It Says
 It’s been a year since the narrator has
spoken to Don
 Narrator still believes that she not told
the complete truth in Adnan’s case
 Narrator talked to Don when 8 months
ago he refused to speak with her and last
week he talked to her and says narrator
can use what he says
 Don says he does not know what
happened to Hae, or why the incident
was inflicted upon her, or whether he is
guilty
 Don reveals what he knows about the
day when Hae disappeared, about her,
and about Hae’s trial
 Don says that Hay was at his house,
located in a town in Baltimore City on the
night before she disappeared on January
12
 Don states that Hae wanted to spend the
entire day with him, that she wanted him
to call in her high school as an authority
figure to excuse her absence, and Syed
says that he refuses and encouraged her
to go to school since he also had to work
that day at 9AM at LensCrafters, where it
was supposed to his day off but he had to
cover for another employee
 Both Hae and Syed worked at
LensCrafters at Owensville mall
 On January 13th, Hae and Syed had plans
to meet at night after her work shift
ended at 10PM.
 When cops recovered Hae’s car, they
found a note written to Don about a
wrestling match Hay had to attend, which
was written on January 13th
 Hae mentions TV interview with a local
station regarding a student athlete
segment on her
 Don claims to not have known about
Hae’s note until narrator sent it to him
 Adnan was the first suspect contacted
when Hay was murdered since he was
the new boyfriend at the time
I Say
 In the beginning, Koenig’s tone is
confused since she finds it difficult to
obtain a clear answer from the interview
 The music in this podcast builds suspense
and apprehension for the listener. It is
used in an emotional sense since it is
similar to the common tune that many
investigative news covers, whether or the
radio or on TV, play when reporting on a
missing person or homicide case.
 The narrative’s tone does sound skeptical
since Syed is not a reliable interviewee,
which can be deducted from the
narrator’s statement: “It’s been a year
since I’ve contacted Adnan, and I’m still
asking him the basics”.
 The narrator’s tone is investigative yet
doubtful since Don is not clear on the
details of Hae’s case and the days that
lead up before her incident, since he
often says that he does not remember a
certain day or detail.
 In this podcast, the narrator is skeptical
when she is talking to Josh (pseudonym)
and says, “there’s something that is not
computing”, which shows how she does
not trust the sources such as Josh or Jay
 Josh portrays Jay as someone who is
strange and cannot always be believed in
in the statement, “It’s not that he
bragged about stuff that he did,
sometimes he made up things that he
didn’t do”
 The medium can affect the way one
interprets the information presented in
Serial since the news is presented in a
way that is similar to storytelling
 Since the podcast gives a compelling
experience, the audience is more
intellectually and emotionally engaged
because they actually hear Adnan Syed
and other sources speak, which
establishes a high degree of credibility
given that the quotes are not altered
 Don’s alibi was solid since his computer-
generated information that showed that
he was busy but his mom is the manager,
which raises suspicions
 Don met Adnan on December 23rd, when
Hay had a minor car accident in winter
and both men converged, according to
Hay’s diary
 At first, Dan stated that the two guys had
a casual first encounter but then at trial,
Dan states that Adnan questioned his
motives
 Dan spoke to interviewer and states that
Adnan was “polite and articulate”, like
the ex-boyfriend meeting the new
boyfriend
 Prosecutor wanted Dan to make Adnan
sound creepy
 Dan said that Kevin Urick yelled at him
during the trials
 Dan says that he still loved Hae, even
though he dated her for 13 days
 New Year’s Eve was their first date, and
she was described by Don as an
“assertive … and generally nice person”
 Jay was scared, called Josh, his co-
worker, and asked him to come to the
adult video shop where he worked
 Jay was afraid that people connected to
the murderer would come after him
 At night there was an empty van in
parking lot and he was petrified to go
outside since he thought he would be
attacked by Adnan
 Josh told Jay that it was the ex-boyfriend
who killed Hae
 On the taped interview recorded
February 28th with Jay and the cop, it is
revealed that Jay believes that Adnan is
“looking for him”
 Conversation took place in front of Jay’s
house in a car
 Jay states that Adnan knew somebody [to
murder Hae] and this person “used to be
involved in illegal activity”
 “Westside hitman”
 Another factor that makes this medium
compelling is the fact that there are no
ads
 This medium is captivating when it comes
to discussing cases like Min Lee’s because
vivid images are generated in the minds
of the listeners who also conjure the
images more quickly and easily
 An interesting sound effect used in Serial
is the effect that gives the listener a
sense of space by recording a sound
that’s far away, such as during the phone
call with Josh since it stimulates mental
imagery
 Sarah Koenig spends most of the time,
examining the character and psyche of
teenage Adnan, by speaking with current
day Adnan, and his current day friends,
which is a futile approach to this case
since the current day friends’ opinions
and statements have been altered after
18 years since the death of Hae has taken
place
 Koenig’s approach is questionable since
she is trying to search and analyze Syed’s
guilt after 18 years
 Near the end of the podcast, Koenig and
the researchers attempted to exonerate
Syed by introducing the fact that a
murderer and rapist, Ronald Lee More,
could have potentially murdered Hae
although Koening does not provide any
closure or conclusion to this theory
 Koenig does not directly state who
murdered Hae Min Lee, until the end
where she indirectly expresses her
opinion, which creates a sense of tension
 Since Koenig does not directly state who
murdered Hae Min Lee, until the end
where she indirectly expresses her
opinion, a sense of tension is created
 Koenig’s language in this podcost is
informal at times especially when her
tone is colloquial
 Towards the end of the podcast, Koenig’s
tone is thoughtful, since she tries to
formulate a conclusion about the Ming
 Jay says that he helped “him bury the Lee case while allowing the audience to
body” almost in a bragging manner reflect and absorb the information on
 Sometimes Jay made up things that he their own
did not do
 Jay went to Adnan
 Josh said he also had the impression that
it occurred at the end of the day to Chris
 To josh, Jay did not strike him as a
murderer, Josh is shocked
 Josh presents Jay as someone who is
“over his head” and he struggles to
believe Jay
 Josh didn’t want to suggest going to the
cops because he didn’t want to be a
“snitch”
 Julie (the producer) went over all of the
evidence and interviews and emphasized
the “Nisha call” which is 2 mins and 32
seconds to a girl who lived near Silver
Spring
 Nisha is the girl who Adnan was flirting
with, the call occurs when Hae
disappeared
 Adnan says he was not with his phone,
and this corroborates Jay’s story
 Jay did not have the job at the begging of
January but rather the end
 The call is a pillar in the case against
Adnan
 Adnan suggests that he unintentionally
called Nisha
 Adnan got charged on his AT&T bill for
his call with Nisha
 Dana went to New York
 Nisha call was answered since it showed
up on the bill according to AT&T’s bill
 According to AT&T’s fine print, there is a
loophole since they believe that longer
than 30 seconds, it was not charged in
1999
 Nisha call could have been a butt dial, but
there are alternative scenarios
 Dana and Julie looked at call log and cell
tower map
 Adnan has said various things, but not
that they went shopping
 Adnan told his attorney at the time is
that Adnan hung out with Jay until about
12:45-1:00 p.m. and then went back to
school
 There’s a 12:07 call and a 12:41 call
 Going to Ellicott City, and then going into
Baltimore City, where the phone is
pinging off of Edmonson Avenue area,
which is actually near drug strips where
Hae’s car was dumped.
 Incoming call from a Best Buy phone
booth at 2:36PM
 It’s an outgoing call, from Adnan’s cell to
Jenn’s house phone. Jay and Jenn both
talk about some call that afternoon that
comes into her landline.
 If Jay is at Jenn’s house until 3:45, how is
he calling Jenn’s house at 3:21? Why
would he be calling the house that he’s
sitting in it?
 There is a discrepancy in Jenn and Jay’s
story given that Jenn states that she
picked Jay up on the night of the
thirteenth, and about where and when
they got rid of Jay’s clothes
 Jenn says she picked Jay up at Westview
Mall, where she saw Adnan too, however
Jay says that didn’t happen since she
picked him up at his house, and that he
dumped his clothes that same night in
the trash at his own house on the
thirteenth
 It is believed that Adnan was not
emotionally stable following his breakup
from Hae and Hae’s new relationship
with Don, which gives Adnan a motive to
murder Hae
 Adnan wanted to loan Jay the car so that
Jay could buy Stephanie a birthday
present
 Two friends of Adnan and Hae claim that
they heard Adnan asking Hae for a ride
after school
 Adnan’s father and mosque leader say
Adnan was at the mosque that night
 Deirdre Enright and her students have a
motion in the works to test the DNA from
 Adnan’s case that wasn’t tested with the
PERK kit, which swabs from Hae’s body,
the material from under her fingernails,
and the hairs found on her body,
however the conclusion is that this has
evolved into a cold case
 Deidre reveals that it is possible that
Ronald Lee More could have murdered
Hae
 Asia spoke to Sarah and stands by her
memories of seeing Adnan that January
afternoon in the public library
 Hae was probably still alive at 2:45 or
3:00PM

And So…

Based on the final episode of the podcast, it is noted that, although Sarah Koenig tries to approach
the situation by critically analyzing the interviews, Koenig does prove to be a biased narrator. Koening
does not establish credibility in this situation since she is a journalist, and not a crime reporter or
investigator. However, she does manage to make the podcast intriguing and informative regarding
Hae Ming Lee’s case. Koening is biased in the aspect that she tries to imply that Syed is guilty, even
stating that “If you ask me to swear that Adnan Syed is innocent, I couldn’t do it.” Her tone is
indirectly accusatory and the manner in which she tells the story allows the audience to imply that
Adnan is responsible for Hae’s death. The details about Ming Lee’s case that are presented in this
podcast do allow the listeners to believe that Adnan Syed is guilty. The reason behind this is because
Syed’s recount of the events that occurred leading up to Hae’s death and even after contains
loopholes, which suggests that Syed is altering the truth from the investigators.