Serial Podcast: The Murder Of Hae Min Lee

Through the multiple times I listened to the Serial podcast, and vigorously wrote down notes during each episode, I have finally come up with a conclusion or conspiracy theory on who murdered Hae Min Lee. Serial follows the real life story of the murder of Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland. Her body was discovered in nearby Leakin Park a month later. She had been strangled to death by someone’s bare hands. Soon after, her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested, tried, and convicted of the murder. He now resides in prison with a life sentence. From the time and manner of the victim’s burial, to the cell tower evidence used to pin down Syed’s movements, to the ever-changing testimony of the

In fact, I think it only further corroborates my theory that Jay killed Hae on his own and then pointed to Adnan. Because if you were in possession of your friend’s car and your friend’s phone, how would you make it look like your friend was with you? By calling someone in your friend’s phonebook whom you did not know. During the trial, the lawyers question Nisha about a time in which Adnan called her and then put Jay—at Jay’s insistence—on the phone to say hello. While Nisha confirms that such a call did happen, she is adamant that it was made from the adult video store where Jay worked. The thing is, Jay didn’t start working at the adult video store until a few weeks after Hae’s murder. (Episode 6). So it’s clear that the phone call Nisha remembers, and testifies about, is not the same phone call that took place on January 13. According to the call log, the phone call made to Nisha’s home phone (not her cell) on January 13 was placed at 3:32 p.m. and lasted two minutes and 22 seconds. Since Nisha testifies that this number is not connected to an answering machine, someone must have answered the phone and spoken for a little over two minutes. Since this was Nisha’s home phone, any number of people (her parents, any siblings she may have, anyone spending time at the Nisha Family Homestead) could have answered the call. And who’s to say that Jay didn’t either chat this person up under

He was not shy about this fact. Ask Jay why he lies, and he’ll tell you: he lies because he didn’t want to get in trouble. For instance, in Jay’s third police statement, he gave a completely different story than he had give in his first two statements. And when the cops asked why he has not told the truth before, Jay “admitted that he lied on the two previous occasions to cover up the fact that he bought and sold marijuana” ( Episode 4). When one of the interviewers stated why he would voluntairly help cover up Hae’s murder unless Adnan had some sort of leverage, he responded that Adnan knew that he sold drugs and could turn him in for that. In Jay’s second interview — which, again, was radically different from what was said in his first interview, and also radically different from what he would later say in his third — Detective MacGillivary pointed out all of the known lies that Jay had told so far, and asked Jay why he had not simply told them the truth during his first interview. The following exchange occurred. Ignoring the truthful response that Jay’s answer inadvertently contains (that Jay lied because he was concerned there would be video footage showing who committed the murder), we have yet another example of Jay fully disclosing to the police that when he believes the truth will get him in trouble, he is going to lie instead. And if Jay is willing