Serial Episode 7 - The Opposite of the Prosecution

It seems like this is one of the more polarizing episodes to date.  There isn't much substantive to discuss.  SK briefly mentions the Justin Wolfe case, which leads her to Deidre Enright, which leads to having the Innocence Project reviewing Adnan's case.  If this were a television series, this is one of those "transitional" episodes that moves the story and adds plot developments for the climax to come.  

Justin Wolfe's case - SK states how Adnan had mentioned the Wolfe case to her and how it was similar to his case.  SK recounts various similarities - a good kid accused of murder (although Wolfe sold drugs), all the people are young, the use of cell phone records, unreliable witness testimony from a witness with a sweetheart deal, a defense attorney who was disbarred, etc.  She makes a sarcastic remark about how the cases are very similar... except, from a legal perspective, they are not.  

I mean they are in the sense both convictions were based on witness testimony -- but a lot of cases do.  In Wolfe's case, he was accused of a murder-for-hire scheme to kill his drug supplier, to whom he allegedly owed a large amount of money.  The shooter testified that Wolfe had hired him to do it.  As part of the corroborating evidence, the prosecution used cell phone logs that showed Wolfe calling the shooter before and after the murder, and the prosecution interpreted those calls as Wolfe talking to the shooter before and after the deed was done, "cabining" the timeframe of the murder.  

SK states that Adnan gives her the story as a case that relied on cell phone records where the conviction was vacated.  But after reading the opinions, the cell phone records were barely mentioned and the relief was not granted based on any so-called unreliability of the cell phone evidence.  Rather, the two main reasons were (1) the shooter recanted and submitted an affidavit stating Wolfe had nothing to do with it and he lied to avoid a death sentence for himself and (2) the prosecution suppressed evidence that could have exonerated Wolfe.  So two compelling reasons for vacating the conviction, but not related to unreliability of cell phone data.  (The original 4th Circuit decision vacated the district court's rejection of habeas relief is here.  The district court's grant of habeas relief on remand is here.)

So from a storytelling perspective, SK may have felt that the stories were similar.  But unless Jay was going to submit an affidavit stating that he lied about Adnan's involvement, or there is indication that the prosecution withheld evidence, Wolfe's case really doesn't apply.  

It's curious that Adnan fed SK this story and focused on the cell phone records.  I guess it's unclear what information he had access to, and the vague news stories note Wolfe was convicted on witnesses' testimony and cell records.  But any little digging would have made it apparent that the relief was not granted on cell records.  Or maybe this isn't that obvious if you aren't an attorney used to reading long court opinions.  

The other coincidence is that Wolfe's attorney is Deirdre Enright, who is with the Innocence Project.  And Rabia Chaudry notes in her blog how they tried to go to the Innocence Project twice and were refused.  So I wonder if this was fed to SK (by Adnan and/or Rabia) as a shot and having SK contact Enright to discuss the case.  Maybe he's not expecting the Innocence Project to take the case, but get it on the radar.  And with an NPR investigator devoting a full series to it, it seems to be a much higher profile case, which could make it more appealing.  

Nothing concrete to support this, but just a thought I had while listening to the chain of events and digging into the Wolfe case.  It seems odd that the Innocence Project would review the case now after rejecting it twice before.  There is no DNA evidence.  There is no indication (yet) that the prosecution suppressed evidence.  And attacking the credibility of a witness who the jury decided was credible is not going to work.  Given the scantness of the evidence and the passage of time, it is going to be nigh impossible to determine the real killer.  So why take the case now? 

Discussion with Enright and Group
SK recounts her initial discussion with Enright.  Enright is surprised how thin the prosecution's case is.  She flagged Jay's deal as a warning sign; found motive to be a huge black hole; wondered whether racial profiling had worked against him.  These are all thoughts I (and probably everyone listening to the podcast) as had.  The lack of substance in the prosecution's case was what initially drew me to the story, so I can understand.  

After Enright agrees to have her team review the case, SK stops by a few weeks later and meets the group.  SK is surprised that the whole team thinks Adnan is not guilty (note:  I believe they meant "not guilty" in the legal sense -- that there was reasonable doubt to be unable to find him guilty at trial).  I think there is general consensus on that and I was puzzled at SK's surprise by this.  Or maybe she thought they meant they though Adnan was innocent.  (Of course, this could be what some of the group meant, but a couple of them make clarifying statements like "there's not much there" or "mountains of reasonable doubt" which makes me think SK and the group were not completely aligned here.)

By comparison, by Episode 4 I was 100% sure that Adnan should not have been convicted and the jury hosed him.  I still doubt that Adnan is fully innocent.  While the case that Jay acted without Adnan is becoming more compelling, there isn't enough to conclude Adnan is innocent.  And if we exclude the possibility of this being a random killing, Adnan is the most likely person to do it from the cast of characters we have.  

The most substantive material of the episode comes from the group's discussion of the lack of forensic reports.  They note a few things:

• Report states brandy bottle was retailed for possible future analysis, but it was never tested for DNA.
• Sketchy fiber analysis.  A reddish fiber was found near Hae's head and a fluorescent blue one was found under her body in the soil.  The samples were not tested against enough materials (for example, the rope found nera her body).  They conducted a few tests, no matches, and then they were ignored.
• The rope was not tested at all.  Enright notes that this happens sometimes.  The police will ignore anything outside their suspect as not being part of the crime scene.
• Swabs taken from Hae's body from PERK kit.  Report simply stated they were negative for sperm.  This was odd because you would always submit them for DNA testing after you collect the samples.

At this point, it seems the team has something actionable to work with.  If there are indications the police/prosecution suppressed reports that could exonerate Adnan, there are claims for habeas relief, akin to Wolfe.  But it took the team a few weeks of analysis to find something that they could actually work with.  

The Charming Sociopath

The last segment is SK having a discussion with Enright about her fears of just being played by a charming sociopath.  Enright makes the observation that sociopaths are rare and it is extremely unlikely that SK would have one fall into her lap, and that no one would have detected Adnan's sociopathic tendencies.

Enright speaks from experience and it seems reasonable that true sociopaths are rare.  But why does Adnan have to be a sociopath?  My initial thought was perhaps he would need to be one to go through this whole public airing of the story and his maintenance of innocence throughout.  But then I think there is a middle ground: he doesn't have to be a true innocent person or a guilty sociopath.  He could be guilty and protecting his parents from the truth.  

I don't know the precise circumstances, but it feels like Rabia (and I assume with Adnan's family) has been pushing for this public process.  Rabia contacts SK.  Rabia contacts the Innocence Project.  There are times when SK speaks with Adnan that it sounds like he's just going through the motions (maybe he's just worn down by 15 years of prison).  I just don't get the sense that he's the driving force behind this process.

But if he is the good son, I could see him going along with it to protect his parents.  I think it would kill his parents if they found out Adnan was truly guilty.  I think Adnan would go to lengths to protect his parents from this knowledge -- even go along with this process.  

Again, this is pure conjecture and I don't think things necessarily went down like this.  I don't know if Adnan is truly innocent or guilty.  But I think there is a middle ground here and that Adnan being a sociopath is not a pre-requisite for finding that he is guilty.  

Serial Episode 6 - The Case Against Adnan Syed

In this episode, SK talks through the various pieces of evidence that looks bad for Adnan.  There's a lot of recorded exchanges between Adnan and SK that are interesting to listen to for context to their dynamic and hear from the suspect himself.  I transcribed a couple of the exchanges where relevant.  The last few minutes is more of a philosophical discussion about Adnan's predicament.  Interesting to listen to but not sure if there's anything concrete to work there.  

Listening to this episode again, I was struck by how much I missed in my first pass through.  So my conclusions and theories did not incorporate a lot of the information presented here, and I will note adjustments as needed.  

Adnan’s palmprint – SK starts off telling about the prosecution’s physical evidence against Adnan – his palm print on the back cover of a map book that had the page showing Leakin Park torn out.  SK notes that the defense argued that there is no way to date a fingerprint and Adnan had been in Hae’s care numerous times.  There were 13 other sets of fingerprints on the book (not Adnan, Jay, or Hae).  SK also notes that the torn out page showed more than Leakin Park, but their neighborhood, Woodlawn HS, and probably 90% of the places they usually would go.  

This strikes me as one of those things that seems like it could easily be explained away.  But depending on your perspective, it can be construed as damning evidence.  The prosecution effectively turns this into what sounds fairly sinister: the suspect's fingerprints on a book that has a map of the burial site ripped out.  But another interpretation is that of course Adnan's fingerprints would be in the car, over a dozen people touched the book, and the ripped out page pretty much covers their entire universe.  Depending on how you feel about the case, you're going to view this evidence differently.  Personally, it's not nothing, but I feel this is pretty weak as for physical evidence.

The Police call -  SK notes that thinking about January 13, it wasn't an ordinary day.  In fact, just by receiving the phone call from the police, that should have been something extraordinary that made the day stick.  SK had a discussion about this with Adnan:

SK:  Something pretty unusual did happen to you that day which was –

A:  Oh, but the police

SK:  --the police call you and say “Do you know where Hae Lee is?” right?

A:  Oh no.  Well it yeah I- I- I  do remember the phone call and I do remember being high at the time.  Because the craziest thing is to be high and have the police call your phone.  I mean I’ll never forget that.

SK:  I guess that’s the only thing about the day that seems weird to me that you wouldn’t then... that the day then wouldn’t come into focus for you because you’d gotten this call from the cops.  And you know you were high you were young you know it’s a it’s a scary call to get or just a jarring call to get. 

A:  I mean at the time the only thing I really associated with that call was that man Hae is going to be in a lot of trouble when she gets home if the police are at her house.  If her mother actually you know for whatever reason she you know didn’t go home or went somewhere else.  In no way did I associate this call with being you know the beginning of you know this whole horrible thing.  It’s not in no way is this like you know foreshadowing I don’t know if that’s the right word you know what what’s to come.

SK:  Mm hmm.

A:  So to me all this call was man Hae is going to get in a lot of trouble.  Her mother is going to be pissed man when she gets home.

SK notes Adnan was not the only one with this reaction.  Ice storm closed school thur-fri. Mon was MLK.  So no class until Tuesday.  All classmates SK spoke with thought she had run with Don.  Or maybe she had run off to CA because that’s what she talked about at times.

I don't know how to feel about this.  I, too, agree with SK that this was an unusual event that should have stuck in Adnan's memory.  I really don't buy that his only reaction to receiving a phone call from the police is that Hae was going to get in trouble with her mom.  Maybe if Hae's brother had been calling around because she hadn't come home yet, sure.  But to have a legitimate call from the police automatically elevates this to a serious issue.

Also, I was struck by Adnan's note that he didn't think this was "foreshadowing" this "whole horrible thing."  Not really sure why he would pin receiving a phone call from the police as the precursor event to his being imprisoned for life.  Again, I would think he would place the blame on Jay lying (assuming Adnan is innocent) to the police.  So it's another example of him not associating Jay as the cause of his predicament.  

Adnan Not Contacting Hae - SK reminds that the night before Hae's disappearance, Adnan called Hae three times.  Adnan says it was to give Hae her number.  But SK notes that after those calls, Hae's home number or pager does not come up again on his call logs.  So he never even tried to page her after it was clear she was missing.  SK notes this is puzzling if they were still good friends.  She also notes Aisha said she was paging Hae like crazy.

SK:  Did you ever try to page her and just be like you know see if you could find her raise her see if you could get a response from her.

A:  Well, I know that we would always... I can’t remember if I did page her or not but we would always talk about it at school I would always like get my information first hand from like Aisha who would usually be in contact with uh... I’d be... I- if I could remember she was in like contact with like Hae’s family.  So it was kinda like I would always if not Aisha or Krista or or or I mean it wasn’t like I was just sitting around and not even thinking about her, not paging her whatever.  But I used to always get my information from them firsthand.  So it’s not it’s not that I don’t remember(?) if I ever paged her or not.

SK:  No it just seems like.  I know Krista was trying to page her, I know Aisha was trying to page her during this time to be like where are you, where are you, where are you.  And I was wondering if you had were in that group like where are you.

(Pause)

A:  Were you asking me a question?

SK:  I don’t know.  I’m just explaining why I’m asking I’m explaining why I’m asking the question.  Is that it seems like from the relationship you had with her you would have been one of those people who were saying hey hey hey give a holler, where are you okay.  We’re all worried about you.

A:  No, but I mean I’m right alongside with them though.  It’s not like they’re in a hole.  I mean we’re all seeing each other every day we’re talking about it.  It’s not like you know it’s not like I’m just sitting there whenever Hae comes up in a conversation I’m leaving going to another side of the classroom or something like that.  I mean I’m just as involved as they are

SK:  Yeah.

A:  Yeah so I mean, I don’t... you know

This may be the biggest red flag I've encountered about Adnan.  You know how in child abduction cases the police will see if they family members refer to the missing child in the past tense?  The use of the past tense would indicate knowledge that they know the child is dead, meaning they are complicit.  Similar idea here.  It strikes me very odd that he would not have reached out to her once.  It's as if he knew she was dead and would not respond.  I don't buy the explanation he gives SK.  Getting information from Aisha is not firsthand.  Maybe he would have found it awkward to contact Hae's parents.  But there should have been no such awkwardness about paging her.  Also, listen to this exchange.  I tried my best at transcribing it but it was the most defensive and awkward I've heard Adnan be.  Lots of stammering and "you know"s.  And the long pause before asking SK "were you asking me a question?" did not seem friendly at all.  I think SK got a little cowed after that and let him off the hook.  

I suppose it's possible that he feels guilty about not reaching out to her.  But why didn't he?  There are indications they may have had a fight.  If that was the case, that would be understandable.  But it seems like he's maintaining that they were on good terms.  So I just can't reconcile good relations with not contacting her once.  

“I’m going to kill” note

A note came up at trial written on a letter Hae sent Adnan.  Hae had expressed frustration at Adnan's behavior, writing that people break up all the time but Adnan was not respecting Hae enough to accept her decision.  Adnan had supposedly shown Aisha the note and they joked and wrote notes back and forth on it (Adnan in pen, Aisha in pencil) making fun of Hae, making fun of themselves.  But at the top, it says “I’m going to kill” in pen.  Aisha was instructed to read the letter and note at trial.

Aisha tells SK that "I'm going to kill" was not on the note when she was writing back and forth and the first time she saw it was when she read it in court.  She didn't really have much to offer about that note and whether it was serious or not.

This is one of those weird issues that sound really bad but I don't know how probative it is.  People say or write things they don't mean and this does not necessarily portend a murder.  Of course, it taken at face value, it does paint a very sinister view of Adnan.  This is now some serious psychopathic behavior then if it is as the prosecution claims.

Stray report from Dave

Dave called cops to say his daughter heard something about a dead body.  It was the neighbor boy who said it.

Dave:  I just remember he had told my daughter that he had seen a the body of a girl in the back of some - in the trunk of some vehicle.  And I think to me he said it was an oriental girl or something but that’s that’s all I remember.  Yeah that’s all I know about it.

SK:  Did he tell it to you or just  your daughter?

Dave: (Quickly) To my daughter.  He didn’t tell it to me.

SK speaks with Dave’s daughter (Laura):

Laura:  He was he was with a friend and the friend says something like look what I have and he pops the trunk and that’s what he saw.

SK:  Did he seem upset or?

Laura:  He seemed disturbed.  More like wow I can’t believe what I saw.  Kinda almost like maybe he was getting something off his chest that type of thing. 

(SK asks about a name)

Laura:  I think the guy’s name was maybe Adnan?

SK:  Huh.  (pause) So this guy says my friend Adnan showed me the body of a girl in the back of a car?

Laura:  Mm hmm.  Yes.

SK:  Do you think he was telling the truth?

Laura:  Yes.

SK notes that Laura did not go to Woodlawn.  Did not know Adnan.  Knew the neighbor boy since they were little.  Laura said police never contacted her. 

SK tracks down neighbor boy, who was affable and patient and wholly denied this episode.  He was pretty convincing.  He was not friends with Adnan.  He was friends with Jay though they smoked weed together.  SK suggested maybe Jay told him the story.  NB says no way, he would not have kidded around about something to that. 

Police questioned him in 1999 and he told them he didn’t know anything.  Wrote out statement to PI working for defense.

But original police report is dated April 28th.  But Laura was under the impression that what had happened had just happened.  Laura told Dave and Dave told the police right away.

SK talked to friends of Jay’s.  They said the NB was a bit of a gossip and untalented at keeping secrets.  Nobody would tell him something they wanted to keep quiet.  

I chalk this up to a curiosity that doesn't amount to anything because of the fact the report was from April 28th.  In viewing the statements, I tend to trust Laura (and thus, Dave) in this.  It's an insane and pointless thing to make up.  Also, Laura being able to provide Adnan's name is weird.  Perhaps she got it in her head from the actual trial and such.  But more likely this was a name she was fed rather than something she made up on her own.  By the way, I believe Dave made up the detail about the "oriental girl" in talking to SK.  Probably an embellishment he added from after the trial and coverage.  

The fact that neighbor boy knew Jay is too coincidental to dismiss.  By April 28, Jay had spoken several times with police and Jay probably repeated that story.  So NB could easily have appropriated the story.  If he really had been involved, he wouldn't go talking about it to Laura.  And despite NB's assertion he would never joke about this, the account from Jay's friends make it sound like he was precisely the type who would talk up something like this.  

Considering the prosecution didn't pursue this (despite the flimsiness of their case) is also telling.  This really didn't make a difference and not an issue. 

"Cathy"

Cathy is the person who Jay and Adnan go to see after 6pm.  Cathy is Jenn's best friend.  Cathy sorta knew Jay (through Jenn) and did not know Adnan.  She said she was surprised when Jay and Adnan showed up because they hadn't called ahead  Her boyfriend Jeff had been there with her, and she remembers telling Jeff that Jay was here for some reason and wanted to hang.  Cathy said Adnan was high and sitting on the floor kind of slumped over.  Cathy also said that Jay was acting weird as well because he was being conspicuously chatty.  Cathy said while Jay and Adnan were there, Jenn called.  Jenn was surprised to hear that Jay was over there.  

There are three incoming calls during this time.  Testimony revealed that one of them was Office Adcock (probably the 6:24 call).  Another was apparently from Hae's brother.  Unclear who the third call was from.

Cathy said Adnan received a call.  Adnan hadn't said anything and he got the phone and said something like "What am I going to do, what am I going to say?"  He sounded very worried.  Not too long after he hung up the phone, he busted out the door and left.  Jay followed him and they got into the car and just sat there for a long time.  Cathy said she pointed this to Jeff who didn't seem to care.  

Cathy also said the only time Adnan talked was to ask how to get rid of a high.  He said something about he had to meet someone or had to do something.  Very important.  

Many hours later, Jay returns with Jenn.  She asked about earlier but they both shrugged it off.  But she thought it seemed like a big deal and Jenn was hiding something, with was unusual.  

I had trouble figuring out what to make of Cathy.  Her story seems coherent, but it's oddly detailed and has some contradictions.  What about Jay and Adnan made her that suspicious.  Her account seems fairly detailed, but there may be contradictions.  She says Adnan didn't talk until the phone rang.  But when did Adnan ask about getting rid of the high if he left after the call?  Cathy only remembers one call, but there were two incoming calls that came in within 2 minutes of one another.  If one had been from the "third man" why didn't she remember the call from Hae's brother.  And if her story is correct, they were gone before the police call came in, contradicting Jay's story.  

SK talks to Adnan about Cathy.  Adnan says it doesn’t make sense.  If someone had called him to warn him about the police, why would he answer the phone? 

A:  I mean if I was expecting the police to call me then I probably wouldn’t answer my phone then.  You know what I mean?  I could have just turned the phone off or something –

SK:  That’s a good point.

A:  No I mean it’s common sense.  Going through that scenario then I’m trying to avoid the police you know what I mean then I wouldn’t pick up the phone and engage in them in a conversation.

SK:  Well but there’s also the other thing where you’re just act normal everything is “yeah hi, yeah, um, yeah, no no, I saw her after school.  I dunno.”  You know where you try to just play it cool.

(pause)

A:  But then that still leaves us with the other third person.  This third individual.  I mean this would seem to make more sense if I had this conversation with Jay.  But she clearly said from what you just said that I was not talking to Jay I was talking to someone on the phone.

Adnan makes a good point.  But another thing that I noticed is Adnan goes back to his habit of sweating the details rather than looking at the big picture.  Rather than make the broader claim that he never got a warning call, he tries to "prove" it.  First he argues that he would have not answered the phone.  And then he enters a hypothetical situation where he would discuss it with Jay (his co-conspirator) and not some third person.  Once again, in lieu of a denial, he argues why it would not have happened that way.  This does tie in with the discussion at the end about how Adnan tries to prove everything.  So maybe this is just an illustration of it.  But it seems the most direct response is, "Cathy is mistaken.  I never received a call like that."  

So what happened at Cathy's?  I'm not attributing anything sinister to her story, but the details don't fit as well.  I suspect that some of the details and her interpretation of events may have been affected by the course of the police investigation and trial.  By the time police questioned her, Jay would have spoken to police and Adnan would have been arrested.  She may have read in some shady behavior based on that.  After trial more information would have been out and her recollection of events may have become crystallized with more details to confirm her suspicion.  Unclear but I don't think there's anything incriminating here.  

Jenn - I discussed Jenn in context of Episode 5.  Here, SK discusses Jenn as she testified she was the source of one of the two phone calls in Leakin Park.  She said Adnan picked up (or she assume was Adnan, he didn't identify himself) and said Jay would call him back when he was ready.  

SK adds a little bit more detail about her picking up Jay at Westview.  She says she saw them arrive in Adnan's car [NOTE:  this sounded different from the original version where the clip made it seem like she arrived after Adnan and Jay].  Adnan said hi ("what's up girl?") and seemed normal.  Neither Jay nor Adnan seemed dirty or had messed clothes.  

Interestingly, Jay consistently testified that Adnan dropped him off at home and Jenn met him there.  Even though this directly contradicted Jenn's testimony.

Adnan does not recall seeing Jenn that night or where he dropped off Jay that night.  

I still think it's weird that Adnan would answer his phone while burying a body.  Especially if he saw it was for Jay.  Makes no sense.  And I mentioned earlier how Adnan should not be happy about having Jenn anywhere near them after disposing the body.  And the fact that only Jenn says she met them at Westview is odd too.  Jay changed his story in dozens of ways.  Why not change this detail to match Jenn's testimony? Was Jay worried about Adnan remembering that it did not happen and this is just a fortunate result of Adnan having the memory of a squirrel?  

Also, Adnan's lack of information on this is puzzling too.  If innocent, his inability to remember this seems to indicate that dropping Jay to meet Jenn was not an unusual occurrence.  There has been information out there that Jay was "stepping out" on Stephanie.  If so, Jenn seems like a likely candidate, no?  Adnan is being a crappy friend if he is actually helping Jay cheat on his friend Stephanie.  

Just a lot of odd things here, but unclear why everything is off.

Nisha Call - Recall that in the call log, there is a 3:32 pm call to Nisha, who only Adnan knows.  Prosecution focuses on this call to place Adnan and Jay together then (and that Adnan was not at school).  

Police asked Jay about the call.  Jay says Adnan either made or received a call and was talking to a girl from Silver Spring (he didn't know the name).  Adnan briefly put Jay on the phone.  Police asked Jay why Adnan would call this girl minutes after strangling his ex-girlfriend.  Jay said he had no idea.  

Nisha said that there was a time when she spoke with Adnan and he put Jay on the phone.  But she said Adnan was saying he was going to a video store where Jay was working and that's when she spoke to him.  She thinks the call was more in the "evening time."  When asked if the 3:32pm call could have been, she said maybe but not sure.  

Of course, the twist is that Jay did not have his video store job until after January 13th.  And he usually worked nights (remember he was working there when police picked him up initially), which would fit more to the "evening time."  At trial, Nisha is testifying about the call and mentions the video store when she is interrupted by the prosecutor to talk about the content of the call instead.  SK speculates prosecutor is trying to keep witness from talking about the video store.  

Adnan says he can't explain the call.  He says Nisha's name was on speed dial and called her frequently.  He theorizes something like a butt dial and an answering machine.  But Nisha testified that this line did not have an answering machine.  Adnan is surprised because he was sure there was an answering machine.  Adnan says the only time he ever put Jay on the phone was at the video store.  

SK seems to treat this as the giant red flag she can't get over.  But to me, this seems pretty easily explained.  First, it seems that Jay's story about talking to her that day at the Forest Park golf course is a lie.  I trust Nisha's testimony as a 3rd party and she clearly mentions the video store.  I really don't like the prosecutor cutting her off (and again, any competent defense attorney would object and make sure she addressed this video store on cross).  So it seems this phone call happened some time after January 13th.

This tells us a few things.  After January 13, Adnan and Jay were still on good terms.  So if Adnan were basically blackmailing Jay, I don't think they would hang out socially after the deed was done.  If Adnan and Jay were not close and Adnan paid Jay, he would want nothing to do with Jay and wouldn't seek him out.  If Adnan were keeping Jay in line by threatening Stephanie, it would be stupid to put Jay on the phone with the girl he was seeing.  So this suggests to me either (1) they did it together and were in it together, or (2) Jay did it, set up Adnan, and Adnan was not aware.  

So back to the 3:32pm call.  If Jay and Adnan were in it together, the call makes sense.  They are trying to get weed after disposing of the body.  Adnan calls Nisha.  Of course, the detective wonders why he would call Nisha right after killing someone.  But then the story is still weird because why would Jay's timeline be shifted by 1 hour from the call logs.  Why make up the story about talking to Nisha then... that seems bad, but it's incremental from having the call on the log.  

If Jay had done it and were setting Adnan up, the call seems to fit more.  Nisha said this line did not have an answering machine.  This makes it seem like a landline.  Unlike cell phones, most people didn't have caller ID on landlines.  So there is also this possibility -- Jay looks through the phone and sees Nisha on the call log or speed dial.  He doesn't know her, so that's a good person.  He calls.  Someone picks up.  He pretends to be a survey or some advertising call, speaks to the person for 2 minutes.  If he calls and Nisha picks up and knows it's Adnan's cell, he could just make it seem like a butt dial.  Speculation, but it's one way to view Nisha's call to not being a big deal.

So I don't think Nisha's call independently is bad in terms of placing Jay and Adnan together at the time.  The big takeaway for me is that Nisha did not speak with Jay at this point, so another big lie in Jay's story.  

Serial Episode 5 - Route Talk

Caution: this one is going to be really long.  

This is the most informative episode to date as SK tries to discuss the details of the whereabouts of the day, the call logs, and the cell phone towers.  But she glosses over details (frustratingly so) at times and the presentation is a bit confusing.  But her focus is to demonstrate that there are oddities in Jay's story rather than trying to explain what they are or really analyze them, so it is understandable.  

At the end, there is an annotated version of the call log with my notes/comments/theories.  As an exercise, I try presenting an alternate theory and fit it into the cell data evidence to see if I can make it work.  Most of it speculation, but I think it was interesting to see how it turned out and how circumstantial evidence can be manipulated to tell vastly different stories. 

NOTE:  Since I wrote this, the Serial blog put up a new post comparing the timeline of events from Adnan's testimony and various iterations of Jay's version.  Interesting to see the changes and the differences in the stories.  I will try to make adjustments as needed as the timeline adds some information previously undisclosed.  

Retracing the trip from Woodlawn to Best Buy - First portion is devoted to re-creating Hae's alleged trip to Best Buy where she met and was killed by Adnan.  Remember that school ends at 2:15pm.  And the prosecution had no choice but to argue that the 2:36pm call was the one that Adnan made to Jay after the deed was done to come get him (The Serial blog has a post explaining why).  No one actually said that was the call, but it was the only one that fit the prosecution's narrative.  Jay's initial statement to the police was that Adnan called him at 3:45 (at which point he was at Jenn's).  Jenn corroborated that story.  By the second interview, Jay's story seems to have shifted to what was presented at trial.  

Basically SK and Dana re-create the steps.  2 minutes to get to the car.  A "few minutes" to wait for the school buses.  Stop by the concession stand.  They take about 18 minutes to get to the spot, leaving 3 minutes to kill Hae, move the body to the trunk.  At the time of the call, they measure 22 minutes and 2 seconds -- conclusion is far-fetched but not impossible.

--Ok, this was the first annoying part with their exercise.  If you are trying to re-create events where there is a starting and an end point, it is important to be precise.  They should be noting the time at every major checkpoint -- not talking about 11 minutes later, etc rather than 2:26?  This is even worse in the second re-creation, but there it seems like the point was made that Jay's story didn't make sense and the exercise was more or less a "success."  

We've discussed this already and it seems unlikely the murder happened at Best Buy in this time period.  

Adnan's response to the timing of this route:

“So you guys, huh.  So, huh. Seems like 5 minutes, from what I can remember those buses didn’t clear in 5 minutes because some times we would have to wait in that parking lot for the buses to clear.  I don’t know I just to me that’s always stuck in my mind those buses that you’d have to wait for those buses.  So I don’t know.  I don’t know.  It’s kinda disheartening but I just always, you know.  I don’t know how long the crime would have taken.  I don’t know how long I mean it’s pretty... I mean if you guys say you did it then you did it.  I don’t know.  I don’t know.  I don’t know what to say to that.  I don’t know what to say I just always thought in my mind that I...”

- He genuinely seemed surprised that they were able to do that trip.  Interesting how he focused so much on the buses and how the timing didn't work.  Again, unsupported psychoanalysis here, but if you were truly innocent, it seems like you would object more to the bigger picture than focus on how the timing of the prosecution's story doesn't make sense.  Does this seem like hanging onto a technicality to anyone else?  Of course, he talks in later episodes about hoping for some proof to show he didn't do it.  So maybe this is his realist side hoping this would have been concrete proof.  Of course, this would only have proven that the murder did not occur at 2:30ish in Best Buy and Adnan could have very well killed Hae somewhere else a little bit later in the day.  

Juwan's story about Best Buy - Jay's story is when he arrived, he saw Adnan at the phone booth (much discussed before and again in Ep 9) wearing red gloves.  Adnan motioned to follow him to the furthest corner of a side parking lot where he saw Hae's car.  

Interesting point SK notes is that after Adnan was arrested, a friend named Juwan (sp?) told police that he got high with Adnan once at the Best Buy parking lot.  He said Adnan took him there and said that was where he and Hae had sex before.  This trip apparently occurred after Hae went missing.    

- I touched on this before, but I don't think Hae would voluntarily go with Adnan to a secluded spot where they used to have sex after they had broken up and she was deep in love with the new guy.  Seems very very weird and awkward.  While it is weird that Adnan would tell Juwan about the spot (leaving aside the question of why he would take a friend to smoke up there), this could mean that this was not a big secret.  If Jay had known about the spot, it could have planted Best Buy as the murder location in his mind.

If Jay was lying and he did it, it was a nice coincidence for him that Adnan would take another friend to smoke there.  If the prosecution's story is correct, it would be really stupid to bring a friend to the spot where he killed Hae and mention that this spot has a significance to him.  

Jay's Story of what happened after Best Buy

The bulk of the episode is devoted to the tale of Jay's story of what they did after the murder and how the time line, cell log, and cell towers do not corroborate his story.  SK and Dana try to re-create the route.  Unfortunately, they do not give an accounting of the time of the route.  It sounds like they started but then they really were not faithfully recreating the route, so they couldn't announce exact times.  And they probably were not going to re-attempt a 2-hour circuit when it was apparent that Jay's story did not match up.

• 2:51 – Leave Best Buy parking lot [note: SK and Dana follow the prosecution's story.  Jay maintained throughout his statements and at trial that he did not see Adnan until after 3:45.  Putting aside how this glaring inconsistency held up at trial, Jay's story is dead before it gets off the ground in corroborating the prosecution's story.]
  
• I-70 park and ride – where they leave Hae’s car.  Jay is following in Adnan’s car.  Adnan is driving Hae’s car.  Jay makes clear he is never in Hae’s car.  Adnan is going through the back seat and trunk of Hae’s car at the park and ride (SK reminds that Hae’s body is supposedly in the trunk then).  He picked up some items, put into trunk of his car.  He got into driver’s seat and Jay slid over to passenger seat.  SK takes 11 minutes.  Wait a few minutes for the movement.
  
• After they go in search for weed.  They call Patrick.  But the call log says the call was at 3:59.  At trial, Jay patched it up by saying he called Jenn to ask if Patrick were home (the 3:21 call).  Jenn testified that no, that is not a thing that would have happened.
  
• When they did not find Patrick, they switched course to Forest Park where they buy 2 dimes.
  
• Jay mentions another call.  In the second interview, Jay says Adnan talked to some girl in Silver Spring (Nisha) and that Adnan briefly put Jay on the phone with her.  SK reminds this places the two of them together and that Adnan was not at school then.  Jay said it was at the golf course where Adnan handed him the phone.  But it does not match the cell tower – it pings the tower near Best Buy.  Same for all of the calls in this stretch.  [SK notes that defense attorney sorta noted the discrepancy, but it was ineffective and hard to get the significance of it.]
  
• They head to the Cliffs at Patapsco State Park, which is 20 minutes away.  SK says this seems absurd.  Should be around 3:45 to 3:50 and if Adnan had to be back at track practice, he would be freaking out.  Jay was clear about this in his statements.  Detective notes say “Patapsco Valley State Park, 16:30 hour,  sun getting ready to hit mountain tops.”  “I can’t believe I did it.  I’m sad but not really.” (more on this conversation later)
  
• At trial, Jay says Adnan got another call as he was dropping him off at school for track.  “Before he left the call, he received a phone call or placed a phone call.  It was in Arabic.  I don’t know who he was talking to.  I don’t know what it entailed.  I believe it was his mother.”
• SK notes that Adnan does not speak Arabic, or Pashto, or Urdu. 
• There is a 4:27 call on the log, but that is nowhere near Woodlawn High School. 
• Earliest they get from Cliffs to Woodlawn is 4:45PM.  He would be very late for 4PM track practice – bad strategy for creating an alibi.
  
• Jay says he next goes to “Cathy’s” house.  He gets there by 5:20 or 5:30.  Smokes more weed.  Shortly after gets call from Adnan saying he’s done with track and to get him.
  
• Jay goes back to Woodlawn at about 6PM to get Adnan.  He sees Adnan with a friend from track (notes say Will).  Will does not remember.  But he says no one contacted him (police or attorneys) to ask whether Adnan was at practice that day.  But he did say he saw Jay drop off and pick up Adnan at track practice multiple times and that was normal (of course, curious if this became a normal thing after the disappearance or if it was normal before too).
• The Serial Blog notes that Adnan's story is that track practice ended around 4:30 to 5:00PM and Jay picked him up during this time.  There is a 5:14PM call checking voicemail, which seems to corroborate Adnan's story.  Unlikely Jay would have access to Adnan's voicemail, and Jay's story is consistently that he didn't get Adnan until 6pm.
  
•  They go to Cathy’s apartment.  6:24 PM call.  Matches cell tower, call log, and matches everyone’s stories (Jay, Adnan, and Cathy).
• This seems to be the rare fixed point where we can match the stories.
  
• After that Jay says they go to bury the body at Leakin Park, then ditched her car by Edmonson Avenue, then head back to Westview Mall to dispose the evidence.  The cell phone towers do support Jay’s testimony. 
• There were two incoming calls 7:09 and 7:16 that ping the Leakin Park tower.  It’s possible they could have been somewhere at Patrick’s house or a strip.  But it seems extremely lucky to happen to have the story corroborated by the cell phone records.  Dana concludes “I think the cell phone was in Leakin Park”  [The timeline notes that Jay testified that there was a call from Jenn (the 7:09 call) and from another person to whom Adnan spoke Arabic (the 7:16 call).]
  
• But the timing according to the records undermine Jay’s story.  Jay says after the police call, they leave Cathy’s house, go to Jay’s house for shovels, go to the Park n Ride for Hae’s car, then Jay goes to McDonald’s back by school and waits for 20 minutes for Adnan.  Then they drive all around for awhile to Patapsco, then up Dogwood, to Security, then to Leakin Park.  This would take 1 hour 20 minutes.  Twice what the call log accounts for.  [SK gives Jay the benefit of the doubt that he may not remember every detail.  But it’s not what the prosecution claims that this is proof of Jay’s story because it does not match up.]
  
• Adnan says he thinks he was with his phone after track.  Memory is vague.  He says after the police call, he remembers dropping Jay at some point.  And he would have went to mosque for prayers for Ramadan.  Does not say he lent his phone out or anything.

-- So to sum this up, Jay's narrative of what happened between Noon at 6PM just do not match up at all with the timing and cell calls and the tower pings.  After the police call, the tower pings sort of match Jay's story, but the timing does not fit as Jay's narrative included lots of side trips before burying the body.  It's clear Jay is lying, but why?  

And after reviewing the timeline that was posted, it's ridiculous that the prosecution's star witness's story does not match the prosecution's story.  The prosecution argues that the call from Adnan telling Jay to pick him up was the 2:36 call, which is the only possible one that fits in the timeline.  But Jay himself testified that he did not get a call until 3:45.  That and the holes in Jay's story should have sunk the prosecution's case.

Jay's Recount of Talking to Adnan about the Murder

One of the longer clips deals with a conversation that Jay and Adnan had at Patapsco about the murder.  Remember that SK was skeptical about this trip because it would have made Adnan very late for track practice.  This is from the second taped interview.  However, Patapsco disappears from the narrative at trial and this conversation allegedly takes place while they're driving around looking for weed.  

J:  “We’re standing overlooking a whole bunch of stuff at this cliff.  And uh he starts uh telling me about how it was when he killed her.  How uh he said he uh wrapped his hands around her and her throat and she uh sh-sh- started kicking and he said he looked up to make sure no one was looking in the car at him.  And uh he said that he was worried about her scratching him getting his skin underneath her fingernails.  And that uh she was trying to say something that he thinks she was trying to say she was sorry but that’s what she deserved and uh...

Det:  How long do you think you were at the cliff?

J:  20 minutes to half an hour.

Det:  Other than that conversation was there anything additional?

J:  Um, he had said to me he wondered where he could put the body at.

Det: Did you make any suggestions?

J:  None at all.  [note these two “none at all” responses sound completely different from the others.  no stammering.  just assuredly said “none at all.”]

Det:  Did he name any locations?

J:  None at all.

Det:  He didn’t say what about here.  He didn’t name off a  half dozen locations and you gave him a thumbs up or thumbs down?

J:  Um, I just shh- you know he uh sh-... he said something to me uh (pause) to the effect of the state park where we were a little bit up the river but I told him that people walk up and down there.

Jay sounds really nervous in this description.  I tried to insert the uhs and ums faithfully to note how many false starts there are in the narrative.  On a couple of the responses, there are some blatant stammers, almost like a nervous tic (noted by the sh- in the quote).  The two "none at all" responses were completely different.  (It starts at the 21:15 mark if you want to listen).  The "20 minutes to half an hour" response sounded pretty clear too.  I guess if you want to speculate, he did not suggest to Adnan where to bury the body nor did Adnan name any locations.  If Adnan were innocent, these are easy truths to tell.  

I found the last question to be a bit odd.  I can see the pause being attributed to Jay processing the question and seeing what the detective wanted him to say and if there was something positive he could not here.  

Cell Tower Evidence

The last bit deals with the cell tower testimony by the state's expert. SK notes it lasted 2 days and was exceedingly boring.  The expert conducted tests at 14 sites and only testified about 4 of them (1 was a dummy test).  SK notes one was at Cathy's apartment and one was at Leakin Park.  She does not clearly identify where the third test was, but it was in the time after Cathy's apartment and SK vaguely notes that Jay's story that they went to Leakin Park, ditched the car by Edmonson Avenue, and then headed back to Westview Mall is supported by cell tower testimony.

Notably 10 of the 14 site tests are not discussed, because probably they did not support Jay's story.  This includes the entirety of the Noon to 6PM time frame, which, you know, may be sort of important because that is supposedly when the murder occurred.  But Adnan's attorney was incompetent and you can't trust a jury to comprehend and appreciate this kind of technical evidence unless if is spelled out for them in excruciatingly simple terms.  So this was not really an issue.   

This is another seemingly glaring mistake in the defense's case.  Juries are usually not capable of comprehending and appreciating the nuances of technical testimony.  Juries tend to base determinations on technical matters based on the credibility of the expert.  If the jury trusts that the expert knows what he is talking about, they will tend to credit his testimony.  Here, SK notes that the expert seemed competent (comparing him to George Stephanopoulos) and that the science behind it was sound.  So attacking the reliability of cell phone data is not going to work for a jury (again, not sure if this was the strategy employed, but it would not be wise).  

Rather, it would have been wise to have the defense's own expert mirror the tests the prosecution's expert conducted, and focus on the 10 sites that did not "pass" the test.  (Note: I think episode 7 touched a bit on the difficulty of an expert?  I forget and will have to look into that.)  Basically, create a battle of the experts and convince the jury that your expert is more credible.  Having an expert mirror the same test and discuss the 10 sites that are conspicuously absent from the prosecution's case should have been effective.  

Also, of the 4 other sites, the only one that really matters is the one at Leakin Park.  Once you establish the Leakin Park site as the only one that matters in the prosecution's case, attack it.  There, a defense expert would note that while the cell tower pinged, note that the cell tower has a wide range and testify that the cell phone did not necessarily originate from the burial site... and conduct tests from the area that would ping that tower.  And maybe introduce the caveat expressed by Dana - at best this proves the cell phone was in Leakin Park.  There are still a few logical steps that need to be taken to prove that Adnan killed Hae and that he was burying her body in Leakin Park at that precise time.  Especially considering the only thing supposedly establishing those links is Jay's unreliable testimony.    

The cell tower evidence was flimsy at best and should have been crushed at trial.  The idea that this evidence somehow corroborates Jay's story is utter nonsense and it boggles my mind how this trial resulted in a conviction.

Cell Phone Log

Below is the cell phone log from that day, with my notes on possible locations and notes.  

One thing I want to throw out there -- Jay is a horrible boyfriend.  Remember this is his girlfriend's birthday.  Yet he doesn't even call her once to say happy birthday?  I suppose you could explain that by saying it was an extraordinary day in that he was somehow involved in the killing of another person, so perhaps he was otherwise occupied...  But then why so many calls to Jenn?  In addition to the two calls before he claims Adnan killed her, he contacts Jenn on 5 occasions on what should have been a crazy day.  Why?  

So this got me thinking, what if Jay did it and framed Adnan, and Jenn was his accomplice?  Why Jenn?  As I discussed with respect to Episode 4, it seems Jenn is more involved.  The lie about Jay being at her house until 3:45 indicates active deception of the police.  The issue of the 8pm pick up is also troubling.  Jenn told police that Jay told her to pick him up from Westview Mall at 8pm.  But according to the timeline, Jay's story in his two interviews were that Adnan dropped Jay off at home.  It's at trial that Jay's story changes to say that he paged Jenn at 8:04 and 8:05 to pick her up at Westview.  This is a weird inconsistency.  Why would Jenn lie about this detail? We know it didn't go according to her story because (1) she was supposed to pick up Jay at 8PM at Westview Mall, (2) Jay and Adnan were already there when she supposedly arrived, and (3) Jay and Adnan were together and driving in the vicinity of Leakin Park at 8:05 per the pager calls.  So this is another independent lie from Jenn.  And her two independent lies coincide with the only two times Jenn appears in the story.  I find this disconcerting.  

So throughout the log, I start speculating on a potential unfolding of events in this scenario to see if I could make one fit.  I try to piece the events crediting Adnan's story and constructing a scenario in which Jay kills Hae and Jenn is his accomplice.  Obviously there are still holes, but it was a fun exercise (and it was fun trying to spin circumstantial evidence to fit a narrative). 

I was surprised how decently I could make the pieces fit.  For example, if when the police had spoke with Jenn, she told them this story, and it were Jay on trial for murder, this seems like a more compelling story than the actual story.  I am not claiming this is what happened, but I offer this as an illustration of how circumstantial evidence is difficult to deal with.  Without corroboration or physical evidence to fix points, you can interpret circumstantial evidence to fit an alternate story.

Now there is probably another alternate story where Adnan is involved but does not follow the prosecution's timeline.  But then there are some questions.  The insistence that Adnan was at track practice.  Jay and prosecution have to contort the timeline to make track practice fit into the timeline, but if Adnan had did it, it seems likely he would have missed track.  Only reason Jay would insist on inserting track practice is that he didn't know for sure Adnan wasn't there.  Second, Jay's and Jenn's insistence on starting the story at 3:45.  This does not follow any of the so-called corroborating evidence.  And it would make more sense in that scenario if they could claim Adnan skipped track practice.  

Given that Jay should know what happened given what he already demonstrated what he knows, his lies and inconsistencies are odd.  If it were a straightforward case of Adnan did it, he could have a much more streamlined and believable story than what was presented.  

Call #	Person Called	Time	Duration	Cell site	Possible Location	Note
32	Jay	10:45am	0:28	L651A	Woodlawn HS	Call from Adnan to Jay asking about Steph’s bday.  Seems not too controversial.  Not disputed he heads over to Jay's in his free period and leaves Jay his car and phone.
31	Jenn home	12:07pm	0:21	L688C	??? Nothing notable on map west of tower	Jay has the phone now.  First call is to Jenn.  According to their story, they were hanging out at Jenn's house after she got home from work until about 3:45 or 4:15. At trial, Jay testified that this was the call he made to Jenn when he was driving from Woodlawn HS to Jenn's house.  But his testimony was that he dropped Adnan off at 1:05pm, so that's not right.   Adnan says that he was dropped off at around 11:30am and did not go shopping with Jay.
30	Jenn home	12:41pm	1:29	L652A	Only location near here is the place where J said A showed body – by a strip?	Path has Jay going cross the county heading east.  Woodlawn HS is on way – perhaps dropped Adnan back at school? Jay could be doing drug-related things here.   So here's the inconsistency.  If Jay really did drop Adnan off at 11:30, that explains why he said the 12:07 was him calling Jenn.  And it seems like Adnan has to be with Jay during shopping to talk about killing Hae and to set up the pick up later.
29	Incoming	12:43pm	0:24	L652A		Immediate call back.  Assume Jenn calling back. At trial, Jay testified he got to Jenn's house at 1:15pm and Jenn wasn't home.  Jay plays video games with Jenn's brother and takes him to the mall.  Jay testified that when he got back from the mall, Adnan called to make sure the phone was on.   But Jenn testified that when she got home at 1:30, it was before Jay came over.  Unclear if she meant he was with her brother.
28	Incoming	2:36pm	0:05	L651B	Westview or Jenn’s house?  Seems far, but fits.	This is the alleged “it’s done get me call.”  If the call was pinged from Jenn’s house, story fits, but not the initial timing as they both said Jay didn't leave until after 3:45.   Remember, Adnan's story is that he stayed at Woodlawn during this time.   If Jay's testimony is taken in isolation, this could have been the call from Adnan checking to see if phone was on after Jay got back from shopping.
27	Incoming	3:15pm	0:20	L651C	Best Buy or Adnan’s house fit this tower?	According to the story at trial, Jay is no longer at Jenn’s.  Jay and Adnan would have left Hae’s car at the I-70 Park and Ride and would be driving around for weed.   But this contradicts Jay's testimony that he was at Jenn's house and did not leave until 3:45 when he didn't hear from Adnan.  Jenn also testified Jay was there until 3:45.
26	Jenn home	3:21pm	0:42	L651C	Same as above	At trial, Jay responded he was calling Jenn to ask if Patrick were around.  Jenn testified this would not happen.   And of course, this directly contradicts his testimony that he was at Jenn's until 3:45.  Since he would not be calling Jenn's house while he was there with Jenn, both he and Jenn are lying. At this point, we can probably rule out the original story as bullshit.  But if that story is bullshit, then this is the first concrete example of Jenn lying to the police independently of Jay's story.  Everything else could be explained away by Jay lying to Jenn and Jenn repeating the lie to the police.  But not this.  Jenn would know if Jay was at her house and around when he left.  This is the first scent of Jenn's deeper involvement in this.   Now - what if we assume that Jay is the killer and Jenn is his accomplice.  Switch the time tables a bit.  Jay somehow got Hae to meet him to discuss something important.  Maybe something about Adnan.  Maybe something about Stephanie.  He runs off after school, goes to drop by Don at Owings Mills mall.  Is contacted by Jay who says he needs to talk to her.  She's supposed to pick up her cousin around 3:15, but she has a few minutes.  He tells her to meet her at the Best Buy and it won't take long.  The 3:15 call is from Hae saying, I'm here, where are you.  Jay and Hae get into argument.  Jay kills her, moves body into the trunk.  Calls his accomplice Jenn at 3:21.  Maybe he didn't mean to kill her.  "Shit, I killed her.  I didn't mean too.  Her body's in the trunk of her car.  What do I do?"  And the plan slowly unfolds.  Be calm.  Have to ditch the car first, but act normal.  Jenn goes to meet him.
25	Nisha	3:32pm	2:22	L651C	Same as above	This is the problematic call that supposedly places Adnan with Jay and not at school.  Jay testified they were at the Forest Park golf course, which does not work with the cell tower ping.  Notice that this is the 3rd straight call from same tower.  But according to Jay's testimony, he is still at Jenn's with Adnan's cell phone.  Jay testified that Adnan called Nisha at Forest Park.  That does not match the time nor the cell tower ping.  More bullshit.   Continuing my speculative theory.  Jenn arrives 10 minutes later.  Calms Jay down.  Hears Jay has Adnan's phone.  Jay has been calling Jenn all day with it.  Looks bad.  They decide to call someone that Adnan would call, make it look like a butt dial. Decide to pin it on Adnan.  Start planting seeds of evidence.
24	Phil	3:48pm	1:25	L651A	Same tower, but now pinging N/NE side.  Woodlawn HS is only site on map here	-Who is Phil?  I don’t think he’s been identified in the story. Lots of timing issues here. According to Jay's story to police, they would be en route to Patapsco, but the cell tower dows not fit.   According to prosecution's story, if the idea was to have Adnan dropped off at track practice, this would fit that story.  But they claim that they were tooling around for drugs. Jay testified at trial that he called Phil and Patrick while out on Forest Park.  But his other testimony says he just left Jenn's and had not seen Adnan yet.  And the cell tower ping is no where near Forest Park.  More bullshit. Continuing my wild speculation - They look around Hae's car to make sure there's nothing suspicious.  They decide to ditch the car at the I-70 park and ride -- cell tower would fit if call was made heading in that direction leaving Best Buy.  At this point they would have 3 cars and 2 drivers, so they would probably move Adnan's car to the main parking lot while they ditch Hae's car.  10 minutes seems reasonable for this.    Perhaps Phil is a drug buddy who may have something Jay needs.  He makes the call en route to the Park and Ride.
23	Patrick	3:59pm	0:25	L651A	Same as above	Patrick is drug friend but not sure if we heard anything else.  Still near Woodlawn.   Jay's initial story is still off because they're still on way to Patapsco.   According to Jay's testimony, he would have gone to Best Buy at 3:50.  So at some point in between the Phil and Patrick phone calls, he meets up with Adnan, Adnan shows Jay Hae's dead body.  And a few minutes later, the first call is to call Patrick to score weed?  Does not add up. Continuing my speculation - Jay and Jenn drive separate cars to the park and ride.  They ditch Hae's car and drive back to Best Buy to get Adnan's car.  Google Maps says this is about 2 miles 1-way and takes about 5 minutes.  Jay calls Patrick to see what's going on so he can show that things are normal.
22	Jenn home	4:12pm	0:28	L689A	Forest Park? Tower 689 is located right by Leakin Park.  Call was pinged on the N/NE side, which could be a different side of the park or could cover Forest Park or the golf course there.	This is already Jay’s 4th call to Jenn in the past 4 hours.  And this is after he supposedly hung out at her house for awhile.  Seems like a lot, no? Jay's story to police:  Still at Patapsco.  Still does not fit. Prosecution's story:  Part of the tooling around for drugs led them to Forest Park.  Of course, Jay said he spoke with Nisha on the golf course, and that call does not fit the time frame as it was 40 minutes ago.  Hypothetical version - They return to Best Buy to get Adnan's car.  They split up.  Jenn will wait at home to prepare.  Jay is going to scout for a place to bury the body.  Leakin Park is a possibility.  Parts of Leakin Park would ping this tower.  Perhaps calls Jenn to let her know Forest Park probably won't be good, but maybe Leakin Park.  He'll check it out and let her know.
21	Incoming	4:27pm	2:56	L654C	Westview Mall and Jay’s house fits the west side of this tower	Jay’s story to the police included a call that Adnan received as they were pulling into Woodlawn and Adnan was speaking Arabic.  SK calls bullshit as Adnan does not speak Arabic, Pashto, or Urdu.  And the cell tower is nowhere near Woodlawn.  [Seems like an odd thing to make up.  I tend to think bigger lies are larger risks, and that they are done out of necessity.  Perhaps this is a big deal.]   Also, this is one of the longest calls on the log and the longest of “Jay’s” calls. The timeline does not explain what Jay testified about this call.   Hypo - He looks around Leakin Park, finds a spot.  Heads back home.  Jenn calls him, they start planning for tonight.  Needs some shovels and other stuff from Jay's house.  He can leave them with Jenn.
20	Incoming	4:58pm	0:19	L654C	Same as above	Shorter call.  No idea who this is from.  Still in same area as previous call (30 minutes have passed). Timeline does not explain what Jay testified about this call.   Hypo - Problem. Adnan calls and he's done already and wants Jay to come get him.  Drop off last minute stuff with Jenn.  Wants to make sure Adnan is absolutely baked this evening.
19/18	Voicemail check	5:14pm	1:07			At this point it seems Adnan has his phone back.  He spends 1:07 checking his voicemail.  There were 5 incoming calls in the time period where Jay supposedly had his phone (calls 29, 28, 27, 21, and 20).  Call 29 I speculated was a call back from Jay.  Call 21 was too long to be a voicemail message.  And Call 28 (the 2:36 call) is too short to be a vm.   So that leaves calls 27 (0:20) and 20 (0:19) as potential voicemails that were left and b Problem is Jay says he picked up Adnan from track at 6pm and that he was at Cathy’s before then at around 5:20 or so. Prosecution attempts to fix this by having Jay testify that he dropped off Adnan at track practice at 5:15pm.  Putting aside the fact that showing up 75 minutes late is an awful strategy for establishing an alibi, this still does not make sense.  Think about it - according to prosecution, Adnan and Jay were together from 2:45 to 5:15 tooling around looking for drugs.  So why would Adnan be checking his voicemail now, as he leaves Jay to go to track practice?  It makes more sense that someone would check voicemail after they were away from the phone to check messages that came in while he was not with his phone.  If he were with his phone for the past 2.5 hours, no reason to check voicemail now -- especially if he's already 75 minutes late for practice.   Hypo - Doubtful that Jay has Adnan's voicemail access, so this is Adnan.  Jay picks up Adnan (per Adnan's story that Jay picked him up at 5pm) and Adnan checks his messages.  Adnan is unaware of what's happened.  May not even know Hae is missing yet.
17	Krista	5:38pm	0:02	L653C	In the area of Leakin Park – no markers	Again, there is the dispute whether Adnan is at track with his phone or if Adnan is with Jay and did not go to track. He calls Krista but she apparently is not home.  Could this be a callback for one of the messages?  At this point, the police may have already started calling around Hae’s friend.  Call not near Cathy’s house, which is where Jay says he was then (by himself).  So there are two options - (1) prosecution is right, Adnan got dropped off at track practice at 5:15, took his phone with him, and as if being 75 minutes late wasn't bad enough, he decides to call his friend in the middle of practice to make sure his coach is pissed off more; or (2) Adnan is right the practice ended at 5, he checked his messages when Jay picked him up around then, Adnan has his phone with Jay, and is now calling Krista when he is free.  Which seems more reasonable?   Hypo - Unsure of the nature of the call.  Adnan has the phone.  In this scenario he's still in the dark.  Maybe he had heard Hae was missing and calls Krista to see if she knew anything.  Maybe this is just a social call.  At this point, the two of them are looking for weed.  Remember, Jay wants to get Adnan stoned and not thinking clearly.  (Note:  Adam notes that Rabia's blog claims this was the first time Adnan got high.  Not sure if that is true, but if so, that would explain why it affected him so much.)
16	Incoming	6:07pm	0:56	L655A	Cathy’s apartment?	New tower location.  Cathy’s apartment is in both Adnan’s and Jay’s story, meaning it’s likely it happened.  Cathy’s seems to be near two cell towers, which could explain the differences in the location of next call. Jay testified at trial that Adnan received two calls from Hae's family looking for Hae (this and the 6:09 call).  That sounds reasonable.  But that does not indicate one way or another what happened.   Hypo - They arrive at Cathy's apartment, who says that Adnan is acting "weird."  Some speculation he was just really stoned.  Perhaps Jay succeeded in getting him distracted?
15	Incoming	6:09pm	0:53	L608C	Cathy’s apartment	I forget Cathy’s testimony (coming up soon) but I believe she did say Adnan received call(s)?  The fact that call 16 and 15 pinged different towers but were 2 minutes apartment makes me think he was still at Cathy’s.  There are questions about calls 16 and 17.  There was speculation that one or both could have been friends telling Adnan about Hae’s disappearance and police calling around.  But Jay's testimony says it was Hae's family.  So even the prosecution does not attach a sinister motive to these calls. Hypo - Another call.  Maybe a continuation of the previous call.  Maybe another call.  Or it could be from Hae's family without altering the narrative.
14	Incoming	6:24pm	4:15	L608C	Cathy’s apartment	This is presumably the police call asking Adnan if he had seen Hae.  According to the officer’s notes, he says he saw her in school, that he was supposed to get a ride with her but he got held up and she had left already.  Jay’s first statement said they were getting food when this call came in.  But second statement says they were at a friend’s (Cathy’s). Hypo - Adnan is super stoned, not sure what's going on.  Gets a call from the police.  Quickly tries to sober up and ask questions, but is still not thinking clearly.  Officer tells him that someone had said he was supposed to get a ride with Hae.  Have you seen her today?  Adnan panicks, isn't thinking, etc., just accepts the leading question but says he didn't get a ride with her... A few days later, he is not high and remembers more clearly and tells the police that he didn't ask for a ride.
13	Yaser cell	6:59pm	0:27	L651A	Same tower as Woodlawn HS	Yaser Ali is the friend the anonymous caller told the police about.  He said he didn’t know anything. Jay’s story is that after leaving Cathy, they drive around – Jay’s house for shovels, the park and ride to get Hae’s car, a McDonald’s near school where he waits 20 minutes for Adnan, and then tooling around to smoke.  The timeline attempts to estimate a more precise timeframe, which would be around when they left to go get shovels from Jay's house.  They get Hae's car from the park-and-ride at 7:15.  And then Adnan tells Jay to go to McDonald's and wait for him, which takes 20 minutes. While the time frame does not fit, this call could coincide with the McDonald’s trip.  If they leave Cathy’s get Jay’s shovels and he ditches Jay for a bit, this call could be made during that time.   But at this point, they would be in cover-up mode trying to dispose the body – so why a random call to Yaser? Hypo - Adnan is a little shaken up.  Also realizes he hasn't eaten all day for his fast and he's high as hell.  And he has to go for prayer.  He and Jay go to McDonald's by school to get some food.  He calls Yaser (who is a friend from mosque) saying that he's heading over now, to cover for him. Jay takes this opportunity to borrow Adnan's car again.  Could be you're running late, I got to run an errand so I can drop you off at the mosque so you don't have to drop me off at home.  Maybe he tells Adnan that he hasn't seen Stephanie yet to give her the birthday gift.  Some excuse to get the car.  Seems like Adnan wasn't shy about letting Jay use his car, so wouldn't have been a big deal.  [NOTE:  of course, this seems like a big weakness in this narrative.  If this had happened, you would think Adnan had remembered lending Jay his car again.  But if this were a normal thing, perhaps he didn't think about it.  It would be odd to not even raise this possibility though.]
12	Jenn pager	7:00pm	0:23	L651A	Same as above	Immediately after call to Yaser, the phone calls Jenn’s pager.  So this suggests J and A are still together. Jenn’s story said that she was supposed to meet up with Jay and got a message saying he was running late and to pick him up at 8 at Westview Mall. Hypo - Jay takes the phone to page Jenn.  He pages instead of calling because he doesn't want Adnan to hear the conversation.  Short page message like "head over now."   Jay drops Adnan off at mosque, agrees to pick him up when done.
11	Incoming	7:09pm	0:33	L689B	Leakin Park	This is the problematic call that Dana feels it means that the cell phone was in Leakin Park.  Of course, this does not necessarily mean Adnan and Jay were burying a body during this period.   Of course, the timing does not fit with Jay's story.  After leaving Cathy's they supposedly went to Jay's house for shovels, get Hae's car, Jay waits at McDonald's for Adnan for 20 minutes, drive all around, to Patapsco (again? why would you with a dead body in tow?), up Dogwood, to Security, then Leakin Park.  This would take 1 hour 20 minutes.  We are at 40 minutes after Adnan gets off phone with police.  [Again, this is a big lie.  Why all these additional details that clearly did not happen the way he says they did?  Big lies to hide big things.] NOTE:  I’m curious is missed calls show up on the records.  I looked at my phone bill and missed incoming calls are not listed.  Of course, this does not mean the records the cell company has will be the same.  So if these two were missed calls, I can see it taking about 32-33 seconds and they wouldn’t pick up the phone while burying a body (likely they would silence the phone as to not draw attention).  Jay testified at trial this call was from Jenn.  Of course, there was a page to Jenn a few minutes before.  But if Jay and Adnan are going to bury a body, why page Jenn and answer a call from her now. If you were burying a body, would you be answering your phone?  Hypo - I'm leaning towards this is an unanswered call.  Jay is heading to the meeting spot.  Gets Hae's car from the park and ride, heads to the spot.  Could be a call from Jenn but no indication Jenn has a cell phone.
10	Incoming	7:16pm	0:32	L689B	Leakin Park	Same as the last call, a few minutes later.  Jay testified Adnan answered this call and spoke Arabic.  This is bullshit since Adnan doesn't speak Arabic or any such language.  A big lie to create details?   Hypo - Another unanswered call.  Jay and Jenn are now burying the body.   It's a shallow grave, only about 6 inches, so it should not take long.  30 minutes at most.  Would be done by 7:40 to 7:45.
9	Jenn pager	8:04pm	0:32	L653A	Leakin Park – Hae’s car	This tower matches up with where Jay said they ditched Hae’s car after burying her body.  Hypo - Ok, here's where I run into some problems.  There is still the 3 cars, 2 drivers problem.  While all these locations are only a couple minutes be car, they are still about 1-2 miles apart, so too far to run really.  So if they were together (at some point they would have to be after Jay ditches Hae car so he can go back to pick up Adnan's car), he wouldn't be paging Jenn... But there is a big time difference.  If my time estimate is right, this is about 20 minutes after they bury the body.  And if you're burying a body, you want to be done and out of there as quick as possible.  No need to linger.  They leave, ditch Hae's car, Jenn drops off Jay at the park and ride to pick up Adnan's car (7:55), Jenn goes home.  Jay is in Adnan's car, realizes he may have left something in Hae's car (or prints or whatever), rushes back to her car to clean up.  That could account for the other 10 minutes.  Pages Jenn to something to effect of ditch the shovels or something.
8	Jenn pager	8:05pm	0:13	L653C	Leakin Park, heading west	Just right after the last one.  Moved to west side of the tower, suggesting they are moving west (to Westview Mall?).  Jay testified he pages Jenn after he and Adnan were done burying the body on their way to Westview.  Of course, Jay told police in his interviews that Adnan dropped him off at home.   And Jenn told police the message was to pick Jay up at 8pm, and when she got there, Adnan and Jay were already there and Jay got out of the car.  But if she was supposed to pick Jay up at 8, he’s already a few minutes late at the first page.  Not sure how far this is, but it looks like at least 5-10 minutes to get there.  So they would not have gotten there until about 8:15, long after Jenn should have already been there. So something doesn't fit here.   Adnan’s story is vague on what happened, but he does not mention seeing Jenn.  I wish SK had asked him about Jenn. Hypo - Part two of page to Jenn.  Reminder to wipe the shovels clean before ditching them.
7	Nisha	9:01pm	1:24	L651C	Adnan’s house	Adnan is home.  According to his story, he would have dropped Jay off at some point, went to the mosque, and went home.  This doesn’t seem to fit the time line as he would have dropped Jay off at 8:15, leaving him only 45 minutes to go to mosque for prayers then come home.  Maybe, but seems a narrow time frame. Hypo - In the interim, Jay gets Adnan at the mosque.  Adnan drops off Jay at home.  He returns home.  Calls Nisha. The timeline posted throws another wrench into this narrative.  First, Adnan said that he thinks he would have gone home to take food to his father at mosque (sometime between 7 to 8).  Second, Adnan's father testified that prayers were from 8 to 10 or 10:30.   But at 9pm, Adnan is already home.  Could Adnan's father have been mistaken about the time of the prayer?  If the prayers were from 7 to 9pm instead, it could fit the narrative.  Yaser is a mosque friend and it seems that a call to him would be relevant to the prayer.  So maybe this isn't a major dealbreaker.
6	Krista	9:03pm	5:28	L651C	Adnan’s house	Long call with Krista Hypo - Adnan calls Krista.  Asks her about Hae and if police contacted her too.  They speculate on what happened.  Hold on, have to call right back.
5	Krista	9:10pm	8:41	L651C	Adnan’s house	Continuation of long call with Krista.  In addition to about 20 minutes the night before, and another 14 minutes this night. Hypo - Calls Krista back after a minute, continue talking.  Perhaps they speculate that she ran off with new boyfriend.  Or she went to California because she had talked about it.  They reassure themselves that Hae is fine.  Other people are reaching out to her, and Adnan isn't sure his call would be welcome, particularly if she is off on some getaway with new boyfriend, so he feels he doesn't need to contact.  Krista and others will let him know if they hear anything.
4	Nisha	9:57pm	0:24	L651C	Adnan’s house	Short call with Nisha Hypo - Short call.  Say goodnight?
3	Yaser cell	10:02pm	0:06	L698B	Adnan’s house?	Pings different tower.  Adnan’s house is near the tower, but not in the S/SE, which is where the B side of the tower would ping.  Seems to be near Jay’s house.  But 4 minutes seems to be a very short time to get there. Calls Yaser's cell, gets no answer.
2	Saad	10:29pm	0:18	L651C	Adnan’s house	Back to the original tower for Adnan’s house. Calls Saad, he isn't home.
1	Ann	10:30pm	1:44	L651C	Adnan’s house	Who is Ann?? Who is Ann?