It Should Have Always Been About Hae Min Lee and Not Adnan Syed
On the anniversary of the death of Hae Min Lee, it's time to re-center the case on the life that was lost and the abuse and violence she suffered
By Brett Talley and Alice LaCour
Twenty-six years ago today, on January 13, 1999, Adnan Syed murdered his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. Despite a decade-long media effort to prove otherwise, the evidence of his guilt has always been overwhelming.
On the morning of the murder, Syed asked Hae for a ride under false pretenses; his car was in the shop. In fact, both his car and his cell phone were with Jay Wilds, his accomplice in the murder, who would help him bury Hae’s body in Baltimore’s infamous Leakin Park. Police first learned of Jay Wilds from his friend, Jennifer Pusateri, who had met Syed and Wilds in a mall parking lot the night of the murder. Syed had barely left the scene when Wilds told Pusateri everything that had happened that day. Pusateri, who had no reason to lie and whose story would remain consistent over time, would eventually go to the police in the company of her mother and lawyer.
Wilds followed suit, explaining how Syed strangled Hae in the secluded parking lot of a local Best Buy, the same parking lot where, in happier times, Syed and Hae would have romantic rendezvous. Cell phone analysis would confirm Wilds’ and Pusateri’s story. When police pulled Syed’s cell phone records, they saw that the phone pinged over the Best Buy, the burial site, and the car dump location the day and night of the murder. And most importantly, Wilds would lead police to Hae’s abandoned car, the location of which only someone involved in the murders could have known. When the police searched the car, they found a map book in the back with the page for Leakin Park—the site of Hae’s burial—removed. Syed’s fingerprints were on the map book.
The evidence suggests Syed had made one last effort to win back Hae, who had entered a serious relationship with a coworker only days before. When she refused, Syed strangled her. A broken control bar on the steering column spoke to the violence with which Hae fought for her life.
These are the facts of this case, facts that have not changed in 26 years, despite a massive media effort to convince the public, and in particular the people of Baltimore, of Syed’s innocence. It was this media campaign that led Baltimore’s now disgraced State’s Attorney, Marilyn Mosby, to set Syed free in a publicity stunt that did nothing to prevent her own conviction on federal fraud charges. In 2024, the Maryland Supreme Court corrected that injustice and reinstated Syed’s conviction.
But the question remains—what’s next?
That question is currently before Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, Mosby’s successor. Bates should ignore the media pressure and do the right thing and, for the first time in a long time make Hae Min Lee the center of this case, rather than Adnan Syed.
That can only be done by forcing Syed to make a choice—go back to prison and pursue whatever legal avenues he has to challenge his conviction or admit his guilt in exchange for his freedom. To do otherwise, to set Syed free despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt merely because he was the subject of a popular podcast, would constitute a manifest injustice.
For over a decade, Syed has been presented as the face of wrongful convictions, an immigrant, a person of color imprisoned for who he is rather than what he did. But this has always been a lie. Yes, Syed was the son of immigrants, but so too was his victim. And the chief witness against him was a black man with a history of drug distribution. Are we really to believe that the police chose to frame Syed, the popular athlete, the prom king, the kid with a bright future, over Jay Wilds, the dropout drug dealer who also happened to be black?
Without question, this nation has faced significant problems with law enforcement and the targeting of minorities. But that is not what happened here. Rather, Syed stole from that painful history of trauma for his own benefit, just like he stole Hae Min Lee’s life.
And yet, Adnan Syed certainly is a paradigm of a problem in our society. He is emblematic of toxic masculinity, the belief by some men that if a woman rejects him, she’s better off dead. Adnan Syed is not special, and he certainly is not a hero. He’s just another man who would rather murder a woman than see her with someone else.
We need to stop ignoring and excusing the toxic behaviors of men like Syed.
And now it’s time for Ivan Bates to stand up for the true victim in this case—Hae Min Lee.
Brett Talley and Alice LaCour are attorneys who host the true crime podcast, The Prosecutors.
Yes! I was one of many who was initially swayed by Serial, but there are many facts they omitted in an attempt to create a story where Adnan was the victim. You’re right - he’s never been the victim. He is the murderer.
Excellent article thanks for writing this. It is time to focus on the victim.