Serial - Axiom: Innocent People Do Not Lie to Police In a Murder Investigation

Last week, Rabia Chaudry posted links to copies of Jay's first two police interviews and Jenn's statement to the police (complete with her own comments and highlighting).  For those of you who are interested, they can be found here:

• Jay's police interviews
• Jenn's statement

I finally got a chance to read them over this weekend and noticed some troubling things that fanned the fire to the "Jay did it and Jenn may be an accomplice" theory.  Susan Simpson did a spectacular job dissecting Jay's interview and noting specific points where the police seemed to lead and even prompt Jay's answers.  The post from Simpson's View from LL2 is a worthwhile read if you're interested.  

So rather than discuss Jay's interview, I would like to focus on Jenn's statement instead. Going through her statement, there are some inconsistencies and oddities that I'd like to discuss:   

Jenn's Focuses on Setting an Alibi for Jay for 3:45pm
The statement starts with a 3-4 page rambling explanation telling Jenn's entire story.  It feels like a data dump - she had a story she had to tell on tape and rushed to get everything out before she forgot.  But throughout, she repeatedly states that Jay was with her until after 3:30.  

• "...he just said he was waiting for a call and it was going to come around three-thirty.  Um so we hung out at my house and than [sic] I guess around three-thirty, three forty-five um Jay got a call and than [sic] I don't know what said to him in conversation um than Jay got another call, got off the phone and then another call came in and I don't know if it was the same person or who it was and I don't know whether it was on my phone or whether it was on the cell phone that Jay had.  Um then Jay left my house, probably around three-thirty, four, four-fifteen, well after three forty-five, between three forty-five and four-fifteen."  (Jenn at 3-4) 
• "I guess between three-thirty and four um the phone... a phone call came in and ... Jay talked on the phone to who ever and than um and than Jay left.  I don't know exactly what time, I'd say anywhere between two-thirty and four-fifteen [NB: the 2:30 seems to be a mistake; she says the call came in at 3:30 and all other statements say after 3:30]...." (Jenn at 8-9)
• "...he was like 'I'm suppose to get a call around three-thirty' and I said 'okay' and he said 'that's when I'm leaving, around three-thirty when I get the phone call."  (Jenn at 11).

The last one is the one that really struck me.  Seems like a weird conversation to have.  I'm expecting a phone call at 3:30.  And that's when I'm leaving.  Around 3:30.  After I get a phone call, which I'm expecting at around 3:30.  

Plan to Pick Up Jay
Jenn's story about how she made plans with Jay to meet are unclear.  Pages 13-15 of her statement involve her stumbling through this, noting that there was confusion as to the plan which required her to call Jay (despite him leaving her multiple messages).  Jen says she had plans to hang out with Jay later that night (Jenn at 4,9).  She says after 6:30, she's waiting because "I know I'm supposed to be hanging out with Jay later on in the evening and we're going over to my friends Chris... my friends Christy's house... [NB: Christy is "Cathy"]" (Jenn at 9).  She specifies, "...I was suppose to be around Christy's house between, because originally the plans were like around seven-thirty or seven or whatever with Jay, and um instead I just sat at the house and waited a little bit longer..." (Jenn at 16).  
She eventually picks up Jay from Westview around 8 to 8:30 (Jenn at 16-17), then to take Jay to see Stephanie for about 15 minutes (Jenn at 20-21, 22), then back to Westview to wipe the shovels at around 9pm (Jenn at 22), then to a sorority house on campus for about an hour or so (Jenn at 23),then arrived at Christ's at around 10:30 to 11pm (Jenn at 24).  

I question that Jenn has pre-set plans to meet Jay and to hang out at Christy's house that night.  Jenn's story is that supposedly by the time she is having dinner at home (6 to 6:30) she already has plans to go with Jay to Christy's house at around 7 to 7:30pm.  But remember that in actual life, Jay is already at Christy's house at this time.  He and Adnan were at Christy's house at around 6 to 6:30.  It seems weird for Jay to take Adnan to Christy's house when he knew that he was supposed to be back there in an hour with Jenn (remember, at this point he's just tooling around with Adnan after he killed Hae -- no rush to hide the body yet because police call didn't come in yet).  Sure enough, Christy doesn't note that Jay was supposed to be there with Jenn later that night (her story was she was wondering why Jay was there without calling), and in Jenn's story, there is no mention of the fact that Jay and Adnan were at Christy's earlier that evening (notes on page 24 of statement).  

But let's assume that Jenn did have plans to be at Christy's with Jay at around 7 to 7:30.  She gets a message from Jay saying he's running late.  So maybe Jenn lets Christy know that she's going to be about an hour late.  She picks up Jay, he drops this bombshell on her, she takes him to Stephanie's, to hide some evidence, then they go hang out at a sorority party?  And then they show up at Christy's house at 10:30 or so, now 3+ hours late from the previously planned time?  Remember, they didn't have cell phones to update.  

Also, I've noted that Jay is a bad boyfriend that he never calls Stephanie on her birthday.  Not only does he not call her, but he makes plans to hang out with Jenn starting at 7pm?  After hanging out with her all afternoon?  That doesn't seem right either. 

My guess?  Jenn had tentative plans to see some people.  Jay gets to her, stuff has happened, and she brings him along with her to make sure he's alright and to have him act normal.  But then why lie about having set plans with Jay?

Jenn's Knowledge of Adnan

Throughout, Jenn's statement varies tremendously on her knowledge of Adnan.  For example, on pages 9-10:

Ritz:  Let me stop you for a second Jen, just to go back.  He comes over to your house, he said he had a car with him, and you think that Adnar [sic], he told you it was Adnar's car, had you ever seen Adnar's car before?

Jenn:  Ah yeah I seen it before at school but I couldn't tell... I couldn't tell you what kind of car it was or

Ritz interrupts to have Jenn describe the car, and then MacGillivary resumes the line of questioning...

MacGillivary:  Ah when Jay gets there, you indicated around one or one-thirty,

Jenn:  Yeah, between one and one-thirty.

MacGillivary:  He pulls up and you know exactly it's Adnar's car?

Jenn:  I'm assuming it's, yeah 'cause I knew it wasn't his car and I knew it wasn't ... well Jay doesn't have a car and I knew it wasn't Jay's girlfriends [sic]... Jay's girlfriends car.  Um I don't remember if I asked Jay if it was Adnar's... if it... I wouldn't ask him if it was Adnar's car but I don't remember if I asked Jay whose car it was and he told me it was Adnar's or whether he just told me it was Adnar's car.

So she says she knew it was Adnan's car because she recognized it at school then is interrupted and led back to correcting her prior statement by saying maybe Jay told her it was Adnan's cr or she asked Jay and he told her, or Adnan's car had a license plate "Adnan's car" or something like that...  Maybe this could be an innocent mistake, except on page 36...

Lehmann:  Why, why, has Jay and Adnar known each other since high school?

Jenn:  I, I think they, they might not, I don't know if Adnar went to high school with us or not but -

Lehmann: You say that Jay and Adnar are like best friends?

Jenn:  No, not at all.

That's odd.  Did Jenn just say she didn't know if Adnan went to high school with them or not before the police interrupt her?  So now she goes from saying she recognized Adnan's car from seeing it at school and backtracks all the way to the point she doesn't know if he went to the same high school... And then on page 40:

MacGillivary:  Prior to learning that Adnar had contacted Jay when was the last time you had any contact with Adnar?

Jenn:  Ah (inaudible) high school (inaudible) May

Ritz:  That would have been May of '98?

Jenn:  Yeah, I mean if that would have been the last time I seen, saw, that I had ever seen because I hadn't been back to Woodlawn.

So now she's back to remembering Adnan went to high school with her, but she wouldn't had seen him since she graduated the previous May.  But if she hadn't seen him since back in May, then the exchange on page 16 doesn't make sense:

Ritz:  What happened after they pulled up?

Jenn:  Um Jay got out of the car and got in the passenger seat of my mom's car that I was driving that night, and um Adnar said hi to me, said "hey, what's up girl" and I was like "hey, what's up" and then he left the parking lot and that's when Jay told me.

Ritz:  With the exchange of words between you and Adnar "hey, what's up girl," how would you describe his mood at that time?

Jenn:  He seemed just like he normally seems, just like um just like he was was, just like I remember him from high school I guess.

Earlier she was giving the police a description of a very casual exchange between herself and Adnan.  Remember, Adnan supposedly killed someone earlier in the day and just finished disposing of her body.  Now Adnan is dropping off his blackmailed accomplice to see Jenn, and after not seeing Jenn in 8 months, casually says "what's up girl?"

Jenn's Description of Seeing the News About Hae

On page 27, Jenn gives a very confusing description of seeing news of Hae's disappearance.  Her story is she was at Champs with friends (including Jay and Christy/Cathy) and that it was probably the last Thursday in January.  

Jenn:  So um we were at Champs and I was up talking to somebody, maybe dancing or something, I don’t know and um Jay come up to me and he’s like “yo, they just said that Hae’s body is missing.  I just saw it on the t.v.” and on the news I guess is where he saw it and he told me that he saw it and I said “oh, um now what?”

Lehmann:  Hae’s body is missing?

Jenn:  Yeah, that he had saw it on the television, that her body had been missing.

Lehmann:  That she was missing?

Jenn:  Yeah, yeah that she was missing not her body, that Hae was missing and he was like, “what do we do” and I was like “I don’t” I was like ‘I don’t know what we do.”  I was like “what do we do” you know and he just (inaudible) out, you know, he he um he seemed a little you know like concerned maybe or shocked maybe or (inaudible) body’s missing.  Um I guess he was concerned because he knew the information about Adnar and I guess that’s why he was concerned and that was when I found out he [sic] has been missing.

Ritz:  Well you knew back on the 13th that she

Jenn:  Well yeah, I knew that she was dead.

Ritz:  That she was dead, why would you be so shocked that now the news is reporting her, she’s missing, she hasn’t been seen or heard from?

Jenn:  Um, I don’t know.  I guess I was just surprised.  I don’t know.  I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t surprised maybe I was just like “what do we do now?”  Maybe it was more like “oh no, what do we do now” rather than surprise I guess.  

This is just so crazy.  So first, why is Jenn so fixated on referencing Hae by Hae's body?  Is this just some kind of mannerism of speech?  Or did she see Hae's dead body and that thought traumatized her to naturally associate a dead body with Hae?  Second, wtf is that statement that was when she found out she has been missing.  She supposedly was told 2 weeks earlier she was dead.  So this would not have been a surprise.  And her explanation to this is just a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Miscellaneous Items -

Jenn's story of picking Jay up at Westview is contradicted by Jay, who says Jenn picked him up at home.  (Jay at 76).

Jenn says they went to wipe the shovels after going to see Stephanie.  Jay says they went back for the shovels right away before seeing Stephanie (Jay at 79-80).

Jenn's recording doesn't start until 3:45pm.  Not sure how long her pre-interview was, but there was definitely coordination and prompting.  Most blatant example is:

MacGillivary:  Okay.  Did ah... does Jay have a pager?

Jenn:  No.

MacGillivary:  Does he have a cell phone?

Jenn:  No.

MacGillivary:  Does he have a cell phone?

Jenn:  No.

MacGillivary:  Does he have a cell phone?

Jenn:  Yes, on that day.  [Feel free to insert stage direction where he kicks Jenn under the table.]

So what does this all mean?  I don't find Jenn to be credible at all.  At best, she's lying to cover up for Jay.  At worst, she's more involved.  But if she is just covering for Jay, it sounds like she's going above and beyond what one may expect.  Not just making up an alibi until 3:45, but she is part of the narrative, talking to Adnan on the phone, seeing him at Westview, going around and cleaning up evidence, etc.  It just doesn't strike me as the actions of a truly innocent person.