
Explore this Episodesources for this episodeOn January 13th, 1999, 18-year-old high school senior, Hae Min Lee was reported missing by her family. She’d been leaving school that day, but had never arrived to pick up her younger cousin from school. In the time span of less than 30 minutes it seemed, the young woman had […]
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December 13, 2022
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