Source: Ting Shen for The New York Times
Writer: Natasha Rizal
Editor: Sam Teisch
Spring 2024
“For the last year, I've spent every working day trying to figure out where a high school kid was for an hour after school one day in 1999,” says journalist Sarah Koenig in her opening line of the hit true crime podcast Serial. With over 300 million downloads, this podcast brought worldwide attention to the story of Adnan Syed allegedly murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hai Min Lee. Koenig attempts to unravel the details of the day of Lee’s murder, which remain unclear to this day. Despite the lack of evidence physically tying Syed to the crime, prosecutors were able to use phone records and testimony from Syed’s friend against him. Syed was convicted of first-degree murder at the age of 18 and was imprisoned until September 2022, twenty-two years later.
This story takes place in 1998, in Woodlawn, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. Two high school seniors, Syed and Lee, were in a seemingly happy relationship, despite having to keep it a secret from their families due to cultural differences. Lee was Korean, while Syed is a Pakistani Muslim. This difference, specifically Syed’s identity, became a major underlying theme of the case. Both Lee and Syed were described by many as confident, kind, and intelligent. Syed was a star student, worked as an EMT, was involved in sports, and even led prayers at his mosque. This is why many were in disbelief of the possibility that he could commit this heinous act to this girl that he seemed to love. However, the state argued that Syed was living a double life. As Koenig says, “he plays the good Muslim son at home” with his grades and extracurricular involvement to show for it, but was secretly dating a girl outside of his religion, as well as partaking in typical American teenager antics (i.e. drinking, smoking, etc.). According to the state, this illustrated bad character because he was capable of being sneaky and conniving. They also argued that because he risked everything—namely approval from his family and his religion—to be with Lee, when she broke up with him and began dating her coworker, Syed developed a motive to murder her.
On January 13th, 1999, less than a month after Syed and Lee broke up, Lee went missing after leaving school. Several people testified on Syed’s whereabouts that day, including his friend Jay Wilds. He testified that earlier that day Syed told him that he was going to kill Lee. Wilds then explained how he met up with Syed in the Best Buy parking lot, where Syed showed him Lee’s body in the trunk of her own car. The pair took the car with Lee’s body to Leakin Park, which is notoriously known for being “the city’s largest unregistered graveyard.” They then buried her body in the park. Almost a month later, a park maintenance worker found Lee’s body. Autopsy reports declared her death a result of strangulation. In addition to the testimony, cell towers in the area were able to ping Syed’s phone at some of these locations, corroborating Wilds’ statement. One year later, Syed was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder, thirty years for kidnapping, and ten years for robbery. Syed continued to assert his innocence.
Fourteen years after his conviction, the Serial podcast uncovered new evidence that eventually led to an appeal. One piece of evidence the podcast noted was the existence of a letter written to Syed after his arrest. It was written by his classmate, Asia McClain. She wrote “I’m not sure if you remember talking to me in the library on Jan. 13th, but I remembered… Throughout your actions that day I have reason to believe in your innocence.” She also mentioned that the library has surveillance footage that may confirm his whereabouts. McClain’s letter provides an alibi for Syed, one wildly different than the claims made by Wilds. Syed’s lawyer, Cristina Gutierrez, never contacted McClain to testify, which led many, including Syed, to believe that she threw the case. In 2001, Gutierrez was disbarred following a series of complaints from past cases, including one where a mistake on her part almost set a statutory rapist free. Many believed that, in Syed’s case, Gutierrez was an unfit lawyer who ignored many of the hiccups in the prosecution’s arguments, including the fact that Syed’s DNA was never tested.
During the recording of Serial, Koenig was in close contact with Syed and kept him updated on her findings. This motivated Syed to file for appeals in 2015. At first, Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals agreed with Syed that he had received ineffective counsel, but Maryland’s higher Court of Appeals overturned that stating that although Gutierrez had been “deficient,” Syed’s case was not affected by her deficiency. In 2022, prosecutors agreed to DNA testing, which revealed that Syed’s DNA was not found on Lee’s body or belongings on the day of her murder. This DNA evidence overturned his conviction, and Syed was set free in September of 2022. However, this was not the end of Syed’s case. As of last March, his case was opened again due to oversight by the lower court.
After Syed’s exoneration, many victims of wrongful convictions spoke out on his behalf. He also gained worldwide fame and has millions of supporters via Serial. Although Syed has been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, Lee’s family may never get to. They will forever hold on to the memories of Hai Min and the grief of a life lost too soon. To this day, they are still fighting for justice, and are sure of Syed’s involvement.
After first listening to the Serial podcast, I fully believed that Syed was innocent. However, after a second listen and closer consideration, I now believe that, even if Syed did not commit the actual crime, he probably was involved—considering Wilds’ testimony. I am interested to see what his reopened case brings to light, and I hope that Lee’s family finally gets the closure they deserve.
I highly recommend listening to the podcast. Not only does it lend more information to this story but is an incredible piece of investigative journalism that touches on heavy topics such as religion and cultural differences, issues within the legal system and wrongful convictions, and the harsh reality that sometimes justice is never truly served.
References
Adnan Syed v. state of Maryland (2018) | Findlaw. (n.d.-a).
Chivis, D. (n.d.). Asia’s letters. Serial. https://serialpodcast.org/posts/2014/10/asias-letters
Piccotti, T., & Chang, R. (n.d.). Adnan Syed: A Complete Timeline of His Trial, Release,
Reinstated Conviction, and the Murder of Hae Min Lee. https://www.biography.com/crime/adnan-syed-hae-min-lee-timeline-facts
Serial podcast episode transcripts. (n.d.-b). https://www.adnansyedwiki.com/wp-
Victor, D. (2022, September 16). Timeline: The Adnan Syed Case. The New York Times.
Wendling, M. (2023, October 5). Will serial’s Adnan Syed go back to jail? BBC News.
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