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Matelyn Ellis

Dr. Bonnie Whitener

English 101

23 September 2019

Adnan Syed’s Possible New Life

Adnan Syed was a well-respected student at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore,

Maryland. He was the Homecoming King during his senior year, a star on the varsity football

team, and the secret boyfriend of one of the most popular girls in school, Hae Min Lee. Adnan

and Hae Lee’s relationship was much like any other first high school love. There were many

midnight phone calls while their parents were asleep, lots of sneaking around to hang out, and

lots of secrecy when it came to not letting their conservative families know where they actually

were. With all the sneaking around, they had to do along with their parents’ disapproval, their

relationship soon came to an end. After Hae failed to come home like she normally would have

after school on January 13, 1999, she was reported missing by her worried family. After about a

month of searching, Hae Min Lee’s body was found half-buried in Leakin Park by a nearby

walker. The autopsy later done on Hae revealed to prosecutors that she had been murdered due to

manual strangulation.

During the police investigation that took place, one of Adnan’s friends, Jay Wilds,

confessed to helping Syed get rid of Lee’s strangled body. Soon after Wilds’s gave his

confession, Adnan Syed was arrested on February 28, 1999 for the kidnap and murder of Hae

Min Lee. Though there was never any physical evidence that Adnan was the murderer or

involved at all; prosecutors used Wilds’ testimony for Syed’s conviction. According to Jay’s

testimony, Adnan decided to get revenge on Hae by killing her after she had broken up with him.
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Syed remained innocent until February of 2000 when he was ultimately convicted of first-degree

murder and sentenced to life in prison plus thirty years for his supposed crime.

In the fall of 2014, a true-crime podcast picked up Adnan’s case to learn more about and

reanalyze it. Sarah Koenig, the voice of the Serial podcast, searched through and read thousands

of case documents, listened to countless testimonies and police interrogations, and talked to

anyone she could find that knew of or was linked to Hae Min Lee or Adnan Syed in any way.

Koenig’s podcast blew up overnight, being downloaded and listened to over two-hundred-fifty

million times. Everyone seemed to be talking about a basically forgotten case. This could mean a

new chance at life outside of prison for Adnan Syed. Everyone listening to the podcast had their

own opinions on the case, but many individuals were starting to think Adnan wasn’t really

involved in the murder at all. With all this new media coverage, Syed could have a chance to

possibly get a new trial.

Adnan has appealed a few times before with no luck. Syed’s attorney, Cristina

Gutieerrez, never thought to bring in or mention an important witness, Asia McClain. McClain

was a classmate who clearly recalls being in the library with Adnan at the approximate time in

which the murder had taken place. Adnan was still not giving up on his efforts to prove his

innocence. New forensic tests had taken place since Syed’s last trial showing evidence that there

were no traces of his DNA on or around Hae Min Lee or in her car. These new discoveries added

to his claim of innocence. In saying all of this, there was also no trace of anyone else’s DNA

found either which was frustrating to law enforcement as well as anyone who is following the

case closely.

Jay Wilds’s testimony was basically the only thing that put Adnan Syed in prison for life.

According to Jay, Adnan and him were merely acquaintances that would occasionally party and
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smoke together. About a week before the actual murder took place, Jay said that Adnan allegedly

told him that he thought Hae was cheating on him and said he wanted to kill her for it, but

Wilds’s at the time never thought Adnan would actually kill her. On the day of the murder,

Adnan lent Jay his car to go to the mall to buy his girlfriend, Stephanie, a birthday gift. While

Jay was at the mall, Adnan was supposed to be at track practice but instead was supposedly

killing Hae in the parking lot of Best Buy where Jay was going to pick him up. Later that day,

Wilds and Syed go to another acquaintances apartment to smoke. While there, Adnan gets a call

from the police asking if he knew anything about Hae and he immediately got nervous and

panicky. Adnan then left in his own car and about two or three hours pass and he shows up to

Jay’s house in a fiery rage in Hae’s car threatening to tell the cops about Jay selling marijuana to

high school kids if he didn't help him get rid of Hae Min Lee’s strangled body. Jay was nervous

that Adnan would actually go to the cops because he sold weed to high school kids and agreed.

Adnan and Jay get into Hae’s car and drive to a nearby park that was known for having dead and

murdered bodies everywhere. They stopped off in the trail in Leakin Park and walked a few

yards into the woods. Jay helped dig a hole to put the body in but refused to touch her or any of

her possessions, so Adnan pulled her out of the trunk and put her in the ground alone. Jay’s

statement changed several times during all the trials. He couldn't keep up with his own story and

recollections, but the police and prosecutors still ran with it.

I don't think this testimony is substantial evidence to put a man in prison for the rest of

his life. Since Jay Wilds’s story changed several times and not every witness was questioned, I

think Adnan deserves another retrial because there is more forensic evidence, witnesses, and a

new attorney. Asia McClain, another high school senior at Woodlawn High School, recalls being

in the library and having a twenty-minute conversation with Adnan at the time he would've been
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murdering Hae Lee. She even remembers what the conversation they had was about. She

remembers talking about their breakup since it was the talk of the school, but she noticed nothing

was off about his disposition or demeanor. It was just a normal conversation between students

after school. McClain stands by her remembrance and will continue to. She was never

interviewed or interrogated, but she did sign an affidavit stating she was in the library talking to

Adnan at the time of the murder.

I personally do not think Syed is responsible for the murder of Hae Min Lee, and he

deserves a fair retrial because none of the physical evidence matched up with Adnan Syed’s

DNA, Asia McClain and two of her friends know they saw him in the library during the time of

the murder, and all the inconsistensies and changes in the one star testimony they have from Jay

Wilds. I think this is a case of Adnan being in the wrong place at the right time and putting too

much trust into someone he barely knew. With a fair retrial, Adnan’s life could completely

change for the better by freeing him for good and he could go back to a normal life or it could

basically stay the same and he could remain in prison for the rest of his life knowing he had

nothing to do with the murder. Seeing that all the evidence and testimonies were unsubstantial, I

think Adnan Syed deserves a second chance at life and sealing his fate.
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Works Cited

Sarah Koenig. “Serial” from Serial Podcast, October 2014, https://serialpodcast.org/season-one.

Pak, Eudie. “Adnan Syed.” ​Biography.com​, A&E Networks Television, 7 Aug. 2019,

www.biography.com/crime-figure/adnan-syed.