ABOUT
On January 13th, 1999, Hae Min Lee left her school at 2:15pm. By 3:30pm the same day her family reported her missing. Her body was found a few weeks later on February 9th by a man walking through Leakin Park in Baltimore. The cause of death was ruled to be manual strangulation and from there the case proceeded like any other. Suspects were found, evidence was collected and an arrest was made. Only this case wasn’t like any other. You see, Hae Min Lee wasn’t the normal murder victim. She was only a senior in high school, she didn't take part in illegal activity and she didn't seem to have any enemies. She was, in the words Sarah Koenig of Serial: “smart, and beautiful, and cheerful, and a great athlete. She played field hockey and lacrosse. And she was responsible,”. Her death was out of the blue and completely unexpected.
And the suspect? Adnan Syed. He wasn’t the normal murder suspect either. According to Koenig he was “not just a good kid, but an especially good kid-- smart, kind, goofy, handsome. So that when he was arrested for murder, many people who know him were stunned.” She wasn’t the only one to say that of Adnan. Rabia Chaudry, a close family friend said this: “He was an honor roll student, volunteer EMT. He was on the football team. He was a star runner on the track team. He was the homecoming king. He led prayers at the mosque. Everybody knew Adnan to be somebody who was going to do something really big.” Nonetheless, no matter what people said about him and how unbelievable the arrest was, he was still arrested and later convicted of killing Hae.
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Only He may not be guilty...
In the end the trial came down to a few key pieces of evidence. A few pieces of evidence that have become arguably flimsier and flimsier in the years since the conviction. Namely, Adnan’s lack of an alibi, cell phone records that placed Adnan at the scene of the crime, and conflicting statements from Adnan and Jay, a key witness in the case.
But none of these pieces of evidence are without faults. |
“Don’t tell me Adnan’s a nice guy, don’t tell me Jay was scared, don’t tell me who might have made some five second phone call. Just tell me the facts ma’am, because we didn’t have them fifteen years ago and we still don’t have them now.” - Sarah Koenig