Serial Episode 4 - Inconsistencies

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.  

Serial Episode 3 - Leakin Park

There isn't much substantive here, so I let my imagination run a bit more with this one...

The episode starts with a brief overview of the police investigation.  SK notes they checked out Don and the area around his house.  Don's alibi was that he was working at Lens Crafters.  Not sure when his shift ended.  Also, Hae had said that she was meeting Don at the mall after she dropped off her little cousin, so presumably his shift would have ended soon.  (Note: I think I was mistaken on this.  Seemed like Hae wanted to go see Don at the mall before picking up her cousin and perhaps going to the wrestling meet.)

If the time table of the murder is off, Don still would be a suspect, no?  It's unclear when his shift ended, so we don't know until when he's cleared until.  He's also probably the person Hae would most willing to have driven off somewhere secluded with.  Maybe he even would have been a reason for her to shirk her responsibilities (picking up her cousin, going to the wrestling meet).  Nothing really to back this up, but it sounds like the police looked at him, saw he had an alibi for the assumed murder time (between 2:15 and 3:15 pm) and dismissed him as a suspect.

Mr. S - The rest of the episode focuses on "Mr. S" and the discovery of Hae's body.  To recap, Mr. S works as a custodian in a local school.  On Feb. 9, he says he went home, got some food, grabbed some beer and was driving back to work.  Stopped by Leakin Park to, um, take a leak, walked in about 127 feet from the road to where a huge log had fallen, saw some hair and found the body.  

From his call to police:

“I think I may have discovered a body in Leakin Park.”   

--A bit indirect.  "I discovered a body..." would be most direct.  "I think I discovered a body" or "I may have discovered a body..." Of course, he could just be freaked out about finding the body.  Or he could be being deceptive on account of what he were doing at the time.  

Police question Mr. S.  They noticed a few inconsistencies (first he said he was going to urinate at the log and found the body; later he says he was planning on going further and saw the body).  They question him about a liquor bottle found by the body.  But he sails by the brandy that the police were looking for.

--The focus on the brandy bottle seemed odd considering how the police didn't really seem to analyze it for physical evidence.  I believe some of the criticism of the lack of physical evidence is addressed in Episode 7 (i haven't gotten to recapping that one yet), but a significant portion of SK's discussion centers on this half-pint bottle of Coronet VSQ.  While finding an empty bottle near the body seems important, it would have been more relevant if, you know, they had analyzed it for evidence.  I will note that Coronet seems to be a cheap, California brandy.  Small bottles of cheap brandy are a blue-collar drink, so I could see Mr. S (or even Jay) drinking it.   

SK and crew look at the crime scene photos.  Were surprised to see how hard it was to spot the body.  The surveyor testified that he did not see the body even though he was explicitly looking for it (he almost walked onto the grave site).  Near the body was an empty brandy bottle and some rope.  Went to the site.  Noticed that the distance was not that far and was reasonable to find privacy. 

 

SK concludes that Mr. S probably was not the killer.  But theorized he may have heard about the body and went looking for it.  But then she notes why would a man with a criminal record and history of streaking go seeking further trouble?  

--I tend to agree that Mr. S was not the killer.  It takes a tremendous amount of nerve to commit a murder and then bring yourself into the focal point of the investigation by discovering the body for the police.  Especially given his previous foibles, it would make sense he would want to avoid unwanted police attention.  

But then it seems like it would have been a huge coincidence for him to just stumble across the body, especially given how difficult it was to spot.  And if he were really streaking through the park, would he really be paying close attention to the ground around him rather than, um, enjoying the thrill?

Rabia Chaudry's blog also notes the changes in the questions to Mr. S's polygraphs.  In the first exam, Mr. S was asked general questions about Hae and whether Mr. S was withholding any information about her death.  He failed the exam but claimed he was nervous because he had an important meeting.  He passed his second exam, but the questions were completely changed to straightforward factual questions about specific possible ways the victim was killed.  It is curious why the questions were changed in such a manner.

Another unsubstantiated theory alert:  SK tries to find a connection to Mr. S and she says that Mr. S’s sister-in-law was a math teacher at Woodlawn HS.  She was Hae’s math teacher.  And her husband (Mr. S’s half brother) used to live next door to Adnan (when he was 9 or 10).

--Now, I'm generally going to view things skeptically, and that means not simply accepting coincidences... and this seems like an awful lot of coincidences.  The man who finds the body is separated by 2 degrees from the victim?  And he's 2 degrees separated from the suspected killer?  Something just doesn't sit well with me there.  So if Mr. S wasn't the killer, but had knowledge of the body... then from whom?

Taking that thread, how about his half-brother?  From his perspective, his wife was the victim's teacher.  He was the suspected killer's next door neighbor (he said when Adnan was 9 or 10). Used to throw the football around with him.  So now he is 2 degrees from the victim and directly connected to the suspect.  Yes, perhaps the community isn't that large and you can run into the same people, but this double-coincidence seems glaring.  SK was looking for a connection between Mr. S and Jay (who we know has to be involved because he knew where Hae's car was).  But could the connection have been between Mr. S's half-brother and Jay?  It's unclear how old the brother is.  But if he were throwing a football with Adnan when Adnan was 9 or 10, I would expect the brother is not that much older (think about it, it would be weird for a grown man to be throwing a football around with a young boy who lived next door).  Yes, his wife was a teacher at the high school, but I had teachers who were in their early to mid 20s (at a specialized magnet school), so she could have been a young teacher.  So maybe the half brother knew Jay some how.  

The other thing that struck me was how he casually chuckles and volunteers to SK that Mr. S was probably streaking through the woods when he found the body.  The reason being that having a brother who is a streaker seems pretty embarrassing -- streaking seems like something that requires a certain level of deviance that would be embarrassing to his family.  I would expect him to try to hide that fact about his brother rather than volunteer it to an investigative journalist doing a story.  Think about it - if you had a family member who was caught engaging in similar behavior, is that information you would go announcing to a reporter?

So why bring this up then?  It's a good way to (1) deflect attention away from the coincidence of his connections onto something "juicier" and (2) provide an explanation for how his brother found the body (other than "I may have let slip to him where I buried the body").

Again, nothing really to back this up.  But there is definitely something suspicious about Mr. S.  I don't think it's a stretch to think he was hiding something.  And that it was improbable for him to just happen upon the body.  If he had learned of the location of the body from someone, his half-brother seems like a source that makes sense.   

Serial Episode 2 - The Break-Up

Episode 2 focuses on the relationship, break-up, and the prosecution's argument for motive.  

Religion as a basis for the motive:  Prosecution contended at trial that this was an "honor killing."  Adnan had sacrificed everything - his religion, his family - for this relationship and could not stand it when Hae broke up with him.  They played up Adnan's sinister duplicitous life, putting forward the good face for his family and at the mosque while cavorting around with Hae.  

SK comes out at flatly states she doesn't buy the prosecution's story for the motive.  I tend to agree that this wasn't an "honor killing" and that Adnan was not torn up by violating his religious principles.  Hae's diary entries are a bit troublesome, but her feeling of guilt seems not out of whack.  I tend to find Saad's take (Rabia's brother/Adnan's friend) on it reasonable.  Neither of them seemed to take the religious thing that seriously.  Saad sounded genuinely amused telling the story of the homecoming dance where Adnan told him how his parents had shown up at the dance. 

Again, this does not mean Adnan is necessarily innocent.  But the prosecution picked a motive to go with their story that they felt could work.  While teenage heartbreak is something most people could relate to and is usually not a source for murderous rage, throwing in this religious angle and playing into stereotypes of Islam probably played well with the jury and elevated an otherwise unlikely motive to something that the jury could not dismiss out of hand. 

Adnan's job as EMT as indicator of ability to strangle:  Throw away line that the prosecution argued that Adnan's EMT training would know how to strangle someone.  

Eh, don't really buy that and not going to give that much credence.  If anything, if Adnan's EMT training probably would have made it less likely to choose manual strangulation as the weapon of choice for a premeditated murder given all the variables that would be in play.

Jay's statement on the motive:  According to SK, Jay supplied the motive to police and planted idea Adnan was angry at Hae about the breakup.  From the tape:  

"He told me that she had broke his heart it was extremely wrong for someone to treat him that way. Um that he couldn't believe how she stood and looked him face to face and told him she didn't love him and be that heartless. And (coughs) he told me he said almost jokingly 'I think I'm going to kill her.  Yeah I'm going to kill her.'"

Now drawing on the examples from the famous cases site that Matt sent, a couple of things.  The use of an adverb like "extremely" seems superfluous -- could be an indicator of deception?  Stood and looked him face to face seem like oddly specific details that don't add anything to the story -- perhaps he is creating details to bolster the story?  He coughs before he gets to the key point -- this may be letting off some tension in preparation of the big lie?  The "almost jokingly" seems to be a pulling back of the statement a bit -- probably to minimize his own culpability in the story (that he didn't take it seriously to justify him not trying to prevent it).  But it seems odd when he's basically telling the cops that the killer said he was going to do it.  

Post-breakup interactions:  There are claims that Hae was still flirting with Adnan after the break-up, "leading him on."  She buys him an expensive jacket for Christmas.  She calls him when her car breaks down, and both Adnan and Don look over the car before Adnan drives her home.  Debbie suggests that perhaps Adnan thought it was a slap to the face when Hae started dating Don.  

It's hard to tell what to take away from this.  On one hand, it shows that Adnan was not outwardly showing any signs of resentment and Hae had not viewed him as a threat.  But on the other hand, Adnan may have thought that this was a break and that they would get back together, and the addition of Don destroyed that and caused him to embark on this path.  Like many of the details, this could go either way.  

Three calls to Hae night before disappearance:  Three calls were made.  Two calls were 2 seconds each.  Last one was 1:24.  Adnan says he was probably giving Hae his new cell # (corroborated by the # being written on Hae's diary).  Don testified that Hae had been at his house that night (probably explaining why the first two calls were short).  Last diary entry from Hae is very mushy saying that she loves Don, she found her soulmate, etc.  

David focused on these three calls to Hae earlier in the discussion.  SK seems to dismiss them as Adnan calling to give Hae his new number (corroborated by the phone # written in Hae's diary).  But I looked at the phone logs and noted some things.  Here's a hypothetical construction of that night:  

The phone calls he make while he is at home appear to be Tower L651C:

9:41PM - makes call to Krista, talks to her for 3:18.

11:05 PM - calls Nisha (one of the girls he was seeing); talks to her for 0:36.

11;07 PM - calls Krista again and talks to her for 18:46.  I flag this call because this is by far the longest call on the log over these two days.

11:27 PM - first call to Hae, lasts :02.  This call pings cell tower L608C, which shows up as being halfway between Adnan's house and Baltimore.  I flag this because at some point during the call with Krista, he sneaks out of the house and goes for a drive.  I assume he sneaks out because hearing how insanely protective his mom was, I would expect that he is sneaking out without permission after 11PM on a school night.  Also, he calls Hae pretty much immediately after hanging up with Krista.  

12:01 AM - second call to Hae, also lasts :02.  This call pings cell tower L602C, which the map shows as being in Baltimore proper.  So Adnan's midnight drive takes him to Baltimore.

12:35 AM - third call to Hae, lasts 1:24.  Adnan says he was calling to give Hae his new number, which is scrawled on her diary.  So it seems Hae is now home from Don's house.  This call pings cell tower L654C, which is in the vicinity of the Westview Shopping Mall, Jay's house, and Jenn's house... but it's also on the way back to Adnan's house from Baltimore.  

Wild unsubstantiated theory alert:  I posit that Hae slept with Don for the first time that night (based on her diary entry that night professing her love for Don).  Hae told Krista she was going to (pure conjecture, but the timing of the calls seems odd).  That's what the long conversation between Adnan and Krista was about.  Which causes Adnan to go for a drive (to where?  Don's house?  Somewhere else?  note:  in Episode 3, SK notes Don lived in another county NE of Baltimore, so if Adnan knew where Don lived, his route fits).  Explains why he would call Hae three times that late just to give her his # (which I never bought -- why would you pester your ex that late just to give her your number).  Maybe he realized he was being crazy and calmed down.  Maybe his rage only grew and made him decide he was going to confront her about it (leading to him killing her).  The result I'm not sure.  But I think David's intuition about the three phone calls being meaningful seems right.  While Adnan tooled about the city before going home, he was still a "good" kid and I would expect something pretty major to go for a late night drive.  And it wasn't a short drive either.  

Adam notes that some of the information floating around says that someone (maybe Krista) had testified that Adnan said that his last conversation with Hae was not good.  

Adnan asking Hae for a ride:  Jay tells police that Adnan told him that he was going to ask Hae for a ride.  Aisha saw Hae talking to Adnan after last class.  Debbie says she saw Hae who said she was going to get her cousin from school then seeing Don at the mall.  Ines Butler (who ran the concession stand) says she saw Hae pull up to get her usual snack and that she was alone.  Krista says she heard Adnan ask Hae for a ride first period.  Becky said she heard something about a ride as well.  Tricky situation is that Adnan apparently told a police officer that evening that he was expecting a ride with Hae and that he got held up and she left without him.  Two weeks later, Adnan said that was incorrect because he drives his own car to school. 

Adnan's first recounting of this issue when speaking with SK:

"I wouldn't have asked her for a ride after school.  I'm sure I didn't ask her because immediately after school i know she always anyone who knows her knows she always goes to pick up her little cousin.  So she's not doing anything for anyone right after school no matter what.  Not a trip to McDonald's.  Not a trip to 7-Eleven."

Going back to the analysis, "wouldn't have asked her" is a weak denial.  Of course, 15 years has passed, but this is something he claims he is sure about, so "I didn't ask her for a ride" would be the strongest denial.  The addition of "anyone who knows her knows" seems to be trying to spread the knowledge of Hae's after school habits around so as to distance himself from any special knowledge.  The end... specifically saying "no matter what" seems a bit too vigorous.  And I found the examples a trip to McDonald's or 7-Eleven as weird examples.  Those seem to be pretty low-priority things that are easy to turn down.  Helping out a friend who needed a ride because his car broke down seems to be on another level of priority, so maybe that would have been more of a possibility.  

My conclusion:  it seems that he didn't leave with her, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did ask her for a ride.  Maybe to talk to her about Don or a last ditch effort to get back together or what.  The initial statement to the cop saying he asked her for a ride is fairly telling.  I feel that is a weird thing to admit to and later recant.  Of course, he could have misspoke because he was high as hell when the police called.  But there are two separate witnesses who mention the ride, so it seems likely there was a ride asked for.  

Asking for the ride does not necessarily mean he did it because he planned to kill her.  But, Adam notes the timing of the asking for a ride is telling.  If, as Krista said, he had asked her for a ride during first period, that is particularly worrisome.  At that point, he still had his own car (he did not lend it to Jay until after 10:45), so this suggests some level of premeditation.  Of course, if this was one of those dumb ideas to get her into a spot to force a conversation, he could have asked for a ride intending to lend Jay his car to have that as an excuse.  It's not dispositive, but it is an awkward fact to deal with.

More on Best Buy as the Murder Spot:
Regardless of whether Adnan did or did not ask Hae for a ride, the prosecution's story is that the two of them were together at Best Buy in less than 20 minutes after school ends.  Now, Ines Butler's statement that Hae was alone when she stopped by the concession stand seems to debunk the prosecution's theory.  But Adam mentions Adnan could have waited by the library or somewhere and flagged Hae down and begged her for a ride.  

But even then it seems unlikely that he would have convinced her to take a detour to Best Buy.  It's revealed in a later episode that the Best Buy parking lot may have been a place where they had gone to have sex in the past.  If that is true, from Hae's perspective, that would be the last place she would want to take Adnan.  Also, the time aspect is an issue.  Based on her last diary entry, she would have wanted to see Don.  And speaking as a Korean immigrant, she would have taken her responsibility of picking up her little cousin very seriously and something major would have come up for her to miss that appointment.  Given that tight timeline, it seems unlikely that her ex-boyfriend would have registered as enough of an excuse to deviate from her tasks at hand.  

Serial Episode 1 - The Alibi

I went back and re-listened to the old episodes, paying closer attention to the details and jotting notes.  This is a rough recap of the main points of the episode with some commentary and the occasional wild conjecture on my part.  I started these recaps after a thorough and entertaining discussion email thread with Adam Stella, David Ginensky, Matt Price, Dave Mervis, and Cassidy Mullen (thanks guys for indulging my long-winded speculations).  I had distributed these privately through the email thread, and after some pressure to post these (prodded by Adam outing me on Facebook for having written detailed recaps), I thought why not.

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.

----

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.