The Case Against Adnan Syed (2019) s01e02 Episode Script
In Between the Truth
1 ADNAN SYED: The day she went missing was just a normal day for me.
WOMAN: Everyone was just devastated, including Adnan.
ADNAN: I never imagined that I would be charged with Hae's murder.
WOMAN 2: Jay was eccentric.
ADNAN: Jay told the police I had done it.
They gotta have the wrong guy.
MAN: It's our responsibility as investigators to consider other suspects.
RABIA CHAUDRY: Debbie saw Hae before she was leaving school.
I always knew it had to be someone close to her.
MAN 2: In this justice system, you are innocent until proven guilty.
We were working in real time.
We may not have dotted all the I's.
CHAUDRY: I'm only on one side, and that side is getting to the truth.
FEMALE REPORTER: Adnan Syed is getting a second chance.
CHAUDRY: That is justice for Hae.
NEWSMAN: Eighteen-year-old Hae Min Lee disappeared on January 13th after leaving Woodlawn High School.
On February 9th police found her half-buried body in Baltimore's Leakin Park.
She had been strangled.
Key details they had withheld as they sought out a suspect.
They now have one in custody.
The police suggest the suspect had a motive in the form of a fatal attraction to his victim.
NEWSMAN 2: The subject is identified as Adnan Masud Syed, 17 and a former football player who is described as an A-student, friendly to everyone.
NEWSMAN: News of Syed's arrest is met with disbelief by the community in Woodlawn.
They can't believe the boy who had so much promise now faces a murder rap.
NEWSMAN: Adnan Syed is getting another chance.
He is in Baltimore court now hoping to win a retrial for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.
- (MAN SPEAKS) - Oh, I'm fine.
Nervous.
(WOMAN SPEAKS) (LAUGHS) No.
But we're ready.
RABIA CHAUDRY: We are nervous, but hopeful.
I mean, I think we haven't had this much hope, um, for success in a long time.
It is kind of, or also at the same time, our last best shot.
I feel a sense of desperation to keep the story alive until we can get him home.
And that's why I'm almost always tweeting about it, I'm writing about it, I'm talking about it, because, I just want resolution.
NEWSMAN: Outside the courtroom Thiru Vignarajah, arguing for the state, read out a statement from Hae Min Lee's family.
We believe justice was done when Adnan was convicted in 2000, and we look forward to bringing this chapter to an end.
But we are grateful for all the people who are there to give Hae a voice.
She is the true victim.
RABIA: Reliving it over and over is hard, and right now, I'm just looking at the court and saying, please just do your job, so we can get off this rollercoaster.
Asalaam alaikum.
I'm at the Dunkin' Donuts.
If you come up to the courthouse and make a right I can be in the building.
What am I'm going to do in the building? I'd rather sit in the Dunkin' Donuts.
Uh, so what happened was the prosecutor said, "Well, before my opening I have, um, some preliminary matters.
" And then he turned and looked at me and turned around and said that "We want to sequester witnesses.
" The prosecutor started reading off the names of Justin's witnesses.
My name's on the list, like six, seven people.
So Justin stood up and said, "Well, we're not going to be calling Ms.
Chaudry.
" And the prosecutor said, "Well, I reserve the right to call her", so I'm asking she be sequestered anyways.
" It was just a dirty move.
I am I can bet the barn that he's not going to call me.
If he did, I'd be surprised.
I don't think I would be a hostile witness.
I would be a very, very hostile witness.
(CHUCKLES) (MAN SPEAKS) Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
That's fine.
I think it was just kind of a move to demoralize Adnan's family and Adnan.
Having me removed from the courtroom might make the prosecutor feel better, but it's not going to help his case any.
And so this is just a way to I don't know, maybe get me back.
I've been pretty harsh on the state in public, and I don't have any regrets, so - Thank you.
- Yeah, thank you.
Thank you, guys.
- NEWSMAN: Take care.
- Thank you.
(RADIO CHANGING STATIONS) NEWSMAN (OVER RADIO): Syed, now 35, appeared in a prison jumpsuit in a courtroom packed with family members.
The hearing is expected to continue until at least next week.
(RADIO CHANGING STATIONS) (PAKISTANI POP SONG PLAYING OVER RADIO) RABIA: I wasn't there at all for the first trial.
I didn't have a lot of bandwidth to deal with what was happening with Adnan, because of the stresses in my own personal life.
My older daughter was about two at the time.
I was in law school.
I got married very young, and I got married into a family that was very culturally Pakistani.
And they expected us all to live in one big joint family, and me, as the eldest daughter-in-law, would be responsible for, like, cooking and cleaning for, like, ten people.
And it was just like a culture shock to me, 'cause I wasn't raised like that.
(SONG CONTINUING OVER RADIO) It was an abusive marriage at times, and that's why I came to visit my parents every weekend, because I just had to get out of there and that was my excuse on the weekends.
Would you guys like some tea or juice? ANWAR CHAUDRY: We feel bad if someone leaves us without even a cup of tea.
Our people, you tell them I'm sick, I cannot.
Even then you have to eat something.
(LAUGHS) Yeah, it's a must.
If you're dying, then they're just fine, but eat here.
(BOTH CHUCKLING) RABIA: The divorce was ugly, and my ex-husband made false allegations against me.
And so they took away my daughter for 90 days, and they said, we're going to do this full investigation.
And that was devastating for me.
Oh no, no, no, no.
The whole thing's going to fall off.
For me to see how easy it was to manipulate the court, simply by making a verbal allegation, with no evidence, I was just shocked and stunned.
CRISTINA GUTIERREZ: The defense's next witness would be Detective Ritz.
RABIA: People lie all the time in court.
Witnesses lie, attorneys lie, police lie, it happens all the time.
GUTIERREZ: Detective Ritz, you had an occasion to interact with a man by the name of Jay Wilds? Yes, ma'am, I did.
GUTIERREZ: And those interviews took place on the 28th of February? DET.
RITZ: Yes, ma'am.
RABIA: This is the Miranda and the cover sheet for the interview that Jay gave on February 28th, 1999.
This is where the case against Adnan begins.
(RITZ SPEAKING ON TAPE) (JAY SPEAKS) (RITZ SPEAKS) Jay is the center of gravity in this case.
It all revolves around Jay.
Jay was a classmate of Adnan's, and Jay is the one who told the story that convicted Adnan.
At trial, he said that Adnan killed Hae in the parking lot of Best Buy, and then he also said that he helped Adnan bury her in Leakin Park.
The thing is that the story that Jay told at trial is actually not the same story they told the police the first time.
Looks like him.
- Hey, Phillip how are you? - How you doing? - Hi, I'm Luke Brindle-Khym from QRI.
- Nice meeting you.
I'm Tyler Maroney.
Thanks for coming out.
Our goal today is to kind of have you walk us through what happened.
I got a call from the police department, and, uh, they said that we need your services at Leakin Park.
He gave me the location, and we need you now.
MARONEY: Phil, what was the purpose of the measurement of the distance? Why did they ask you to do that? BUDDEMEYER: Just so when they have it on the record, the location of the body in Leakin Park.
All right, Mr.
Buddemeyer, let's have you recreate the surveying job that you did.
I need somebody to hold the two on the chain.
Then we're gonna chain back.
You can just hold Just right here.
- Just lift it up high - Got it.
- to avoid all that brush.
- Okay.
I see the log.
KEVIN URICK: After you saw Hae Lee's body, did you want to help the defendant bury the body? - No, sir.
- Did you help that man? I helped him dig a hole, sir.
URICK: Nothing further.
(POLICE SIREN BLARES) ADNAN (OVER PHONE): When I was initially arrested, they had me initial a Miranda sheet.
It didn't register with me at all, and they put the paper in front of me, the Metro Crime Stopper paper.
It had Hae's picture.
The first detective, Ritz, he was saying, Hey man, look, why did you do it? Da-da-da-da.
Why did you do it? And MacGillivary said, hey man, just tell us the truth.
Did you get mad, because, look, I had an ex-wife, I get mad at her sometimes.
Once they gave me the charging document, I was like, holy crap, man.
That's when I said, hey listen, you know, I want a lawyer.
And he was like, you want a lawyer? You got a lawyer? I was like, I don't have a lawyer, but I want to speak to a lawyer.
CHRIS FLOHR: I got admonished by my wife to make sure I brush my hair.
Not a big fan of the long hair.
Basically, nobody in my family is a big fan of the long hair, so I just remember it being a gray and sort of misty, raining day.
I remember going to the police station.
There was like an intercom kind of thing outside, and I said, you know, my name's Chris Flohr.
I'm here to represent Adnan Syed.
I understand that you have him in custody.
I'd like questioning to stop immediately.
And he says, well, he hasn't asked for you, and I said, he doesn't know I exist.
The family hired us, and I said, I'm representing him.
He said, well, you know, according to the Supreme Court, we don't have to allow him access to you unless he asks for access to you.
And that was it.
I never got in the building.
I never got up to see him.
No access.
Nothing.
I walked away from there just absolutely flabbergasted, because I thought I've never had this kind of treatment before, and particularly when you're dealing with a 17-year-old kid, it's really outrageous.
You know, looking back over my notes, a standard question you learn to ask as a criminal defense attorney is, you know, does anybody know you by a nickname or any other type of name.
And to remember this kid's sitting in front of me, telling me that in the seventh grade, they used to call him Eggnog.
It was like having a fish out of water, somebody that didn't belong.
I've always felt that he's innocent, and I can't point to one particular thing.
I can tell you that it's a feeling, and a lot of it just didn't make sense.
NEWSMAN: Today at Woodlawn High School students reacted to yesterday's arrest of their classmate.
He was the nicest person.
I don't think he did it, at all.
He was like a straight-A student, honor roll.
He was a Muslim, he didn't seem like the type that would've did anything to hurt anybody.
I just think they just looking for somebody to blame.
KRISTA MEYERS: Once Adnan was arrested, a bunch of us went, you know, three or four of us went to the principal's office, and we, you know, demanded to speak with the police and they had the wrong person.
LAURA ESTRADA SANDOVAL: I remember me and Krista going to the principal's office.
The cops told us that they found DNA evidence that linked him to her body.
AISHA PITTMAN: When he was initially arrested, I was shocked, but then the adults in my life told me like, if they're arresting him, there's a reason.
Like you should like it's not completely out of the blue.
KRISTA: One of the teachers said, this is a Muslim thing: She scorned him, so that was like revenge and that was acceptable in his religion.
I can remember just thinking to myself, this is complete bullshit.
ASIA MCCLAIN CHAPMAN: Adnan and I weren't really close friends, but we had a ton of mutual friends.
And so when someone gets arrested, you start to think of, what's the last time I saw this person, and then you start to think of when's the last conversation that I had with him, and it popped into my head.
Like, oh, I remember that day.
I saw him in the library.
We actually talked about Hae.
I told him that I heard that they had broken up.
He told me that it was true.
He said that she had started a new relationship with another guy.
He referred to him as a white dude, is what he said.
You know, I kind of felt bad for prying.
He just kind of shrugged it off and he said, you know, I just want her to be happy.
I do remember looking at a day planner that I had, and it just slowly kind of creeped up on me that the last time I saw this guy was at the library.
That was before we had the two days off of school, and that was when they're saying she went missing, and then it was just kind of like lightbulb moment.
(CHUCKLES) I might've been the last person to see him, and we talked about her.
My ex-boyfriend convinced me that I needed to notify the family.
When we got over there, the house was packed.
So I spoke to a few of his relatives, and to be honest, I don't think they saw great importance in it, because it was only a 15 to 20-minute period of time.
When I came home, I decided that I was going to write Adnan a letter in the event that his family neglected to let him know.
Dear Adnan, (I hope I spelt it right) I'm not sure if you remember talking to me in the library on January 13th, but I remember chatting with you.
Depending on the amount of time you spent in the library that afternoon, it might help your defense.
I'm trying to reach out to your lawyer to schedule a possible meeting between the three of us.
I want you to look into my eyes and tell me of your innocence.
The police have not been notified yet.
I was uncomfortable about presenting it directly to the police, because at that point in my life, I did not trust Baltimore law enforcement.
BAILIFF: Please keep your voice up, state your name for the record.
Detective Gregory MacGillivary, Baltimore Police Department, Homicide Unit.
URICK: Were you the primary off detective assigned to the investigation of the Hae Min Lee murder? Yes, I was.
GUTIERREZ: Now, it became a Baltimore City matter, because the body was found inside the city limits, correct? MACGILLIVARY: That is correct.
DARRYL MASSEY: Leakin Park is the southwest borderline of Baltimore City entering into Baltimore County.
It's a common area, unfortunately, that we found and had many, many murder victims found in.
NEWSMAN: In the past five years, police have found 20 bodies in this vast, wooded expanse.
Hae Min Lee was number 20.
MASSEY: In the Baltimore area, it's known as the city's graveyard.
(SIREN BLARING) BRIAN WILLIAMS: Baltimore is struggling with a reputation for homicide at a time when crime is going down almost everywhere else.
We can't let these numbers continue to go - in the direction that they are.
- COP: Open the door! NEWSMAN: At the heart of the mayor's initiative, a more aggressive style of policing.
I can remember being followed in my vehicle by the police, pulled over and harassed by the police for no apparent reason.
And you heard stories in the neighborhood of people getting busted for drugs that weren't theirs.
Back in the '90s, the Baltimore homicide unit was known throughout the country with the ability to clear cases.
PATRICIA JESSAMY: One statistic that you probably see: the higher the arrest rate, the lower the conviction rate, because the investigations are not what they should be.
URICK: In the course of your investigation, did you have occasion to interview Detective O'Shea of the Baltimore County Police Force concerning his missing persons investigation of Hae Min Lee? MACGILLIVARY: I received reports that he had written and information that he had obtained.
URICK: Based on information you obtained from him, what, if anything, did you do? I obtained cell phone records of a phone that Adnan Syed had.
ADNAN (OVER PHONE): We had gotten the subscriber information for each of the numbers.
One of the subscribers lived in the Woodlawn area, so I responded to that location.
When I responded, I got out of my car and started to walk towards the residence.
And a young lady, she was in the car out front, had rolled down her window.
She'd inquired as to why I was going to her home.
She identified herself as Jennifer Pusateri.
I guess at first, you know, like, I ran from it.
You know, I didn't, uh, really want to face it.
Didn't really Was hoping I could just do anything to make it go away.
Now here it is.
It's like you kind of got to relive it all over again.
LAURA: Jenn was a year older than me.
She was like my sister.
Like, no matter what trouble we would get into, she always had your back.
And even with Jay.
JENN: Me and Jay, we were pretty inseparable.
We were pretty tight.
We were just good friends that smoked pot together, man.
We were potheads.
True bill.
He was a good storyteller.
He would make you believe his shirt was green if it was blue.
ADNAN: Me and Jay, we would have met, like, when we were in middle school.
We used to kind of just, like, ride bikes together.
We would do little tricks on them and stuff.
We would smoke weed together.
But then for a period of time we may not see each other.
So that was kind of like my relationship with him throughout most of high school.
He, like, played a sport and was social with people, but he just he was odd.
I now think of him as shady.
I don't know if I thought that at the time.
Jay wasn't a part of the, you know, magnet family, but he was kind of accepted in because of his affiliation with Stephanie.
ADNAN: Jay and Stephanie were relatively close, and Stephanie started dating Jay.
That's really how I stayed in touch with Jay in a sense was through her.
If I had went to prom with someone but Hae, I would've hung out with probably Stephanie and Jay.
But because I went with Hae, I ended up hanging out with Krista, Aisha, Debbie.
It was kind of like two separate groups.
Stephanie used to, you know, we've always kind of had, like, this type of relationship that's a little bit more than just friends.
She would come sit in my lap and stuff like that.
She would put her arm around me, she would play with my hair.
Things like that, right? And I obviously cared about her a great deal.
Stephanie was like Jay's prized possession.
He wanted to make her accept him, because she was in the magnet program.
And she, of course, had bigger aspirations and dreams than a pothead.
(DISTANT CROWD CHEERING) Eminem just came out with his first album, and I remember Jay would pick up Stephanie from softball and he would always have that blaring.
(BAT CRACKS) Hi kids! Do you like violence? Want to see me stick Nine Inch Nails Through each one of my eyelids? LAURA: You have to keep in mind, when all this was going on and I would hang out with these people, no one said anything about their involvement to me.
So, for me to hear that Jenn was involved, it was a shock because she didn't know Hae, she didn't know Adnan.
Her only connection was Jay.
All right, can we have Ms.
Pusateri come in? MURPHY: Thank you.
Ms.
Pusateri, I'm going to ask you to step all the way up here and just have a seat.
BAILIFF: Please keep your voice up, state your name for the record.
Jennifer Pusateri.
I really thought that everything I knew was, like, hearsay, 'cause I didn't see anything and I didn't experience anything.
Everything was told to me by someone else.
MURPHY: I'm going to ask you to think back to January 13th, 1999.
When did you first see Jay that day? When he came to my house after I got off work.
All I remember is him being at my house, playing video games, like we normally would.
My brother was there, too, the three of us.
He just said he was waiting for, uh, a phone call.
- He had a cell phone with him.
- Is that normal? No, Jay doesn't have a cell phone.
Did you know whose cell phone it was? - No.
- (PHONE RINGING) JENN: I remember the phone call, I remember him leaving.
MURPHY: Do you remember when that was? Between 3:30-3:45.
Then, the next thing I remember is calling.
I remember that we were supposed to hook back up.
I had got a page from Jay.
I really couldn't understand what he was trying to say.
- I was confused, so I called, - um, a cell phone number - (LINE RINGING) that I had got off caller ID from, um, the phone that he had earlier.
MURPHY: What happened when you called that number? Someone answered the phone and said Jay would call me when he was ready for me to come and get him.
He was busy.
And I think about a half-hour later, Jay called me back.
I went, picked him up.
So at some point, you picked up Mr.
Wilds? Yes.
- And where was that? - In front of Value City at Westview Mall.
In Jenn's version of events, she picked up Jay when he was with Adnan from the parking lot of a local mall.
But Jay always says that Adnan dropped him off at home, and then Jen picked him up from the house.
GUTIERREZ: What you ultimately told the detectives was that Adnan dropped you off at your home.
- Did you not? - Yes, ma'am.
And that your very good friend, Jenn Pusateri, picked you up from your home.
- Yes, ma'am.
- Not from Westview Mall.
- Yes, ma'am.
- Nah.
Nah.
He told me to meet him at the mall.
I don't know really why Jay said that he went to the house.
I'm not sure what he's trying to avoid there.
There's a reason, I just don't know what it is.
MURPHY: Was anybody with Jay? Adnan.
They pulled up after I was parked there.
- Who was driving? - Adnan.
JENN: I saw Jay get out, Jay get in my car.
First thing he said was put on your seatbelt and let's go.
He went on to tell me that Adnan had, um, strangled Hae.
Did Mr.
Wilds indicate to you whether he'd seen Hae? Yes, he told me that he saw her body in the trunk of a car.
And what he said to me was that, like, you know, he didn't want to go to the police, he didn't want to say anything, because he didn't have any pertinent information.
It was just what Adnan had told him and he had seen the girl's body, but he didn't know, like, where she was, you know.
Then he, um, said that Adnan had used his shovels, and he wanted to, um, go make sure that there weren't any Wasn't any of his prints, I guess, on the shovels from before.
So he had me drive him to the back of the Westview Mall.
Jay got out of the car and walked over towards some dumpsters.
I sat in the car.
GUTIERREZ: Let me get this straight, Ms.
Pusateri.
After he came back from the dumpster, - did he say he had wiped the shovels? - No.
- Did he say he had found the shovels? - No.
- Did you see shovels? - No.
JENN: I didn't see him throw it in there.
All I remember is him saying that he gave him some shovels and he needed to wipe them down.
MURPHY: After Jay told you what happened on the 13th, why didn't you go to the police? At that point weed was still, like, really illegal, you know what I mean? And, um, we sold weed.
It's not street code to go to the police with anything.
I mean, I don't tell a lot of people, of course, that I was involved with this, you know what I mean? I don't like the fact that I'm a state witness.
I don't like the fact of that at all.
I just rather not have any involvement with any type of thing like this.
I guess it was about two weeks before the first trial, when I found out that, um, he had helped Adnan bury her body in the woods and he really did know where the body was.
And I feel like if we would've known that, or if I would've known that, we might've done something different.
I don't know.
I don't know.
MACGILLIVARY: I got out of my car and started to walk towards the residence.
Had not even gotten to the driveway yet when a young lady in the car rolled down the window and asked me, can I help you? GUTIERREZ: When this young lady rolled down her window, I imagine you were pretty surprised, weren't you? No.
- And there was another young lady - also in the car? - Yes.
- Driving? - Passenger.
They asked for Jenn by name.
I mean, we were walking I mean, it was pitch black, and we were walking from her front door to my car.
And we're walking along talking, and out of the shadows they come.
"Are you Jennifer Pusateri? "We're homicide detectives, we'd like you to come down and talk to us.
" I immediately thought to myself, this has something to do with that night.
This has something to do This is connected.
- MURPHY: Ms.
Vinson, do you know - Jennifer Pusateri? - Mm-hmm.
How is it you know her? Um, we are in the same sorority at UMBC together.
Looking back on it, it feels very much like a movie to me, what we went through and how it played out.
A surreal, like, you know, very Law and Order -esque, I guess.
MURPHY: And how is it you know Jay Wilds? I know Jay through Jenn.
I'm going to ask you to remember back to January 13th, 1999.
- Do you remember that night? - Yes, I do.
Why? Well, first of all, I had a conference for my internship that I had to attend.
What time did you get home from that conference? 5:00-5:15, somewhere around there.
Then I got a knock at the door, and it was Jay.
And he said, hey, can we come in? And he had Adnan with him, but he didn't introduce Adnan.
Um, so I didn't know who he was.
MURPHY: Now, the person who - you said was with Jay - Hm-mm can you point him out for the jury, please? - The defendant.
- Mr.
Syed, for the record.
I just remember it being, like, a little odd, and, um, Adnan not saying anything.
Not hello, not hi, I'm Adnan.
Nothing.
MURPHY: Do you recall what time that was? Six, like around six o'clock.
And how do you know it was six o'clock? Um, Judge Judy was on, watching Judge Judy.
He just kind of out of nowhere, it was like, you know, "How do you get rid of a high?" And I remember kind of looking at Jay like, who is this kid? You know, what kind of question is that? And then Adnan got a phone call.
I'll always remember, you know, when he said, you know, well, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna say? What am I gonna You know, they're gonna come talk to me, they're gonna, you know What should I say? What should I do? - Did you understand what - he was talking about? - No.
And not too long after that, he just kind of bolted out of my house.
And I know that when the police came that night to talk to Jenn, Jenn kind of put them off and said, yeah, I'll come down later.
When we got in the car, I said, this has something to do with that night, the night that Jay and that weird kid came over.
You know, what What is going on? JENN: And I went to Jay to ask Jay what to do.
He worked at this porn store that had quarter booths.
(LAUGHING) Yeah, it was weird.
So I go into his store and I remember telling him, like, yo, homicide came to my house, now what? And I remember him saying, tell them what you need to tell them to stay out of trouble and tell them to come see me.
I remember sitting in that room with them and I remember the picture on the wall of these birds, because I guess I kept looking at the picture rather than looking at them.
The questions that they asked, you would've definitely thought that they talked to someone else first.
I tried to do as Jay said, to keep myself out of trouble, but not really incriminate anyone else.
MURPHY: Why is it you had to go back then the next day? Oh, because, um, when we went down there, I really wasn't, like, cooperating completely.
I pretty much just told them I didn't know know much.
I knew a little bit about it, but not as much as I really knew.
So I had lied, and, um, that's why I went to get a lawyer in the morning.
He contacted the detectives and set up an interview.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) Jennifer Louise Pusateri.
Between 1:00 and 1:30, Jay arrived at my house.
3:30, 4:00, or 4:15.
Adnan killed Hae.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) (JENN SPEAKING) MACGILLIVARY: You're saying you're sure it's the 13th, because we told you you had these telephone calls on the 13th? - JENN: Right.
- Okay.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) - (JENN SPEAKING) - (MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) (JENN SPEAKS) (MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) (JENN SPEAKING) Like, and that's so dumb of me to think that he let Adnan use the shovel that belonged to him and he didn't help and why he wanted to go wipe them off.
After speaking with, uh, Ms.
Pusateri at great length, I responded over to Southwestern Video and spoke to Jay Wilds.
URICK: Just to summarize, what piece of evidence was it that led you to Jenn Pusateri, Jay Wilds, the victim's car, and Kristina Vinson? Cell phone and cell phone records.
- Of who? - Adnan Syed.
- (DIAL TONE DRONING) - (PHONE DIALING) RABIA: The very first call of the day is Adnan calling Jay.
(PHONE RINGING) It would make no sense for the police to start with Jenn from an investigative perspective.
Why do you not go and first talk to Jay? Well, you would, and they did.
And they we're pretty sure that's what happened.
They went and talked to Jay first.
GUTIERREZ: The defense will call Drew Davis to the stand.
BAILIFF: Please keep your voice up, state your name for the record.
My name is Andrew Davis.
I'm employed as a private investigator.
DAVIS (ON TAPE): Andrew Davis investigation into Jay Wilds.
After conducting a confidential interview with the subject nicknamed Sis, who was Jay's supervisor at Southwest Adult Boutique, I was advised that either the 20th, 21st, or 22nd of February, Mr.
Wilds missed work when he responded to the Baltimore City police headquarters for an interview.
Mr.
Wilds missed work again to speak to the police on February 26.
And that contradicts what the state's narrative is: that we talked to Jenn, we talked to Jay, he confessed, and it all unraveled in one night.
I can't confirm or deny it, either way.
The most significant part is that don't Shouldn't cloud what Jay knew.
RABIA: To me, what the police were doing is very deliberate.
They know this guy doesn't have a story.
They were helping him craft the story.
I don't know if it was a gut thing or they just wanted to close it, but they just said this is our guy and we're gonna figure out a way.
They were creating evidence to get their conviction.
That's what was happening.
From what I understand, and this is normal, Jay had some crucial information and Jay wanted to get it off of his chest.
It wasn't an immediate thing, it was something they worked with by letting Jay know the common sense things.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING ON TAPE) MASSEY: When you look at Jay's statement, he recalls the day and he says that he got a phone call.
(JAY SPEAKING) You're getting information, now you find that out.
He has the cell phone, he has the car.
That's a significant part of the premeditation.
RABIA: So the charge was premeditated first degree murder.
To show the premeditation, they had to show that he told Jay he was going to do it, that it was planned.
(RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKS) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKS) JAY: I'm going to do it.
I'm going to kill that bitch.
Now he has to show he has knowledge.
When did he kill her? How did he kill her? Those were the things that were asked of Jay.
(RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKS) (RITZ SPEAKS) (JAY SPEAKS) (RITZ SPEAKS) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKING) - (JAY SPEAKS) - (RITZ SPEAKS) (JAY SPEAKING) - (RITZ SPEAKS) - (JAY SPEAKING) RABIA: The police knew that they found a red fiber on her body, and Jay said, oh yeah, Adnan has these red wool gloves with, like, leather palms.
(JAY SPEAKING) RABIA: In the photograph, you can see Hae's body is not laid out very cleanly or neatly.
Her arms are not in a natural position, and I think that is imagery that Jay used to pad his narrative.
But the problem is the lividity wouldn't work.
Lividity is when blood pools to the lowest portion of a body after somebody dies.
So if somebody dies and they're on their side for long enough, all the blood will pool to that place.
It'll leave a dark purple, bluish tint.
Hae's lividity was symmetrical and fully frontal.
So that suggests that she was lying flat on her face somewhere before she was moved to Leakin Park.
- (RITZ SPEAKS) - (JAY SPEAKS) MURPHY: Did he tell you where Adnan had strangled Hae? JENN: Yeah, I think I remember him telling me, um, that he had done it in Best Buy parking lot.
ASIA: I'm not sure if you remember talking to me in the library on January 13th, but I remember chatting with you.
If you were in the library for a while, tell the police, and I'll continue to tell what I know.
ADNAN (OVER PHONE): (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKS) Jay, um, had a lot of things he had to account for, so he forgets things repeatedly.
(JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKS) URICK: Did you help that man? I helped him dig a hole, sir.
People will provide you with information that may not be factual.
The objective is to find out, you give me information but how do you know? (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKING) MASSEY: Subsequently, we recover the car.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know.
We never knew where the car was, and then, we talked to Jay and we know where the car is.
I think Jay knew knew where the car was the way he knew everything Is that somebody told him.
And if there's any evidence that the car was moved after January 13th, it means Jay was lying.
MARONEY: Absent the police, there are no other witnesses, - there's no forensic evidence - That's right.
that supports Jay's testimony that the car was placed there the day it disappeared.
So it makes sense to try to figure out whether or not the car had been moved.
BRINDLE-KHYM: There were things happening in and around this lot between January 13th, when Hae goes missing, and February 28th, when the police discover her car here.
Right? You can read the police reports, the records are full of references to stolen auto, stolen auto, larceny from auto, towed vehicle.
Narcotics, January 16th.
So this is three days after the car goes missing.
This very car was, you know, underneath the police's noses for this entire time because they're responding to calls.
I think the idea that there's a vast conspiracy of police is very hard to fathom given all of the evidence and all the different elements that would have to fall into place perfectly to basically move Hae's car into a different location - Right.
- and frame Adnan.
And so there's that kind of wild conspiracy case, and then there's a series of other possibilities.
One is that it was somebody else who moved the car and it wasn't simply Adnan put the car there.
The grass underneath Hae's car looks to be relatively fresh in comparison to the worn down grassy area next to it.
So I suppose the question can be raised, is it true that grass would look like that if it had been protected by a car - in the middle of winter for six weeks? - BRINDLE-KHYM: Right.
- (TRAIN PA BEEPS) - PA: We've now arrived in Baltimore.
BRINDLE-KHYM: Where are we now? - Driver; We're in West Baltimore.
- Okay.
This is the area over here with the uprising with Freddie Gray.
You gotta go kind of inside there.
- Right here, or? - Yeah.
This is good.
Perfect.
- Thank you.
- Uh-huh.
- Hi, Erik.
- Hey.
- Good to meet you.
Tyler Maroney.
- Hi.
- Hey, Tyler.
Erik Ervin.
- Nice to meet you.
- This is Luke Brindle-Khym.
- Hey, Luke.
- Dr.
Ervin, I presume? - Yep.
MARONEY: We're here to take advantage of your expertise.
You know, there was a car that was parked here for a certain period of time.
We're trying to figure out - how long it was there.
- Right.
Here's the relevant car that we're looking at.
Okay.
So it would've been up the slope - Right.
Yeah.
- onto the grass a way.
BRINDLE-KHYM: Right before the bend.
Right there, that's my guess.
MARONEY: So, presumably driven up this alley - and then turned in - This way.
- Right.
Right.
- And then came to a stop here.
MARONEY: Erik, tell us what you're seeing.
ERVIN: I'm taking notes on all the different plant species.
For example, this grass here is called common Bermuda grass.
It spreads aggressively and hugs the ground.
It goes completely dormant with the first frost, so completely brown.
So that tells me that that's not Bermuda grass, - that's a cool season grass.
- Uh-huh.
Here's an example, this is perennial rye grass.
Is it possible to use an analysis of the grass to determine how long this car was parked there? The best I could do is dig some of this out to actually take back to the university and grow under the January and February temperature conditions and the light conditions.
Underneath the trunk area of that Nissan Sentra, we can still see that there's green plant tissue.
If my experiment after six weeks everything's gone brown, then I'd be pretty confident it wasn't parked there.
- BRINDLE-KHYM: For six weeks.
- Right.
ERVIN: There's a pretty good chance what was here 20 years ago is what's still here.
Could've this been re-seeded? Is there a neighborhood association where we could ask about that? You know, somebody who's lived here for 30 years who might know? - Hi there.
- IRENE: Hello.
- Hi, may we come in? - Sure.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you, Irene.
- I'm Irene.
- How long have you been here? - Forty-five years.
- Only 45 years? - (LAUGHING) - Wow.
- Only 45 years.
Wait, do the math for me.
What year did you move in? - I moved 1973.
Yes.
- 1973.
Wow.
Was there ever a time that you remember they came by, they ripped up the grass and they put down new grass seed and straw and replanted the grass? - No.
No.
Never.
- There's was none? The victim in this case, she was a young woman named Hae Min Lee.
Her car was found, basically right here.
That's funny because my grandson had a car - and the dag-gone thing caught on fire.
- Are you serious? - It was right here! Yes.
- Right here? So what if there was a car that had been parked there by someone and left for six weeks? It would not have sit no six to eight weeks without any one of us, Jane or I, finding out why was it still there.
We would've called 311 and told them about a car, that it's none of the neighbors around.
- And what would the city do? - They would come out, and they would check it out, tag it, you know, tow truck 'em, tow them away.
That's why I say six weeks no.
MURPHY: At some point you picked up Mr.
Wilds? Yes, at Westview Mall.
So many of his things just didn't add up, and I knew a lot of people would quiz me or challenge me and say, well, what about Jay? Like, you think he's not guilty but what about Jay? I just thought how could anybody listen to that kid and think that he's being straight about this? I didn't I never spoke to the police.
Jay told the police that he told me everything, but anything that I know is hearsay.
And I they never spoke to me.
At first he was like, yo, I got something to tell you.
You gotta keep it to yourself.
So he's like, I'm at the pool hall shooting pool, minding my business.
So Adnan shows up a little while later.
He's like, you gotta come out to the parking lot.
I have something to show you.
Go out to the parking lot, pops the trunk, and there's a body in it.
I thought that Jay told me it happened at Best Buy, that that's where he saw Hae's body in the back of a trunk.
I thought that's what he told me, so I thought that's where it happened.
He might've.
I don't know.
Maybe they were hanging out earlier.
Jay obviously picks and chooses what he wants to tell to And at this point, it's created such a mess.
LAURA: I know Jay.
From my point of view, I saw no relationship between him and Adnan.
Why would you even help him? Like, you don't even know him like that.
You know, like, it's not like Jenn calling and needing help or you know.
He said that, uh, when Adnan showed him Hae's body, he said something along the lines that this is what could happen to Stephanie, too, if you don't help me.
ADNAN: Me, Jay, and Stephanie, we drove to Krista's together.
When we left Krista's birthday party, I dropped him off and then dropped Stephanie off.
So two days after Jay says that I killed Hae, he left me in the car alone with Stephanie.
He's either going to be the person who went along with this murder, knew about it beforehand, didn't say anything about it, helped me bury her body or stood by while I did it, still hung out with me, let his girlfriend hang out with me, acted like nothing happened.
Or he's going to be the guy who lies and played a major role in me being in prison for, at this point, over half my life now for something that I didn't do.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) - (JAY SPEAKS) - (MACGILLIVARY SPEAKS) TANVEER: They took Adnan away, and then Detective MacGillivary is sleeping in his Cavalier like this, in front of the house, while the other officer was, I guess, watching the car, because they were waiting for the car to be towed to search it or whatever.
(WOMAN SPEAKS) I guess he had a long night.
(LAUGHS) FLOHR: We were not allowed to move from like a three-foot spot while they tore the house apart.
I remember them bagging up some things, and at every turn as a defense lawyer you're always wondering are they gonna find something that's gonna say, oh, you were wrong about this.
Your impression that this guy is innocent is incorrect.
RABIA: They tore up Adnan's car, they took his shoes, they took his clothes, they went through his house, they took all the soil samples they could find.
Nothing matched Leakin Park.
Nothing he owned had the red fiber that matched the red fiber on her body.
Jay's story was that she was in the trunk of her own car.
Well, they didn't do any forensic testing in the trunk of her car to see if she was ever there.
DETECTIVE: All right, close.
RABIA: If you had happened to come across the car and just look in the window, what you'd see is that the windshield wiper arm was loose and hanging.
Part of what the state was trying to show was that it was broken in a struggle.
What they did was they actually took the handle off, they sent it to a lab, and they discovered there were no broken edges, it wasn't broken.
The handle had actually been loosened.
There was forensic evidence collected from the cars, from the body.
The only people they ever took any kind of fingerprints or DNA from to test against was Jay and Adnan.
They took hair, blood, and fingerprints from them.
The DNA was actually never run.
They didn't find a single fingerprint of Jay's anywhere.
There was like a fingerprint on a rearview mirror of her car that could be the last person that drove the car, that could be the person who killed her.
It's not Adnan's and it's not Jay's and it's not Hae's.
If it didn't match them, they just didn't try anything else.
Police officers avoid collecting bad evidence.
They don't want evidence that will undermine their case.
They've already got a witness saying I helped bury Hae Min Lee with Adnan.
I don't know if I'll ever know exactly how he fit into this whole thing from soup to nuts.
I don't know that I'll ever feel comfortable that I know that.
I'm sure that there was some, you know, self-protection going on there to think, well, if they're going in the direction of this guy, I certainly don't want them to go in my direction.
If Jay gets pulled over and you're in a car with him, and he's dirty or he feels like there's a chance that he's going to go to jail, he's going to try to dump every responsibility for anything onto you.
He'll trade places with you in a heartbeat, which is why people don't talk to Jay anymore.
BRINDLE-KHYM: We know that Jay is now in California, so what we did is run his name both for civil litigation but also for criminal records.
MARONEY: Let me kind of go through all of it, because there's so much to go through.
We have more than 20 arrests starting in January 26th, 1999.
Second degree assault, at least four such charges.
Second degree assault of a police officer, multiple counts.
Resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, possession of a loaded shotgun.
How many is that? That's 25 police contacts here.
Not all of them lead to arrests.
Where do we know there's a conviction? There aren't many of them.
Doesn't it seem surprising that there are so many cases for which he's arrested that seem like relatively serious charges that the prosecutors declined to prosecute? Yeah, or where the consequences seem pretty minimal, right? I mean, we have assault of a police officer, assault of a girlfriend.
I mean, this incident was a major melee, right? Involving police responding to a domestic violence allegation, Jay barricading himself in the home, the police breaking down the door.
One of the cops said that Jay body slammed him, after he had been Tazed? NIKISHA HORTON: I met him in Baltimore just at a regular little club.
He comes across as charming, but he can go to zero to a hundred really, really fast.
You know, he was intoxicated, we were arguing, I left, and then, I guess, he see me going.
He snapped.
I'm seeing him in the middle of the street in that beltway.
And I stopped like, what are you doing? He he just took-just hit me, just hit me, just hit me, hit me, hit me.
And this all this while my son was in the backseat.
So he didn't even know what was going on.
This one as well.
I just made it to my mother and my sister.
By then, my face was all messed up.
The police had to be Was called.
He cussed the police out, spit on the police, they had to basically break the door down to drag him out, and that was that.
He had the charge with me, but he had the charge with the police, too, 'cause he was fighting the police.
WOMAN: Did you know he wasn't prosecuted on any of those charges? NIKISHA: I do think he knows ways to manipulate the law.
From what I've seen, the few times that he got arrested and came back here or there so quickly, no bail, no call, no nothing yes.
(DISTANT SIREN BLARING) (WOMAN SPEAKING) He did say he did say that, but he brushed it off like real quick.
No accessory, no "I did this.
" Nothing.
MARONEY: How likely is it do you think that someone would randomly stumble across this space? It was nearly impossible for that person that came in here that said he found a body because he had to go to the bathroom.
Well, I that never did sit well with me.
ASIA: I did not attend the trial, I didn't follow it on the news.
And so it just didn't even click with me that I was his actual alibi until Serial.
NEWSWOMAN: More testimony expected today in the hearing for Adnan Syed.
Syed's defense team called a potentially key alibi witness, maintaining she was with Syed at the time prosecutors contend he killed Lee.
Hearing Serial, you know, my mind, you know, after 20 years, I have things in different sequence order.
Some of the stuff is not how I remember it or yeah.
The question has always been for me in all these years, like, why is Jay's story changing? And I think that was one of the most revelatory things once we realized why his stories are changing.
NIKISHA: I really didn't know anything about none of this.
It just makes me feel like, what else is he capable of from the situations that we've been through.
(WOMAN SPEAKING) Yes, I do.
I have a lot of questions.
(PHONE RINGING) Hello? Hey.
Stand On your land Play your hand Mark your man C.
JUSTIN BROWN: I have told my client I will fight 'til the bitter end.
I will not give up on Adnan Syed.
I believe that them going to Leakin Park happens on the same date as them coming to my house.
JENN PUSATERI: The first story Jay told me would be the closest to the truth.
INTERVIEWER: Kristi was in school until 9 o'clock on January 13th.
There were two calls that convinced the jury that Adnan was at Leakin Park.
SUSAN SIMPSON: The phone that day was with Jay.
It turns out those calls aren't reliable? (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) SIMPSON: The cops workshopped that story.
(MUSIC FADES)
WOMAN: Everyone was just devastated, including Adnan.
ADNAN: I never imagined that I would be charged with Hae's murder.
WOMAN 2: Jay was eccentric.
ADNAN: Jay told the police I had done it.
They gotta have the wrong guy.
MAN: It's our responsibility as investigators to consider other suspects.
RABIA CHAUDRY: Debbie saw Hae before she was leaving school.
I always knew it had to be someone close to her.
MAN 2: In this justice system, you are innocent until proven guilty.
We were working in real time.
We may not have dotted all the I's.
CHAUDRY: I'm only on one side, and that side is getting to the truth.
FEMALE REPORTER: Adnan Syed is getting a second chance.
CHAUDRY: That is justice for Hae.
NEWSMAN: Eighteen-year-old Hae Min Lee disappeared on January 13th after leaving Woodlawn High School.
On February 9th police found her half-buried body in Baltimore's Leakin Park.
She had been strangled.
Key details they had withheld as they sought out a suspect.
They now have one in custody.
The police suggest the suspect had a motive in the form of a fatal attraction to his victim.
NEWSMAN 2: The subject is identified as Adnan Masud Syed, 17 and a former football player who is described as an A-student, friendly to everyone.
NEWSMAN: News of Syed's arrest is met with disbelief by the community in Woodlawn.
They can't believe the boy who had so much promise now faces a murder rap.
NEWSMAN: Adnan Syed is getting another chance.
He is in Baltimore court now hoping to win a retrial for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.
- (MAN SPEAKS) - Oh, I'm fine.
Nervous.
(WOMAN SPEAKS) (LAUGHS) No.
But we're ready.
RABIA CHAUDRY: We are nervous, but hopeful.
I mean, I think we haven't had this much hope, um, for success in a long time.
It is kind of, or also at the same time, our last best shot.
I feel a sense of desperation to keep the story alive until we can get him home.
And that's why I'm almost always tweeting about it, I'm writing about it, I'm talking about it, because, I just want resolution.
NEWSMAN: Outside the courtroom Thiru Vignarajah, arguing for the state, read out a statement from Hae Min Lee's family.
We believe justice was done when Adnan was convicted in 2000, and we look forward to bringing this chapter to an end.
But we are grateful for all the people who are there to give Hae a voice.
She is the true victim.
RABIA: Reliving it over and over is hard, and right now, I'm just looking at the court and saying, please just do your job, so we can get off this rollercoaster.
Asalaam alaikum.
I'm at the Dunkin' Donuts.
If you come up to the courthouse and make a right I can be in the building.
What am I'm going to do in the building? I'd rather sit in the Dunkin' Donuts.
Uh, so what happened was the prosecutor said, "Well, before my opening I have, um, some preliminary matters.
" And then he turned and looked at me and turned around and said that "We want to sequester witnesses.
" The prosecutor started reading off the names of Justin's witnesses.
My name's on the list, like six, seven people.
So Justin stood up and said, "Well, we're not going to be calling Ms.
Chaudry.
" And the prosecutor said, "Well, I reserve the right to call her", so I'm asking she be sequestered anyways.
" It was just a dirty move.
I am I can bet the barn that he's not going to call me.
If he did, I'd be surprised.
I don't think I would be a hostile witness.
I would be a very, very hostile witness.
(CHUCKLES) (MAN SPEAKS) Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
That's fine.
I think it was just kind of a move to demoralize Adnan's family and Adnan.
Having me removed from the courtroom might make the prosecutor feel better, but it's not going to help his case any.
And so this is just a way to I don't know, maybe get me back.
I've been pretty harsh on the state in public, and I don't have any regrets, so - Thank you.
- Yeah, thank you.
Thank you, guys.
- NEWSMAN: Take care.
- Thank you.
(RADIO CHANGING STATIONS) NEWSMAN (OVER RADIO): Syed, now 35, appeared in a prison jumpsuit in a courtroom packed with family members.
The hearing is expected to continue until at least next week.
(RADIO CHANGING STATIONS) (PAKISTANI POP SONG PLAYING OVER RADIO) RABIA: I wasn't there at all for the first trial.
I didn't have a lot of bandwidth to deal with what was happening with Adnan, because of the stresses in my own personal life.
My older daughter was about two at the time.
I was in law school.
I got married very young, and I got married into a family that was very culturally Pakistani.
And they expected us all to live in one big joint family, and me, as the eldest daughter-in-law, would be responsible for, like, cooking and cleaning for, like, ten people.
And it was just like a culture shock to me, 'cause I wasn't raised like that.
(SONG CONTINUING OVER RADIO) It was an abusive marriage at times, and that's why I came to visit my parents every weekend, because I just had to get out of there and that was my excuse on the weekends.
Would you guys like some tea or juice? ANWAR CHAUDRY: We feel bad if someone leaves us without even a cup of tea.
Our people, you tell them I'm sick, I cannot.
Even then you have to eat something.
(LAUGHS) Yeah, it's a must.
If you're dying, then they're just fine, but eat here.
(BOTH CHUCKLING) RABIA: The divorce was ugly, and my ex-husband made false allegations against me.
And so they took away my daughter for 90 days, and they said, we're going to do this full investigation.
And that was devastating for me.
Oh no, no, no, no.
The whole thing's going to fall off.
For me to see how easy it was to manipulate the court, simply by making a verbal allegation, with no evidence, I was just shocked and stunned.
CRISTINA GUTIERREZ: The defense's next witness would be Detective Ritz.
RABIA: People lie all the time in court.
Witnesses lie, attorneys lie, police lie, it happens all the time.
GUTIERREZ: Detective Ritz, you had an occasion to interact with a man by the name of Jay Wilds? Yes, ma'am, I did.
GUTIERREZ: And those interviews took place on the 28th of February? DET.
RITZ: Yes, ma'am.
RABIA: This is the Miranda and the cover sheet for the interview that Jay gave on February 28th, 1999.
This is where the case against Adnan begins.
(RITZ SPEAKING ON TAPE) (JAY SPEAKS) (RITZ SPEAKS) Jay is the center of gravity in this case.
It all revolves around Jay.
Jay was a classmate of Adnan's, and Jay is the one who told the story that convicted Adnan.
At trial, he said that Adnan killed Hae in the parking lot of Best Buy, and then he also said that he helped Adnan bury her in Leakin Park.
The thing is that the story that Jay told at trial is actually not the same story they told the police the first time.
Looks like him.
- Hey, Phillip how are you? - How you doing? - Hi, I'm Luke Brindle-Khym from QRI.
- Nice meeting you.
I'm Tyler Maroney.
Thanks for coming out.
Our goal today is to kind of have you walk us through what happened.
I got a call from the police department, and, uh, they said that we need your services at Leakin Park.
He gave me the location, and we need you now.
MARONEY: Phil, what was the purpose of the measurement of the distance? Why did they ask you to do that? BUDDEMEYER: Just so when they have it on the record, the location of the body in Leakin Park.
All right, Mr.
Buddemeyer, let's have you recreate the surveying job that you did.
I need somebody to hold the two on the chain.
Then we're gonna chain back.
You can just hold Just right here.
- Just lift it up high - Got it.
- to avoid all that brush.
- Okay.
I see the log.
KEVIN URICK: After you saw Hae Lee's body, did you want to help the defendant bury the body? - No, sir.
- Did you help that man? I helped him dig a hole, sir.
URICK: Nothing further.
(POLICE SIREN BLARES) ADNAN (OVER PHONE): When I was initially arrested, they had me initial a Miranda sheet.
It didn't register with me at all, and they put the paper in front of me, the Metro Crime Stopper paper.
It had Hae's picture.
The first detective, Ritz, he was saying, Hey man, look, why did you do it? Da-da-da-da.
Why did you do it? And MacGillivary said, hey man, just tell us the truth.
Did you get mad, because, look, I had an ex-wife, I get mad at her sometimes.
Once they gave me the charging document, I was like, holy crap, man.
That's when I said, hey listen, you know, I want a lawyer.
And he was like, you want a lawyer? You got a lawyer? I was like, I don't have a lawyer, but I want to speak to a lawyer.
CHRIS FLOHR: I got admonished by my wife to make sure I brush my hair.
Not a big fan of the long hair.
Basically, nobody in my family is a big fan of the long hair, so I just remember it being a gray and sort of misty, raining day.
I remember going to the police station.
There was like an intercom kind of thing outside, and I said, you know, my name's Chris Flohr.
I'm here to represent Adnan Syed.
I understand that you have him in custody.
I'd like questioning to stop immediately.
And he says, well, he hasn't asked for you, and I said, he doesn't know I exist.
The family hired us, and I said, I'm representing him.
He said, well, you know, according to the Supreme Court, we don't have to allow him access to you unless he asks for access to you.
And that was it.
I never got in the building.
I never got up to see him.
No access.
Nothing.
I walked away from there just absolutely flabbergasted, because I thought I've never had this kind of treatment before, and particularly when you're dealing with a 17-year-old kid, it's really outrageous.
You know, looking back over my notes, a standard question you learn to ask as a criminal defense attorney is, you know, does anybody know you by a nickname or any other type of name.
And to remember this kid's sitting in front of me, telling me that in the seventh grade, they used to call him Eggnog.
It was like having a fish out of water, somebody that didn't belong.
I've always felt that he's innocent, and I can't point to one particular thing.
I can tell you that it's a feeling, and a lot of it just didn't make sense.
NEWSMAN: Today at Woodlawn High School students reacted to yesterday's arrest of their classmate.
He was the nicest person.
I don't think he did it, at all.
He was like a straight-A student, honor roll.
He was a Muslim, he didn't seem like the type that would've did anything to hurt anybody.
I just think they just looking for somebody to blame.
KRISTA MEYERS: Once Adnan was arrested, a bunch of us went, you know, three or four of us went to the principal's office, and we, you know, demanded to speak with the police and they had the wrong person.
LAURA ESTRADA SANDOVAL: I remember me and Krista going to the principal's office.
The cops told us that they found DNA evidence that linked him to her body.
AISHA PITTMAN: When he was initially arrested, I was shocked, but then the adults in my life told me like, if they're arresting him, there's a reason.
Like you should like it's not completely out of the blue.
KRISTA: One of the teachers said, this is a Muslim thing: She scorned him, so that was like revenge and that was acceptable in his religion.
I can remember just thinking to myself, this is complete bullshit.
ASIA MCCLAIN CHAPMAN: Adnan and I weren't really close friends, but we had a ton of mutual friends.
And so when someone gets arrested, you start to think of, what's the last time I saw this person, and then you start to think of when's the last conversation that I had with him, and it popped into my head.
Like, oh, I remember that day.
I saw him in the library.
We actually talked about Hae.
I told him that I heard that they had broken up.
He told me that it was true.
He said that she had started a new relationship with another guy.
He referred to him as a white dude, is what he said.
You know, I kind of felt bad for prying.
He just kind of shrugged it off and he said, you know, I just want her to be happy.
I do remember looking at a day planner that I had, and it just slowly kind of creeped up on me that the last time I saw this guy was at the library.
That was before we had the two days off of school, and that was when they're saying she went missing, and then it was just kind of like lightbulb moment.
(CHUCKLES) I might've been the last person to see him, and we talked about her.
My ex-boyfriend convinced me that I needed to notify the family.
When we got over there, the house was packed.
So I spoke to a few of his relatives, and to be honest, I don't think they saw great importance in it, because it was only a 15 to 20-minute period of time.
When I came home, I decided that I was going to write Adnan a letter in the event that his family neglected to let him know.
Dear Adnan, (I hope I spelt it right) I'm not sure if you remember talking to me in the library on January 13th, but I remember chatting with you.
Depending on the amount of time you spent in the library that afternoon, it might help your defense.
I'm trying to reach out to your lawyer to schedule a possible meeting between the three of us.
I want you to look into my eyes and tell me of your innocence.
The police have not been notified yet.
I was uncomfortable about presenting it directly to the police, because at that point in my life, I did not trust Baltimore law enforcement.
BAILIFF: Please keep your voice up, state your name for the record.
Detective Gregory MacGillivary, Baltimore Police Department, Homicide Unit.
URICK: Were you the primary off detective assigned to the investigation of the Hae Min Lee murder? Yes, I was.
GUTIERREZ: Now, it became a Baltimore City matter, because the body was found inside the city limits, correct? MACGILLIVARY: That is correct.
DARRYL MASSEY: Leakin Park is the southwest borderline of Baltimore City entering into Baltimore County.
It's a common area, unfortunately, that we found and had many, many murder victims found in.
NEWSMAN: In the past five years, police have found 20 bodies in this vast, wooded expanse.
Hae Min Lee was number 20.
MASSEY: In the Baltimore area, it's known as the city's graveyard.
(SIREN BLARING) BRIAN WILLIAMS: Baltimore is struggling with a reputation for homicide at a time when crime is going down almost everywhere else.
We can't let these numbers continue to go - in the direction that they are.
- COP: Open the door! NEWSMAN: At the heart of the mayor's initiative, a more aggressive style of policing.
I can remember being followed in my vehicle by the police, pulled over and harassed by the police for no apparent reason.
And you heard stories in the neighborhood of people getting busted for drugs that weren't theirs.
Back in the '90s, the Baltimore homicide unit was known throughout the country with the ability to clear cases.
PATRICIA JESSAMY: One statistic that you probably see: the higher the arrest rate, the lower the conviction rate, because the investigations are not what they should be.
URICK: In the course of your investigation, did you have occasion to interview Detective O'Shea of the Baltimore County Police Force concerning his missing persons investigation of Hae Min Lee? MACGILLIVARY: I received reports that he had written and information that he had obtained.
URICK: Based on information you obtained from him, what, if anything, did you do? I obtained cell phone records of a phone that Adnan Syed had.
ADNAN (OVER PHONE): We had gotten the subscriber information for each of the numbers.
One of the subscribers lived in the Woodlawn area, so I responded to that location.
When I responded, I got out of my car and started to walk towards the residence.
And a young lady, she was in the car out front, had rolled down her window.
She'd inquired as to why I was going to her home.
She identified herself as Jennifer Pusateri.
I guess at first, you know, like, I ran from it.
You know, I didn't, uh, really want to face it.
Didn't really Was hoping I could just do anything to make it go away.
Now here it is.
It's like you kind of got to relive it all over again.
LAURA: Jenn was a year older than me.
She was like my sister.
Like, no matter what trouble we would get into, she always had your back.
And even with Jay.
JENN: Me and Jay, we were pretty inseparable.
We were pretty tight.
We were just good friends that smoked pot together, man.
We were potheads.
True bill.
He was a good storyteller.
He would make you believe his shirt was green if it was blue.
ADNAN: Me and Jay, we would have met, like, when we were in middle school.
We used to kind of just, like, ride bikes together.
We would do little tricks on them and stuff.
We would smoke weed together.
But then for a period of time we may not see each other.
So that was kind of like my relationship with him throughout most of high school.
He, like, played a sport and was social with people, but he just he was odd.
I now think of him as shady.
I don't know if I thought that at the time.
Jay wasn't a part of the, you know, magnet family, but he was kind of accepted in because of his affiliation with Stephanie.
ADNAN: Jay and Stephanie were relatively close, and Stephanie started dating Jay.
That's really how I stayed in touch with Jay in a sense was through her.
If I had went to prom with someone but Hae, I would've hung out with probably Stephanie and Jay.
But because I went with Hae, I ended up hanging out with Krista, Aisha, Debbie.
It was kind of like two separate groups.
Stephanie used to, you know, we've always kind of had, like, this type of relationship that's a little bit more than just friends.
She would come sit in my lap and stuff like that.
She would put her arm around me, she would play with my hair.
Things like that, right? And I obviously cared about her a great deal.
Stephanie was like Jay's prized possession.
He wanted to make her accept him, because she was in the magnet program.
And she, of course, had bigger aspirations and dreams than a pothead.
(DISTANT CROWD CHEERING) Eminem just came out with his first album, and I remember Jay would pick up Stephanie from softball and he would always have that blaring.
(BAT CRACKS) Hi kids! Do you like violence? Want to see me stick Nine Inch Nails Through each one of my eyelids? LAURA: You have to keep in mind, when all this was going on and I would hang out with these people, no one said anything about their involvement to me.
So, for me to hear that Jenn was involved, it was a shock because she didn't know Hae, she didn't know Adnan.
Her only connection was Jay.
All right, can we have Ms.
Pusateri come in? MURPHY: Thank you.
Ms.
Pusateri, I'm going to ask you to step all the way up here and just have a seat.
BAILIFF: Please keep your voice up, state your name for the record.
Jennifer Pusateri.
I really thought that everything I knew was, like, hearsay, 'cause I didn't see anything and I didn't experience anything.
Everything was told to me by someone else.
MURPHY: I'm going to ask you to think back to January 13th, 1999.
When did you first see Jay that day? When he came to my house after I got off work.
All I remember is him being at my house, playing video games, like we normally would.
My brother was there, too, the three of us.
He just said he was waiting for, uh, a phone call.
- He had a cell phone with him.
- Is that normal? No, Jay doesn't have a cell phone.
Did you know whose cell phone it was? - No.
- (PHONE RINGING) JENN: I remember the phone call, I remember him leaving.
MURPHY: Do you remember when that was? Between 3:30-3:45.
Then, the next thing I remember is calling.
I remember that we were supposed to hook back up.
I had got a page from Jay.
I really couldn't understand what he was trying to say.
- I was confused, so I called, - um, a cell phone number - (LINE RINGING) that I had got off caller ID from, um, the phone that he had earlier.
MURPHY: What happened when you called that number? Someone answered the phone and said Jay would call me when he was ready for me to come and get him.
He was busy.
And I think about a half-hour later, Jay called me back.
I went, picked him up.
So at some point, you picked up Mr.
Wilds? Yes.
- And where was that? - In front of Value City at Westview Mall.
In Jenn's version of events, she picked up Jay when he was with Adnan from the parking lot of a local mall.
But Jay always says that Adnan dropped him off at home, and then Jen picked him up from the house.
GUTIERREZ: What you ultimately told the detectives was that Adnan dropped you off at your home.
- Did you not? - Yes, ma'am.
And that your very good friend, Jenn Pusateri, picked you up from your home.
- Yes, ma'am.
- Not from Westview Mall.
- Yes, ma'am.
- Nah.
Nah.
He told me to meet him at the mall.
I don't know really why Jay said that he went to the house.
I'm not sure what he's trying to avoid there.
There's a reason, I just don't know what it is.
MURPHY: Was anybody with Jay? Adnan.
They pulled up after I was parked there.
- Who was driving? - Adnan.
JENN: I saw Jay get out, Jay get in my car.
First thing he said was put on your seatbelt and let's go.
He went on to tell me that Adnan had, um, strangled Hae.
Did Mr.
Wilds indicate to you whether he'd seen Hae? Yes, he told me that he saw her body in the trunk of a car.
And what he said to me was that, like, you know, he didn't want to go to the police, he didn't want to say anything, because he didn't have any pertinent information.
It was just what Adnan had told him and he had seen the girl's body, but he didn't know, like, where she was, you know.
Then he, um, said that Adnan had used his shovels, and he wanted to, um, go make sure that there weren't any Wasn't any of his prints, I guess, on the shovels from before.
So he had me drive him to the back of the Westview Mall.
Jay got out of the car and walked over towards some dumpsters.
I sat in the car.
GUTIERREZ: Let me get this straight, Ms.
Pusateri.
After he came back from the dumpster, - did he say he had wiped the shovels? - No.
- Did he say he had found the shovels? - No.
- Did you see shovels? - No.
JENN: I didn't see him throw it in there.
All I remember is him saying that he gave him some shovels and he needed to wipe them down.
MURPHY: After Jay told you what happened on the 13th, why didn't you go to the police? At that point weed was still, like, really illegal, you know what I mean? And, um, we sold weed.
It's not street code to go to the police with anything.
I mean, I don't tell a lot of people, of course, that I was involved with this, you know what I mean? I don't like the fact that I'm a state witness.
I don't like the fact of that at all.
I just rather not have any involvement with any type of thing like this.
I guess it was about two weeks before the first trial, when I found out that, um, he had helped Adnan bury her body in the woods and he really did know where the body was.
And I feel like if we would've known that, or if I would've known that, we might've done something different.
I don't know.
I don't know.
MACGILLIVARY: I got out of my car and started to walk towards the residence.
Had not even gotten to the driveway yet when a young lady in the car rolled down the window and asked me, can I help you? GUTIERREZ: When this young lady rolled down her window, I imagine you were pretty surprised, weren't you? No.
- And there was another young lady - also in the car? - Yes.
- Driving? - Passenger.
They asked for Jenn by name.
I mean, we were walking I mean, it was pitch black, and we were walking from her front door to my car.
And we're walking along talking, and out of the shadows they come.
"Are you Jennifer Pusateri? "We're homicide detectives, we'd like you to come down and talk to us.
" I immediately thought to myself, this has something to do with that night.
This has something to do This is connected.
- MURPHY: Ms.
Vinson, do you know - Jennifer Pusateri? - Mm-hmm.
How is it you know her? Um, we are in the same sorority at UMBC together.
Looking back on it, it feels very much like a movie to me, what we went through and how it played out.
A surreal, like, you know, very Law and Order -esque, I guess.
MURPHY: And how is it you know Jay Wilds? I know Jay through Jenn.
I'm going to ask you to remember back to January 13th, 1999.
- Do you remember that night? - Yes, I do.
Why? Well, first of all, I had a conference for my internship that I had to attend.
What time did you get home from that conference? 5:00-5:15, somewhere around there.
Then I got a knock at the door, and it was Jay.
And he said, hey, can we come in? And he had Adnan with him, but he didn't introduce Adnan.
Um, so I didn't know who he was.
MURPHY: Now, the person who - you said was with Jay - Hm-mm can you point him out for the jury, please? - The defendant.
- Mr.
Syed, for the record.
I just remember it being, like, a little odd, and, um, Adnan not saying anything.
Not hello, not hi, I'm Adnan.
Nothing.
MURPHY: Do you recall what time that was? Six, like around six o'clock.
And how do you know it was six o'clock? Um, Judge Judy was on, watching Judge Judy.
He just kind of out of nowhere, it was like, you know, "How do you get rid of a high?" And I remember kind of looking at Jay like, who is this kid? You know, what kind of question is that? And then Adnan got a phone call.
I'll always remember, you know, when he said, you know, well, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna say? What am I gonna You know, they're gonna come talk to me, they're gonna, you know What should I say? What should I do? - Did you understand what - he was talking about? - No.
And not too long after that, he just kind of bolted out of my house.
And I know that when the police came that night to talk to Jenn, Jenn kind of put them off and said, yeah, I'll come down later.
When we got in the car, I said, this has something to do with that night, the night that Jay and that weird kid came over.
You know, what What is going on? JENN: And I went to Jay to ask Jay what to do.
He worked at this porn store that had quarter booths.
(LAUGHING) Yeah, it was weird.
So I go into his store and I remember telling him, like, yo, homicide came to my house, now what? And I remember him saying, tell them what you need to tell them to stay out of trouble and tell them to come see me.
I remember sitting in that room with them and I remember the picture on the wall of these birds, because I guess I kept looking at the picture rather than looking at them.
The questions that they asked, you would've definitely thought that they talked to someone else first.
I tried to do as Jay said, to keep myself out of trouble, but not really incriminate anyone else.
MURPHY: Why is it you had to go back then the next day? Oh, because, um, when we went down there, I really wasn't, like, cooperating completely.
I pretty much just told them I didn't know know much.
I knew a little bit about it, but not as much as I really knew.
So I had lied, and, um, that's why I went to get a lawyer in the morning.
He contacted the detectives and set up an interview.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) Jennifer Louise Pusateri.
Between 1:00 and 1:30, Jay arrived at my house.
3:30, 4:00, or 4:15.
Adnan killed Hae.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) (JENN SPEAKING) MACGILLIVARY: You're saying you're sure it's the 13th, because we told you you had these telephone calls on the 13th? - JENN: Right.
- Okay.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) - (JENN SPEAKING) - (MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) (JENN SPEAKS) (MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) (JENN SPEAKING) Like, and that's so dumb of me to think that he let Adnan use the shovel that belonged to him and he didn't help and why he wanted to go wipe them off.
After speaking with, uh, Ms.
Pusateri at great length, I responded over to Southwestern Video and spoke to Jay Wilds.
URICK: Just to summarize, what piece of evidence was it that led you to Jenn Pusateri, Jay Wilds, the victim's car, and Kristina Vinson? Cell phone and cell phone records.
- Of who? - Adnan Syed.
- (DIAL TONE DRONING) - (PHONE DIALING) RABIA: The very first call of the day is Adnan calling Jay.
(PHONE RINGING) It would make no sense for the police to start with Jenn from an investigative perspective.
Why do you not go and first talk to Jay? Well, you would, and they did.
And they we're pretty sure that's what happened.
They went and talked to Jay first.
GUTIERREZ: The defense will call Drew Davis to the stand.
BAILIFF: Please keep your voice up, state your name for the record.
My name is Andrew Davis.
I'm employed as a private investigator.
DAVIS (ON TAPE): Andrew Davis investigation into Jay Wilds.
After conducting a confidential interview with the subject nicknamed Sis, who was Jay's supervisor at Southwest Adult Boutique, I was advised that either the 20th, 21st, or 22nd of February, Mr.
Wilds missed work when he responded to the Baltimore City police headquarters for an interview.
Mr.
Wilds missed work again to speak to the police on February 26.
And that contradicts what the state's narrative is: that we talked to Jenn, we talked to Jay, he confessed, and it all unraveled in one night.
I can't confirm or deny it, either way.
The most significant part is that don't Shouldn't cloud what Jay knew.
RABIA: To me, what the police were doing is very deliberate.
They know this guy doesn't have a story.
They were helping him craft the story.
I don't know if it was a gut thing or they just wanted to close it, but they just said this is our guy and we're gonna figure out a way.
They were creating evidence to get their conviction.
That's what was happening.
From what I understand, and this is normal, Jay had some crucial information and Jay wanted to get it off of his chest.
It wasn't an immediate thing, it was something they worked with by letting Jay know the common sense things.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING ON TAPE) MASSEY: When you look at Jay's statement, he recalls the day and he says that he got a phone call.
(JAY SPEAKING) You're getting information, now you find that out.
He has the cell phone, he has the car.
That's a significant part of the premeditation.
RABIA: So the charge was premeditated first degree murder.
To show the premeditation, they had to show that he told Jay he was going to do it, that it was planned.
(RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKS) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKS) JAY: I'm going to do it.
I'm going to kill that bitch.
Now he has to show he has knowledge.
When did he kill her? How did he kill her? Those were the things that were asked of Jay.
(RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKS) (RITZ SPEAKS) (JAY SPEAKS) (RITZ SPEAKS) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKING) - (JAY SPEAKS) - (RITZ SPEAKS) (JAY SPEAKING) - (RITZ SPEAKS) - (JAY SPEAKING) RABIA: The police knew that they found a red fiber on her body, and Jay said, oh yeah, Adnan has these red wool gloves with, like, leather palms.
(JAY SPEAKING) RABIA: In the photograph, you can see Hae's body is not laid out very cleanly or neatly.
Her arms are not in a natural position, and I think that is imagery that Jay used to pad his narrative.
But the problem is the lividity wouldn't work.
Lividity is when blood pools to the lowest portion of a body after somebody dies.
So if somebody dies and they're on their side for long enough, all the blood will pool to that place.
It'll leave a dark purple, bluish tint.
Hae's lividity was symmetrical and fully frontal.
So that suggests that she was lying flat on her face somewhere before she was moved to Leakin Park.
- (RITZ SPEAKS) - (JAY SPEAKS) MURPHY: Did he tell you where Adnan had strangled Hae? JENN: Yeah, I think I remember him telling me, um, that he had done it in Best Buy parking lot.
ASIA: I'm not sure if you remember talking to me in the library on January 13th, but I remember chatting with you.
If you were in the library for a while, tell the police, and I'll continue to tell what I know.
ADNAN (OVER PHONE): (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKS) Jay, um, had a lot of things he had to account for, so he forgets things repeatedly.
(JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKING) (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKS) URICK: Did you help that man? I helped him dig a hole, sir.
People will provide you with information that may not be factual.
The objective is to find out, you give me information but how do you know? (RITZ SPEAKING) (JAY SPEAKING) MASSEY: Subsequently, we recover the car.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know.
We never knew where the car was, and then, we talked to Jay and we know where the car is.
I think Jay knew knew where the car was the way he knew everything Is that somebody told him.
And if there's any evidence that the car was moved after January 13th, it means Jay was lying.
MARONEY: Absent the police, there are no other witnesses, - there's no forensic evidence - That's right.
that supports Jay's testimony that the car was placed there the day it disappeared.
So it makes sense to try to figure out whether or not the car had been moved.
BRINDLE-KHYM: There were things happening in and around this lot between January 13th, when Hae goes missing, and February 28th, when the police discover her car here.
Right? You can read the police reports, the records are full of references to stolen auto, stolen auto, larceny from auto, towed vehicle.
Narcotics, January 16th.
So this is three days after the car goes missing.
This very car was, you know, underneath the police's noses for this entire time because they're responding to calls.
I think the idea that there's a vast conspiracy of police is very hard to fathom given all of the evidence and all the different elements that would have to fall into place perfectly to basically move Hae's car into a different location - Right.
- and frame Adnan.
And so there's that kind of wild conspiracy case, and then there's a series of other possibilities.
One is that it was somebody else who moved the car and it wasn't simply Adnan put the car there.
The grass underneath Hae's car looks to be relatively fresh in comparison to the worn down grassy area next to it.
So I suppose the question can be raised, is it true that grass would look like that if it had been protected by a car - in the middle of winter for six weeks? - BRINDLE-KHYM: Right.
- (TRAIN PA BEEPS) - PA: We've now arrived in Baltimore.
BRINDLE-KHYM: Where are we now? - Driver; We're in West Baltimore.
- Okay.
This is the area over here with the uprising with Freddie Gray.
You gotta go kind of inside there.
- Right here, or? - Yeah.
This is good.
Perfect.
- Thank you.
- Uh-huh.
- Hi, Erik.
- Hey.
- Good to meet you.
Tyler Maroney.
- Hi.
- Hey, Tyler.
Erik Ervin.
- Nice to meet you.
- This is Luke Brindle-Khym.
- Hey, Luke.
- Dr.
Ervin, I presume? - Yep.
MARONEY: We're here to take advantage of your expertise.
You know, there was a car that was parked here for a certain period of time.
We're trying to figure out - how long it was there.
- Right.
Here's the relevant car that we're looking at.
Okay.
So it would've been up the slope - Right.
Yeah.
- onto the grass a way.
BRINDLE-KHYM: Right before the bend.
Right there, that's my guess.
MARONEY: So, presumably driven up this alley - and then turned in - This way.
- Right.
Right.
- And then came to a stop here.
MARONEY: Erik, tell us what you're seeing.
ERVIN: I'm taking notes on all the different plant species.
For example, this grass here is called common Bermuda grass.
It spreads aggressively and hugs the ground.
It goes completely dormant with the first frost, so completely brown.
So that tells me that that's not Bermuda grass, - that's a cool season grass.
- Uh-huh.
Here's an example, this is perennial rye grass.
Is it possible to use an analysis of the grass to determine how long this car was parked there? The best I could do is dig some of this out to actually take back to the university and grow under the January and February temperature conditions and the light conditions.
Underneath the trunk area of that Nissan Sentra, we can still see that there's green plant tissue.
If my experiment after six weeks everything's gone brown, then I'd be pretty confident it wasn't parked there.
- BRINDLE-KHYM: For six weeks.
- Right.
ERVIN: There's a pretty good chance what was here 20 years ago is what's still here.
Could've this been re-seeded? Is there a neighborhood association where we could ask about that? You know, somebody who's lived here for 30 years who might know? - Hi there.
- IRENE: Hello.
- Hi, may we come in? - Sure.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you, Irene.
- I'm Irene.
- How long have you been here? - Forty-five years.
- Only 45 years? - (LAUGHING) - Wow.
- Only 45 years.
Wait, do the math for me.
What year did you move in? - I moved 1973.
Yes.
- 1973.
Wow.
Was there ever a time that you remember they came by, they ripped up the grass and they put down new grass seed and straw and replanted the grass? - No.
No.
Never.
- There's was none? The victim in this case, she was a young woman named Hae Min Lee.
Her car was found, basically right here.
That's funny because my grandson had a car - and the dag-gone thing caught on fire.
- Are you serious? - It was right here! Yes.
- Right here? So what if there was a car that had been parked there by someone and left for six weeks? It would not have sit no six to eight weeks without any one of us, Jane or I, finding out why was it still there.
We would've called 311 and told them about a car, that it's none of the neighbors around.
- And what would the city do? - They would come out, and they would check it out, tag it, you know, tow truck 'em, tow them away.
That's why I say six weeks no.
MURPHY: At some point you picked up Mr.
Wilds? Yes, at Westview Mall.
So many of his things just didn't add up, and I knew a lot of people would quiz me or challenge me and say, well, what about Jay? Like, you think he's not guilty but what about Jay? I just thought how could anybody listen to that kid and think that he's being straight about this? I didn't I never spoke to the police.
Jay told the police that he told me everything, but anything that I know is hearsay.
And I they never spoke to me.
At first he was like, yo, I got something to tell you.
You gotta keep it to yourself.
So he's like, I'm at the pool hall shooting pool, minding my business.
So Adnan shows up a little while later.
He's like, you gotta come out to the parking lot.
I have something to show you.
Go out to the parking lot, pops the trunk, and there's a body in it.
I thought that Jay told me it happened at Best Buy, that that's where he saw Hae's body in the back of a trunk.
I thought that's what he told me, so I thought that's where it happened.
He might've.
I don't know.
Maybe they were hanging out earlier.
Jay obviously picks and chooses what he wants to tell to And at this point, it's created such a mess.
LAURA: I know Jay.
From my point of view, I saw no relationship between him and Adnan.
Why would you even help him? Like, you don't even know him like that.
You know, like, it's not like Jenn calling and needing help or you know.
He said that, uh, when Adnan showed him Hae's body, he said something along the lines that this is what could happen to Stephanie, too, if you don't help me.
ADNAN: Me, Jay, and Stephanie, we drove to Krista's together.
When we left Krista's birthday party, I dropped him off and then dropped Stephanie off.
So two days after Jay says that I killed Hae, he left me in the car alone with Stephanie.
He's either going to be the person who went along with this murder, knew about it beforehand, didn't say anything about it, helped me bury her body or stood by while I did it, still hung out with me, let his girlfriend hang out with me, acted like nothing happened.
Or he's going to be the guy who lies and played a major role in me being in prison for, at this point, over half my life now for something that I didn't do.
(MACGILLIVARY SPEAKING) - (JAY SPEAKS) - (MACGILLIVARY SPEAKS) TANVEER: They took Adnan away, and then Detective MacGillivary is sleeping in his Cavalier like this, in front of the house, while the other officer was, I guess, watching the car, because they were waiting for the car to be towed to search it or whatever.
(WOMAN SPEAKS) I guess he had a long night.
(LAUGHS) FLOHR: We were not allowed to move from like a three-foot spot while they tore the house apart.
I remember them bagging up some things, and at every turn as a defense lawyer you're always wondering are they gonna find something that's gonna say, oh, you were wrong about this.
Your impression that this guy is innocent is incorrect.
RABIA: They tore up Adnan's car, they took his shoes, they took his clothes, they went through his house, they took all the soil samples they could find.
Nothing matched Leakin Park.
Nothing he owned had the red fiber that matched the red fiber on her body.
Jay's story was that she was in the trunk of her own car.
Well, they didn't do any forensic testing in the trunk of her car to see if she was ever there.
DETECTIVE: All right, close.
RABIA: If you had happened to come across the car and just look in the window, what you'd see is that the windshield wiper arm was loose and hanging.
Part of what the state was trying to show was that it was broken in a struggle.
What they did was they actually took the handle off, they sent it to a lab, and they discovered there were no broken edges, it wasn't broken.
The handle had actually been loosened.
There was forensic evidence collected from the cars, from the body.
The only people they ever took any kind of fingerprints or DNA from to test against was Jay and Adnan.
They took hair, blood, and fingerprints from them.
The DNA was actually never run.
They didn't find a single fingerprint of Jay's anywhere.
There was like a fingerprint on a rearview mirror of her car that could be the last person that drove the car, that could be the person who killed her.
It's not Adnan's and it's not Jay's and it's not Hae's.
If it didn't match them, they just didn't try anything else.
Police officers avoid collecting bad evidence.
They don't want evidence that will undermine their case.
They've already got a witness saying I helped bury Hae Min Lee with Adnan.
I don't know if I'll ever know exactly how he fit into this whole thing from soup to nuts.
I don't know that I'll ever feel comfortable that I know that.
I'm sure that there was some, you know, self-protection going on there to think, well, if they're going in the direction of this guy, I certainly don't want them to go in my direction.
If Jay gets pulled over and you're in a car with him, and he's dirty or he feels like there's a chance that he's going to go to jail, he's going to try to dump every responsibility for anything onto you.
He'll trade places with you in a heartbeat, which is why people don't talk to Jay anymore.
BRINDLE-KHYM: We know that Jay is now in California, so what we did is run his name both for civil litigation but also for criminal records.
MARONEY: Let me kind of go through all of it, because there's so much to go through.
We have more than 20 arrests starting in January 26th, 1999.
Second degree assault, at least four such charges.
Second degree assault of a police officer, multiple counts.
Resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, possession of a loaded shotgun.
How many is that? That's 25 police contacts here.
Not all of them lead to arrests.
Where do we know there's a conviction? There aren't many of them.
Doesn't it seem surprising that there are so many cases for which he's arrested that seem like relatively serious charges that the prosecutors declined to prosecute? Yeah, or where the consequences seem pretty minimal, right? I mean, we have assault of a police officer, assault of a girlfriend.
I mean, this incident was a major melee, right? Involving police responding to a domestic violence allegation, Jay barricading himself in the home, the police breaking down the door.
One of the cops said that Jay body slammed him, after he had been Tazed? NIKISHA HORTON: I met him in Baltimore just at a regular little club.
He comes across as charming, but he can go to zero to a hundred really, really fast.
You know, he was intoxicated, we were arguing, I left, and then, I guess, he see me going.
He snapped.
I'm seeing him in the middle of the street in that beltway.
And I stopped like, what are you doing? He he just took-just hit me, just hit me, just hit me, hit me, hit me.
And this all this while my son was in the backseat.
So he didn't even know what was going on.
This one as well.
I just made it to my mother and my sister.
By then, my face was all messed up.
The police had to be Was called.
He cussed the police out, spit on the police, they had to basically break the door down to drag him out, and that was that.
He had the charge with me, but he had the charge with the police, too, 'cause he was fighting the police.
WOMAN: Did you know he wasn't prosecuted on any of those charges? NIKISHA: I do think he knows ways to manipulate the law.
From what I've seen, the few times that he got arrested and came back here or there so quickly, no bail, no call, no nothing yes.
(DISTANT SIREN BLARING) (WOMAN SPEAKING) He did say he did say that, but he brushed it off like real quick.
No accessory, no "I did this.
" Nothing.
MARONEY: How likely is it do you think that someone would randomly stumble across this space? It was nearly impossible for that person that came in here that said he found a body because he had to go to the bathroom.
Well, I that never did sit well with me.
ASIA: I did not attend the trial, I didn't follow it on the news.
And so it just didn't even click with me that I was his actual alibi until Serial.
NEWSWOMAN: More testimony expected today in the hearing for Adnan Syed.
Syed's defense team called a potentially key alibi witness, maintaining she was with Syed at the time prosecutors contend he killed Lee.
Hearing Serial, you know, my mind, you know, after 20 years, I have things in different sequence order.
Some of the stuff is not how I remember it or yeah.
The question has always been for me in all these years, like, why is Jay's story changing? And I think that was one of the most revelatory things once we realized why his stories are changing.
NIKISHA: I really didn't know anything about none of this.
It just makes me feel like, what else is he capable of from the situations that we've been through.
(WOMAN SPEAKING) Yes, I do.
I have a lot of questions.
(PHONE RINGING) Hello? Hey.
Stand On your land Play your hand Mark your man C.
JUSTIN BROWN: I have told my client I will fight 'til the bitter end.
I will not give up on Adnan Syed.
I believe that them going to Leakin Park happens on the same date as them coming to my house.
JENN PUSATERI: The first story Jay told me would be the closest to the truth.
INTERVIEWER: Kristi was in school until 9 o'clock on January 13th.
There were two calls that convinced the jury that Adnan was at Leakin Park.
SUSAN SIMPSON: The phone that day was with Jay.
It turns out those calls aren't reliable? (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) SIMPSON: The cops workshopped that story.
(MUSIC FADES)