I have to acquit,” she said in the final episode, which was released in December 2014. “You, me, thestate of Maryland, based on the information we have before us, I don’t believe any of us can say what really happened to Hae. The podcast did not come to a firm conclusion as to Syed’s innocence or guilt, but Koenig felt there was not enough evidence to have convicted him. According to Wilds’s testimony, Syed told him he had killed Lee, and asked Wilds to help bury her body but Wilds’s story changed across his interviews with police, and his timeline did not match call logs and cell phone tower ‘pings’. Questions were also raised about the competence of Syed’s lawyer, and the veracity of the evidence provided by Jay Wilds, the prosecution’s key witness. Koenig found that there was scant forensic evidence linking Syed to Lee’s murder, and that witnesses had changed their statements to the police. Many others don’t.”Īcross 12 episodes, the presenter and journalist behind the podcast, Sarah Koenig, a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun who also worked on the podcast This American Life, trawled through thousands of documents and talked to everyone she could find who knew Syed and Lee at the time of Lee’s death. Some people believe he’s telling the truth. “But Adnan has always maintained he had nothing to do with Hae’s death. “The case against was largely based on the story of one witness, Adnan’s friend Jay, who testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae’s body,” the podcast description reads. He has always maintained his innocence, and 14 years later the podcast Serial brought renewed focus on Lee’s murder. Syed pled not guilty and his first trial ended in a mistrial, but in February 2000 he was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping, and sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison. Prosecutors said Syed had killed Lee after becoming upset when she started dating someone else. Syed was 17 when he was arrested, but was charged as an adult with first-degree murder. According to court records, Lee had ended the relationship in December that year. The pair both attended Woodlawn high school, and had dated the previous year. Police arrested Syed, Lee’s ex-boyfriend, on 1 March. Lee’s body was found, partially buried, four weeks later in Leakin Park, west Baltimore. Her family reported the 18-year-old high school student missing after she failed to pick up her niece. Hae Min Lee was last seen at about 3pm on 13 January 1999. The team behind Serial was lauded for its work, which sparked a slew of copycat podcasts, though it also raised ethical questions about whether true crime podcasts do noble work or exploit human suffering.
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