This and Episode 5 are going to be important. In this episode, SK discusses how the anonymous call led the police to look at Adnan, which turned up Jenn, then ultimately led to Jay.
Anonymous call – Feb 12th, police received anonymous call (report describes as Asian male, 18-21 years old) that says to look at the ex boyfriend. Claims Adnan had taken Hae to Leakin Park to have sex. Victim broke off relationship a week before she went missing. Called back to add that about a year ago, the suspect informed a friend (Yaser Ali) if he ever hurt his girlfriend, he would drive his car into the lake and says Yaser might know something.
--Ok, so SK notes that she could not figure out who made the call. Wondering how the police pegged the caller's age as 18-21. It seems like the person knows stuff about the people -- the Leakin Park bit (if true) would have required some inside knowledge. Not sure what to make about the Yaser story. Why would Yaser hurt Hae? No clue... Perhaps the call was made by a sibling? Hae had a little brother -- not sure how much younger. Would he have known about the relationship? There's specific information about Yaser -- does he have a brother or something? I would have naturally thought that it was someone in Jay's circle leading the police to Adnan, but I'm thrown off by the Asian accent.
Police chat with Yaser - SK notes police spoke with Yaser at a Pizza Hut. He didn't know anything. He said that if Adnan were to get rid of a car, he possibly would do it at Centenniel Lake or the Inner Harbor.
--Not sure what his basis was for answering that question. It seems like an odd topic of conversation, no? I mean I remember shooting the shit about random things, but I don't think "disposing of evidence in case I murder someone" ever came up as a conversation topic. Curious how the police led Yaser to this question and how Yaser came to his answers. But interesting that the two choices are bodies of water, which line up with the anonymous caller's random statement. Again, I tend to be skeptical of coincidences and this is an odd one. It is also worth noting that Hae's car was not ditched in the lake or a body of water. Not that Yaser's speculation on where Adnan would ditch a car is necessarily credible, but if this were a thing that was known, it's interesting the m.o. did not match. Overall, it's an odd piece that doesn't fit, but there isn't much to go on here (at least for now).
Jenn's Statement - Police get on Jenn's track because of the multiple calls to her appear on Adnan's cell records. Police first visit her on Feb. 26. Jenn freaks and begs off. She goes to talk to Jay, who tells her to talk to the police but leave him out of it. She goes to the police and lies her ass off. The next morning, she goes back to police with her mother and an attorney and tells the story that Jay told her.
According to the story: Adnan showed Jay the body. Jay said he had nothing to do with the murder and didn't know where the body was buried. Jay refused to help dispose of the body -- he just dropped Adnan off somewhere in the city and picked him up somewhere else in the city. Jay said Adnan strangled Hae in Best Buy parking lot. Had no idea how he got to Best Buy parking lot.
As to Jay's whereabouts, she said that on that day, she and Jay hung out at her after she got back from work. Jay left somewhere between 3:45 to 4:15 and would meet later. She later got a message from Jay saying he was running late and to pick him up at 8 form the Westview Mall parking lot. She goes and sees Jay get out of Adnan's car. Adnan says hi to her, seems to be acting normal. Jay gets into Jen's car and that's when he tells her about the murder. After they leave, Jay mentions that the shovels used to bury the body were his, so she drives Jay back to the dumpsters at Westview Mall so he can wipe the handles clean. Jay was shaken up and he tells her to drive him to see his girlfriend now. The next day, Jenn drives Jay to the store where he works so he could toss the clothes and boots he wore the night before in the dumpster.
Police notes that Jay was acting awfully weird for someone who supposedly didn't murder anyone and didn't help bury a body. Jenn sighs and sounds resigned and sort of agrees and says but it wasn't until today and that she just doesn't think Jay would lie to her. Unless Adnan paid Jay a good sum of money, she didn't see Jay helping Adnan. She says Adnan and Jay were "casual acquaintances."
-- Oh boy, where to start? So my first impression is that Jenn is complicit somehow. It seems unlikely that she would be gullible enough to drive Jay around to erase traces of evidence if she truly believed Jay was truly not involved... Her level of involvement is unclear. It could just be that she gave the police the story that Jay told her to tell. Her statement matches Jay's original statement...
Rabia Chaudry's blog notes how Adnan's cell log shows calls to Jenn's house during the time period Jay was supposedly with Jenn. So that's a red flag. This seems to be an "original" lie to the police. By that, I mean this is a lie that cannot be explained away by Jay feeding her a bogus story to tell the police. Jenn would have first-hand knowledge of whether Jay was with her, so this appears to be a false statement made to the police that originates from her. It could be a matter of her covering for Jay, but this calls into question her credibility.
Also the fact that Adnan supposedly sees her at Westview Mall and would be okay with that is weird. If Adnan had really killed Hae and basically blackmailed Jay to help dispose of the body, would he want anyone else coming anywhere near them that night? (This also applies to the visit to "Cathy's" house.) But this is even more troubling especially if he knew how tight Jay and Jenn were. And if Adnan were acting very weird at Cathy's house just a couple hours before Jenn supposedly sees him, would he be acting normal then after (1) receiving a call from the police and (2) rushing to hide the body of his ex-girlfriend whom he just killed? Seems odd to me...
I get the sense that Jenn is tied to Jay for some reason and would lie and tell the police whatever Jay asked her to. And that seems to be the most innocent explanation for her involvement here.
Jay's Statement - So after Jenn's second visit with the police, they pick Jay up late at night. Initially he feeds them a bullshit story and a couple of hours later, he says, "All right, I come clean." Tape stops and resumes 20 minutes later, and he tells basically the same story Jenn told them. Key addition is he knows where Hae's car is and offers to show police where the car is. They go to the car in the middle of the night, and police obtain arrest warrant for Adnan.
Detectives initially seem skeptical and push Jay on why Adnan would ask for his help. He says he is the "criminal element" of Woodlawn, or at least is viewed that way. Police then says if he really were not the hardened criminal who would dispose of a body, why help Adnan. Jay says it was because Adnan knew about his drug dealings:
Jay: Um Adnan knows a lot of things about me like to the effect of criminal activities so I mean
Det: You’re selling marijuana.
Jay: So if I go to the cops and say hey this guy is going to kill her and he’ll say no I’m not he’s crazy. But dude’s a drug dealer and this is where he gets his shit from and this is who he deals with and he got this rap sheet this long and go get his ass.
Det: But you never been arrested but one time.
Jay: Yeah one time.
Det: So you don’t really have a rap sheet.
Jay: One time on the record. But I’ve got my ass kicked plenty of times more than that one arrest. Dogs sicced on me, pushed down in front of my own house with couple of guns pointed helicopters shit keys in my hands. You know it’s not just it’s not just, seriously man, I’ll be coming home and people whipped out guns and make me lay in the street in the snow walking into my own house just so they could say I was a raw dude. You know what I mean.
Det: These are police that did that?
Jay: Yes. Yes.
Det: So you didn’t trust any police.
Jay: No. I don’t In my mind I don’t think let’s call the cops. That never crosses my mind. I could be getting shot at and I wouldn’t be let’s call the cops.
Police press and ask why he didn't make an anonymous call. Jay is very uncomfortable and asks if they could stop for a minute. Detectives push further asking what Adnan has on him. Jay stammers and says Adnan knows he sells drugs.
--So it's curious why the detectives were so quick to deal with Jay and believe that he was not involved. The police properly smelled bullshit in the flimsy drug dealings as leverage but they seemed to have dropped that pretty quickly. Note that they are placing a lot of faith in his statement, enough to obtain an arrest warrant for Adnan after they find Hae's car and to arrest him in the morning. I would expect Jay's distrust/dislike of police helped bolster his credibility to the jury. Why would a petty criminal who had unpleasant run-ins with police testify of his own involvement in a murder and try to pin it on a "good" kid? Of course, Jay didn't exactly volunteer this information. He stayed silent for 6 weeks and only talked once the police rounded him up.
Jay's Inconsistencies - SK highlights a few inconsistencies between his original Feb 28th statement and his second March 15th statement and/or his trial testimony. Rabia Chaudry's blog notes a 60-page spreadsheet chronicling them that I have not seen. The ones highlighted here:
Interview 1: Um we headed towards Westview Mall um we did a little shopping together.
Interview 2: We went to Security Square Mall.
--Seems like a curious detail to lie about. Perhaps the first one was a lie to have Westview Mall be a recurring theme. Maybe he was focused on Westview Mall as it was a source of another big deceit (telling Jenn the story), it stuck in his head when fabricating another story to the police. Not that major though.
Interview 1: Grabbing some food at a restaurant when officer calls Adnan.
Interview 2: They’re at a friend’s apartment.
--Ok, could be explained by trying to initially minimize Cathy and their druggie friends in this.
Interview 1: Jay says he refuses to help dig a grave.
Interview 2: He says they both dug the hole.
--Pretty clear here. Originally he wants to minimize his role as much as possible. Two weeks later, it's probably clear the police interest is focused on Adnan and that he is going to get a deal. So opening up with more details seems safe.
Interview 1: Jay said Adnan only told him that day he was going to kill Hae.
Interview 2: Jay said Adnan told him 5 days earlier, that he said he was going to kill her. And that Adnan enlisted his help on the 12th. Jay tells Jen about it in advance too.
At trial: He goes back to first version that he didn’t know anything until day of.
--Seems like an example of overreaching to give the police what they want. Maybe he thought it makes Adnan look worse by saying that Adnan had been planning it. Of course, this makes Jay look worse as well since he could have done something to prevent it, which could explain the reversion back to original story for trial.
Interview 1: Jay says Adnan called at about 3:45PM. Come pick me up. Picked him up off of Edmonson Avenue off a strip. He pops the trunk open. He shows the cops the spot.
Interview 2: En route to his house, gets a call from Adnan. “That bitch is dead. Come and get me. I’m at Best Buy.”
--SK is baffled by this. Detectives press him on this lie and Jay says he figures there were cameras at Best Buy and Jay was associated with it. SK rightly notes that this excuse is utterly nonsensical.
Note the time in the first interview. Jay claims Adnan called at about 3:45PM. At this point, Adnan should have been getting ready for track practice (which started at 4pm). This is also seems to be set up with the alibi Jay was trying to set up with Jenn (who told police Jay left at about 3:45 to 4:15). Also, Jay probably did not know about the cell phone records, which show that there were no incoming calls anywhere near 3:45.
Of course, at trial the prosecution says the call from Best Buy came at 2:36, which is over an hour before Jay's original statement. I forget how this discrepancy is handled (I think this is episode 5). It also simplifies the story by having one site serve as both the murder site and where Jay saw the body. It's easier to keep straight lies about one location than to keep up two sets of lies about two different locations.
So my takeaway is that the first story was complete bullshit. And I think the trend is to believe that Best Buy at 2:36 was also not where the real murder happened either. So this is the most damning thing I have in believing Jay at least participated in the murder. And the fact that he supposedly told Jenn the story that evening by 8PM means either (1) Jenn is more involved than just being informed of the murder or (2) Jay planned to pin it on Adnan from the get go and planted the seeds immediately by telling Jenn a bogus story. I just see no scenario at the moment in which Jay was not at least present for the murder.
Adnan's description of Jay - There's a point where SK asks Adnan about Jay. Adnan says he was genuinely surprised when the police named Jay as the reason they were arresting him. When asked about Jay, he responds:
“I knew he generally l kinda listened to I don’t want to say white people music but he like listened to like rock and roll, things like that, like heavy metal. Um I guess you know I can’t really um just you know uh I can’t to be honest with you I couldn’t even really recall a huge long conversation we ever had other than like a specific subject if he was asking me something about Stephanie or something like where we were gonna go hanging out. We wouldn’t necessarily like be you know kicking it per se.”
Feel like the deception indicators are off the charts with the hemming and hawing and "you knows" and whatever. Also so what was the specific subject that he did have a huge long conversation about? Of course, the deception could be just to not talk about the drug-related aspects... but at this point, he's already in prison for life for murder. Why would smoking weed together be a cause for concern. So I feel like it's likely that there's something he is hiding about his relation with Jay.
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