Tuesday, 30 December 2014

'Serial' witness interview stirs debate


Sarah Koenig is the host of


Sarah Koenig is the host of "Serial"






  • NEW: Final part of the three-part interview is expected to publish Wednesday

  • "Serial," a popular podcast, detailed an investigation into the 15-year-old murder of Hae Min Lee

  • Her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was convicted

  • Key witness in the case against Syed was Jay Wilds, who spoke to The Intercept




(CNN) -- The first season of "Serial" ended this month, but the story is far from finished.


The popular podcast detailed an investigation into the 15-year-old murder of Hae Min Lee. Her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was tried and convicted.


A star witness in the case against Syed was Jay Wilds, who stirred debate this week in a three-part interview with The Intercept. Parts one and two were published Monday and Tuesday. The final part will publish Wednesday.


He says he was unfairly portrayed in the podcast, and runs though his recollections of what happened.


Wilds was asked what he knew about Syed's relationship with his ex.


"I think that was his first real girlfriend, and I think that's why his reaction was so strong. I don't think it meant that much to her. I don't think that's wrong, it's high school, you know. She's a high school girl, 'Oh, he's cute, Oh, whatever' -- things fizzle out. I think there was another dude or something, or whatever," he told The Intercept.


Wilds also remembered the first time he says Syed talked to him about hurting her.


"It was at least a week before she died, when he found out she was either cheating on him or leaving him. We were in the car, we were riding, smoking. He just started opening up. It's in the evening after school, we never hung out in the morning. Just normal conversation like, 'I think she's f****** around. I'm gonna kill that b****, man.'


"Nothing real pointed or anything, not like, 'I know his name,' or 'I caught her.' But I just thought he was just shooting off like everyone else shoots off when they're mad at their girlfriend. He never said anything like, 'Hey, what gauge gun should I use?' or 'How many minutes am I supposed to hold somebody under the water for?' or, 'Is there a statute of limitation on murder?' I thought he was just blowing off steam and bulls*******."


Lee and Syed were seniors at a high school in Baltimore County, Maryland, in January 1999, when she disappeared. Her body was discovered in a city forest three weeks later.


In the second part of the interview, Wilds described seeing Lee, dead in the trunk of a car.


"There's nothing that's gonna change the fact that this guy drove up in front of my grandmother's house, popped the trunk, and had his dead girlfriend in the trunk. Anything that's going to make him innocent doesn't involve me. Hae was dead before she got to my house. Anything that makes Adnan innocent doesn't involve me," he said.


Some of what Wilds claims in the interview contradicts what he told police -- a point he addressed.


"They had to chase me around before they could corner me to talk to me, and there came a point where I was just sick of talking to them. And they wouldn't stop interviewing me or questioning me," he said, in part one of the interview. "Once the police made it clear that my drug dealing wasn't gonna affect the outcome of what was going on, I became a little bit more transparent."


Rabia Chaudry, a civil rights attorney -- who grew up near Syed and tipped the host of "Serial" off to the story -- believes Wilds is lying. She pointed to several apparent discrepancies on Twitter.












"I think Jay's next move should be a live televised polygraph, preferably administered by Geraldo #FreeAdnan #Serial #TheMachineWillDie," Chaudry wrote.


In a piece for The Guardian newspaper, she argued there may be enough evidence for the state to pursue a perjury charge.


Sarah Koenig, the host of "Serial," has not yet commented on Wilds' interview. He declined to be formally interviewed for her broadcast., which is a spinoff of the radio program "This American Life."


The 'Serial' podcast: By the numbers



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