I searched for a thread or post about this podcast, but didn't see anything.
Anyone else been following and listening to the episodes? I'm completely hooked. It's so compelling and just absolutely intriguing.
Here's a brief summary from the podcast's site:
On January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, disappeared. A month later, her body turned up in a city park. She'd been strangled. Her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested for the crime, and within a year, he was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely based on the story of one witness, Adnan’s friend Jay, who testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae's body. But Adnan has always maintained he had nothing to do with Hae’s death. Some people believe he’s telling the truth. Many others don’t.
Sarah Koenig, who hosts Serial, first learned about this case more than a year ago. In the months since, she's been sorting through box after box (after box) of legal documents and investigators' notes, listening to trial testimony and police interrogations, and talking to everyone she can find who remembers what happened between Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee fifteen years ago. What she realized is that the trial covered up a far more complicated story, which neither the jury nor the public got to hear. The high school scene, the shifting statements to police, the prejudices, the sketchy alibis, the scant forensic evidence - all of it leads back to the most basic questions: How can you know a person’s character? How can you tell what they’re capable of? In Season One of Serial, she looks for answers.
Hae had to know that Adnan smoked weed. I don't think her finding out about them selling together would be enough motive for them to murder her. Maybe it wasn't weed. But still, she knew he smoked. I can't see her freaking out to such a large extent that it would require killing her. At least, not if Adnan was there. They were still friends.
So maybe he didn't say because it wasn't weed they were going to sell. Maybe he doesn't want his family to know. Maybe it would give away who actually killed Hae and trigger some kind of retribution on his family.
I dunno. I just don't see a scenario where Adnan has any motive at all to kill her. That's my big problem. I see no motive if Adnan is physically present or involved directly. [Reply]
I think a more likely scenario is that after Jay asked to borrow Adnan's car he went off to do a deal with someone, Hae saw the car and decided to say hi to Adnan, got caught up in the middle of a bad deal and was killed by Jay or someone unknown. [Reply]
Yeah I'm fully in third person category now. I think it was drug related. I think Adnan was also dealing, supplied through Jay, knew the killer but was not party to the murder or suitable details to accuse someone else. I think that's the origin of his disgusted comment to Jay in court. I think it's possible that they both feel threatened by this individual or the folks he or she is associated with.
Although the possibility of Jay snapping is real to me, too. There's a whole lot of insecurity and anger below the surface of his interview. But I think it's more likely an associate in his drug dealing killed Hae, and that, if anything he's describing in his testimony (like the trunk pop) is true that he's sort of mentally Photoshop Adnan's head on the killer's body. Though I think it also likely he has an overactive imagination and was trying to create what he thought was a realistic crime based on local culture at the time.
And I believe the story he told the intercept to be the one he told his wife, and that it was designed to make himself as innocent (and as much of a victim) as possible. I think it's probably the version of the story furthest removed from reality. [Reply]
So is he doing interviews now because he's facing pressure from this third party? You think they'd be pissed if he's going public and changing details AGAIN. [Reply]
His lawyer set up the interview, I'm not sure what the reasoning there is. He hasn't said anything implicating a third party and people are looking into this now whether he talks or not, so I don't think it's that. I think he may just be an insecure guy who doesn't like the way people were talking about him. It doesn't have to go deeper than that. [Reply]
At some point I thought Adnan has to say "I need my freedom" and his family to say "we'll be okay" and just oust whoever it is they're fearing if it was drug related and he was involved..
The fact he hasn't, makes me believe it's Jay. [Reply]
See, there's no evidence that I e seen to make me believe it's Jay. I know he's involved and he's shady as shit, but I don't think he did it, either. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Silock:
See, there's no evidence that I e seen to make me believe it's Jay. I know he's involved and he's shady as shit, but I don't think he did it, either.
I don't particularly think he strangled her, but I think he knows who it was and maybe was even a witness. I don't know if Adnan did it or not, but my gut tells me not. I don't think he has anything at all to gain by doing it, nor by getting involved in all of this if he was guilty. [Reply]
I think the reactions of the two are telling, as well. Adnan is just letting it all sort of hang out there, he has no control over literally anything because of his position. This could fishtail in any direction on him and he knows it. Is even openly worried about it.
Jay apparently thinks everybody (or at least everybody white) is out to get him and he doesn't speak to anyone until he has control over the questions. I can understand why he didn't want the story to be brought back up, even if he wasn't directly involved, but he had a chance to participate from the beginning and made a choice not to. Then the thing blows up, he seems to panic because his reputation was besmirched in his mind, so he goes into damage control mode after the podcast ends. He tries to paint himself as not only a victim of circumstance, but a hero to women, children and grandmothers everywhere. There's just something...wrong about that to me. Although I can't really quantify what it is that makes me feel that way. Just something about his behavior makes him seem even more guilty to me.
Personally I think SK was fair and maybe even too generous to Jay. I think I would have been harsher. He lied. Over and over. I also wouldn't have had so much ambivalence about the murder itself, because the timeline simply does not work. Whether or not you think Adnan did it (I don't), or is even capable of it (I do - anyone is), at the end of the day there should not have been a conviction. Jay is too unreliable. [Reply]
My feelings: I feel Adnan and Jay had a hand in it, but didn't commit the murder. I believe that if Adnan was in Jay's shoes he would have ratted our Jay just like Jay did to him. I really think that the defense did a terrible job of showing that it was almost impossible to go from the concession stand to the Best Buy while committing a murder in 21 minutes. As a juror, I would have been skeptical of the testimony of Jay's and the changing stories.
I do not feel bad for Adnan for the simple fact that he shouldn't have been hanging with shady people. Love the podcast and I would like to hear some follow up on the court stuff in a few months. [Reply]