I recognize that there is some criticism about the podcast and how people are engaging in "cultural tourism." I recognize that this is a true story, with real people, and a real life that was tragically cut short. I do not know these people and can't begin to understand the very real things that the people mentioned went through. But I think that the podcast could not have taken off like it did based purely on morbid curiosity. My personal interest started from investigating how a kid could be convicted on such scant evidence and diverged into many different angles and perspectives. I mean no offense by writing these recaps.
A few caveats and ground rules:
- I began writing these after Episode 9 (during the 2-week hiatus). I am currently through Episode 5 and hope to finish before the next new episode.
- I have tried to keep the information to as much of a closed universe as possible. Most of what I discuss will come directly from the podcast or the official Serial blog. Since then, I have read a bit of Rabia Chaudry's blog and incorporate some info from there on occasion. I have stayed out of the Serial sub-reddit and have refrained from Googling for additional information, so there may be additional information I am not aware of. I also have not listened to the Slate podcast on Serial, and I understand that they are discussing some of the extra-podcast information.
- Before I started writing these, our email discussion was pretty in depth. I may incorporate some insights provided by the fine gentlemen on the thread and will try to credit them. Apologies in advance if I fail to credit you -- but it's hard to keep track of multiple threads spanning dozens of emails.
- At points, I will speculate on alternate theories of what happened. I have no knowledge of events and what I offer are simply me rambling and tossing out ideas. This is meant merely as an intellectual exercise and should not be construed as me accusing certain individuals of being involved.
With all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy these. I had fun writing them and hopefully there is something in these that enhance your Serial experience.
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In the inaugural episode, Sarah Koenig (referred herein as "SK") introduces the story of Adnan Sayed and the murder of Hae Min Lee. SK starts off with a short exercise demonstrating the ephemeral nature of memory, particularly when it is tasked with remembering the minutiae of a random day in the past. She notes that people tend to forget what happened on a random day six weeks ago, unless that day held some special significance; in that case, the person is more likely to remember that event as well as the day as a whole. Seems to make sense.
Here are some thoughts on the major issues discussed.
Adnan's story of the day: It was Stephanie's birthday, so he bought her a stuffed animal and gave it to her during 2nd period. Then he thought he should check with Jay to see if he had gotten Stephanie a gift thinking that he would not have. There was something about him having a free period, so he went to Jay's house. Told Jay he could borrow the car and to pick him up later. Adnan is 99% sure he didn't leave campus (except maybe the library, which is basically campus), would have been at track practice at 3:30. Jay would have picked him up after track practice and, since this was Ramadan, Adnan would have been hungry and it would have been time to break fast. So they would have gotten something to eat, smoke, and Adnan would be home by 7 or 8. Then he mentions that his dad stayed overnight at the mosque during the last 10 days so he would have taken food to him from home before 8.
--My thoughts on the story. As SK points out, it's utterly frustrating how vague and hypothetical this all sounds. It was unclear if he was saying "would have" because this was the ordinary occurrence or if this is what he thought made sense. It's odd because Adnan makes it seem like he and Jay were not that close, but I remember someone saying Jay would often pick Adnan up after track. So maybe this was a normal occurrence? And if that's the case, I'd consider a friend who came to pick you up after school to grab food to break your day-long fast would be a "close" friend.
As SK notes, Adnan's inability to remember details of the day can be construed in different ways. She notes - as Adnan himself states - this was an ordinary day and he would have had trouble accounting for his whereabouts 6 weeks later when he was arrested and questioned by the police. However, it seems like there were some memorable aspects of this day that perhaps should have been markers. Hae's disappearance is memorable, as is receiving a phone call from the police asking about her. Adnan starts his narrative saying that it was his friend Stephanie's birthday, another memorable event. I believe Rabia's blog contends that this was the first time Adnan got high; I'm not sure if that is actually true, but if so, that would seem like another memorable event. And finally, there was a big ice storm that night that caused school to be canceled for the next two days -- this is probably the weakest of these, but something out of the ordinary that may be remembered.
Asia's letter: To recap, she (unsolicited) writes Adnan a letter saying that she saw him in the library that day. That her bf and his friend did too. And that he better be innocent or she would kick his ass. Follows up with a second letter with more details, wondering why no one had reached out to her about their conversation... Letter gets found by Rabia year or so later. She tracks her down and speaks to her. Gets her to sign an affidavit saying that she saw Adnan on that day at the library and that no attorney had consulted her about it... Nothing seems to happen until Adnan's post-conviction hearing. Apparently Adnan's attorney hires a PI to contact Asia. She freaks our, calls the prosecutor saying that she's worried about this affidavit she signed in the past and that she only did it because of "pressure from the family." SK sends a letter and an email, she calls SK, and recounts in detail the events of the day and her conversation with Adnan. She said she thought because Adnan had been convicted, he was guilty, and that's why she was scared of having a murderer know where she lived and being potentially pissed off at her.
--I found her story credible. She wrote the initial letters with no prompting and seemed genuinely confused why no one would contact her about what she knew. Her account of that library meeting was very detailed (probably the most detailed accounting given by anyone in the series to date). And her explanation of the flip-flop seems reasonable... Also (and not too convincing, but it's something), her bf at the time tells SK that Asia was not the type of person to lie and insert herself into the story for attention. I think I was skeptical when I first heard her alibi, but listening to it again, I trust her story. But, there is the possibility that she confused this event with another date.
The snow: Asia notes that it was snowing that day and she was annoyed at her bf for waiting for so long. SK notes that there was an ice storm that night and school was closed the next tow days (Th and Fr) so the word of Hae's disappearance had not really gone around the school until the following Monday, 5 days later...
--If it were snowing, wouldn't that further throw off the timetable. When SK and her colleague time the run to the Best Buy, they presumably did it on a day that wasn't snowing. And those of you who have driven in the snow know that people drive even worse then usual when it's snowing, and that easily could have delayed that trip further.
--Also, was track practice indoors or outdoors? Considering it's Jan, I would assume indoors. So maybe snow would not have canceled practice that day. But someone says in a later episode that while the coach didn't take attendance, they would have to run extra laps if they were late or skipped practice. So if Adnan had skipped practice on a Wednesday, and practice was canceled on Th and Fr because of the snow, perhaps the coach would not have remembered that until Monday to make him run the extra laps. So this could account for the coach not remember if Adnan were not at practice that day. This is stretching it, but I feel like there are some implications and wrenches the snow would cause.
[Adam later pointed out that the snow issue was covered by a November 19th post on the Serial blog. Apparently, while there was a big ice storm, it did not snow until very late at night, so it would not have been snowing during school hours. This makes this discussion a bit moot. But more importantly, it calls into question Asia's memory of the events because one of the markers of her story was the fact it was snowing.]
Adnan's reaction to Asia call: Adnan calls SK immediately after she finishes talking to Asia. SK is excited and tells Adnan who she was just talking to. And Adnan completely no-sells it, much to the surprise of SK.
--Yes, he explains it by saying he wished she would have said something sooner. But the total lack of any reaction to hearing that name did strike me. Even if he weren't happy to hear Asia was talking to SK, it seems like having a negative reaction to the name would have been more natural than having no reaction at all. Again, not very probative, but something that just struck me as odd.
Premeditation: And a random thought I had. How many pre-meditated murders are committed via manual strangulation? Does that strike anyone else as being a really dumb weapon of choice for a pre-meditated murder? The story goes that Adnan had planned ahead of time that he was going to kill Hae, gave Jay his car and phone to set up a pretense to see Hae and to get a ride to help with disposal, and to be delivered to track practice to have an alibi... and with all this brilliant planning, his weapon of choice is to strangle her to death with his hands in the middle of the day? Also, Hae was a field hockey and lacrosse player. I would expect a girl who played field hockey and lacrosse to put up some sort of a fight when someone was trying to strangle her. And it's not like Adnan was the large person he supposedly is now. Back then he was a tall, lanky kid who ran track (and while he did play football, the photos show he was pretty skinny). Throw in the adrenaline response to being killed, manual strangulation would be the last weapon of choice in a pre-meditated murder.
Of course this does not rule out that this happened in a fit of rage, he caught her by surprise and he also was fueled by his rage and managed to kill her before she could react and fight. I'm not ruling that out. But it seems silly to say after the planning and premeditation, manual strangulation would be the weapon of choice.
David also pointed out that there was no mention of any damage to the car. Given the prosecution's story is that Hae was murdered in her car, in broad daylight, in a span of a couple of minutes, without inflicting any defensive wounds, this seems pretty unlikely. We pretty much agree that even if Adnan is guilty, it did not happen in the manner the prosecution claims it did (more on the timing in the Episode 5 recap).
Adnan's call with SK: In the conversation between Adnan and SK, Adnan says (this struck me when I heard it, so I went back so I could quote it):
"No one can ever come with any kind of proof, or anecdote, or anything to ever say that I was ever mad at her that I was ever angry with her that I ever threatened her. That's the only thing I could really hold on to. That it's like my only firm handhold in the whole thing is that no one's ever been to prove it that no one's ever been able to provide a shred of evidence that I had anything but friendship towards her like love and respect for her. At the end of the day man, the only thing I can ever say man is that I had no reason to kill her."
Again, maybe I'm delving to much in psychoanalysis, but this seems like a really specific slice that he's holding on to. Not that he knows that he didn't kill her and that his parents know this and friends like Rabia knows this. But that he knows no one can prove he had a reason to kill her. (Of course, in a later episode he sort of snaps at SK saying that he wished people would stop saying that they didn't believe he killed her because he was "nice" and that he would much rather have people think he was an asshole but the evidence says that he didn't kill her. So perhaps he's just a pragmatist?)
Matt pointed me to a website devoted to Statement Analysis from famous cases analyzing statements made for possible indicators of deception. It's a fascinating read and I try my hand at some of this analysis with respect to future episodes.
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