Episode 4- Inconsistencies
Notes
- Memo on Feb. 12, 1999- regards anonymous call 3 days after Hae’s
body was found to Detective Massey (Baltimore county cop)
- Man was supposedly an Asian male between ages of 18-21
- Anonymous source says to look at ex-boyfriend
- Same man calls again, mentions a friend of Adnan’s named Yasir Ali, who may know something
- 3 days after call, cops meet with Yasir Ali at Pizza Hut
- Yasir says he never made the call
- Feb 16th– get subpoena for Adnan’s cellphone number
- 34 calls made on Jan. 13th
- 6 calls made to Jennifer, who is a friend of Jay’s
- Jennifer talking to cops about events on Jan. 13th
- Lies to the cops, tells them she knows nothing
- Jen says that Adnan says Hae broke his heart, and says that he strangled her in a Best Buy parking lot
- Jay and Jen
- Close friends who shared classes
- Jen on winter break as a lifeguard when Hae disappeared
- Jan 13th– Jay and Jen were hanging out and Jay left, said
they would meet later in the evening
- Jen sees Jay get out of Adnan’s car, Jay gets in Jen’s car and tells her about murder, Jay talks about shovels that he dumped and he knew where they were
- Jay goes back to mall to wipe shovels clean of fingerprints; attempts to dispose of evidence
- Says Jay and Adnan weren’t friends, but rather acquaintances
- Jay works at porn video store, cops get him and bring him to
Homicide at 1:30 am on Feb.28th
- Jay tells cops nothing; walked to mall, talked to Adnan in afternoon, and eventually he comes clean
- Jay tells them different story that matches Jen’s, except that Jay tells cops that he knows where Hae’s car is (cops had been trying to find it)
- Drive out to grassy hill where Hae’s car is parked, within few hours warrant is out for Adnan’s arrest
- Adnan says Jay’s story isn’t true, but doesn’t understand why he
would lie
- No secret feud between Jay and Adnan; Adnan says he and Jay didn’t know each other very well, can’t recall any long conversation that the two had between each other
- Adnan was very close to Stefanie, Jay’s girlfriend
- Stephanie-Jay’s girlfriend
- Very close to Adnan, may have turned Jay against Adnan
- Beautiful, top athlete, came from family of overachievers
- Constant talking on found may have irritated Jay, causing him to turn against Jay
- Adnan say’s he doesn’t feel betrayed by Jay, but rather had a
feeling of injustice
- Adnan says he doesn’t want to make accusations, but believes
- Jay walked up to witness stand and Adnan muttered something to
him
- Adnan calls Jay pathetic, according to judge at the trial
- 1st taped interview of Jay
- Jay says Adnan called him because he’s the “criminal element of Woodlawn”
- Jay says he helped Adnan because Adnan knew a lot of things about Jay that related to criminal activity, had “rap sheet”
- Says he was afraid to call police anonymously phone call after seeing Hae’s body; was initially shocked and then he became part of the murder
- Jay feels bad that he didn’t come forward and doing anything
- Prosecutor Casey Murphy posed “why him” question to jury
- Adnan needed someone who take risks and acts differently than his outstanding scholar friends, defendant chose Jay because if something went wrong Jay could be blamed
- Cops and Koenig have struggle with Jay
- Cops interview Jay 4 times and tells story at trial twice
- Each time, some details shift he tells story, some significant
- Interview 1:
- Jay says he and Adnan went to mall and shopped on Jan. 13th
- Interview 2: (2 weeks later)
- Jays says he and Adnan went to a different mall on Jan. 13th
- Significant changes- Jay trying to protect friends/himself
- 1st
interview
- Jay says they were grabbing food when officer calls and asks Adnan if he had seen Hae
- Jay says he refused to dig a grave for Hae
- Jay
says Adnan only told him same day he was going to kill Hae
- Bigger change that’s hard to charge
- 2nd
interview
- Jay says when call comes, they were at friend’s apartment whose parent in a homicide detective in another county
- Jay says he and Adnan both dug a hole
- Jays
says Adnan was talking about killing Hae 4-5 days before killing her
- Bigger change
- 1st
interview
- Messy and confusing stories told by Jay, discrepancies between different interviews and trials
- Biggest of Jay’s Inconsistency
- About where Adnan first showed Jay Hae’s body in trunk of car
- 1st Interview
- Jay picked up Adnan at Edmonson Avenue
- March Interview
- Adnan tells Jay to pick him up at Best Buy
- Jay admits to lies to detectives, but detectives don’t truly
press Jay on any of the lies
- Figured there were security cameras as Best Buy, so he lied because he didn’t want to be associated with it
- Feb 28th– Jay tells detectives off tape that he doesn’t know anything about the murder
- Koenig says that the detectives believed Jay’s story because they were able to investigate and corroborate what he was saying
Reflection
After listening to the fourth episode of “Serial,” I find it increasingly compelling how Adnan, the man put away in a jail cell for nearly the past two decades, seems to be more and more innocent after each episode. Sarah Koenig, the narrator of the podcast, does a masterful job at slowly yet surely revealing the evidence that was used against Adnan and highlighting the major flaws or discrepancies within those pieces of evidence; she describes how the state prosecutors and witnesses tried to prove that Adnan was guilty of murdering Hae, and analyzes in an in-depth manner the mysteries, contradictions, and the implausibilities of those sources of evidence. By persuading the audience to see the story from her side and highlighting the ways in which Adnan seems to be innocent with regards to this crime, Koenig effectively performs her job, which is to draw the audience in to this story and create interest to continue with the podcast series by painting an increasingly convincing picture that Adnan wasn’t involved with Hae’s murder. As with previous episodes, I thoroughly enjoyed the way in which Koenig presented the evidence in a way that draws the audience in and makes them believe that they themselves are uncovering the mysteries and answering the questions to this crime firsthand. By including primary sources, mainly the recordings of those involved within the case and interviews with potential suspects or members of interest, Koenig leaves the audience feeling mesmerized by the story unfolding before them and keeps them on their seats throughout, hungry for more.
Upon mulling over the vast discrepancies between his stories of the murder, which are often quite large and unfathomable, I believe the testimony of Jay to be the least trustworthy and valid in this case. It seems as if every time he explains his side of the story, details change that never quite add up. I was truly taken back by what Koenig describes as the major discrepancy with Jay’s story- the lies that he told with regards to where Adnan first showed Jay Hae’s dead body. What I found to be even more unfathomable than his change in location of where he had originally picked up Adnan after the murder was the explanation of his motive for lying to the cops. He explained that he lied because he believed there to be cameras and he didn’t want to become involved with the situation. I find this to be unbelievable and quite ridiculous; if there were cameras at Best Buy- one of the locations Jay told the cops he picked up Adnan- this could have cracked the case wide open and may have pinned the murder on Adnan definitively. Further, Jay was already so blatantly involved with the case through the testimony that he gave, so his explanation that he didn’t want to be a part of it seems incomprehensible from my point of view. I believe that Koenig purposefully ends this podcast with Jay’s admittance to lying to the detectives about his whole story, stating he knew nothing about the case. By doing so, the audience remembers the ridiculousness of Jay’s contradictions and motives for lying, and therefore looks down upon Jay with contempt and disgust at how untrustworthy he is as a person of interest in this case.
While this was another riveting episode in this crime saga, there were a few viewpoints and testimonies left out by key players that could have potentially lent a clearer picture on the actions and decisions made with regards to this case. For example, the detectives that interviewed Jay on multiple occasions seemed to catch many of the flaws within his story, yet often glossed over these inconsistencies and didn’t press Jay as to why there were faults in the first place. In-depth interviews between Koenig and the two detectives regarding their motives for not pushing the issue with Jay’s contradictions would have provided greater insight to this case and would have helped the audience understand why, after the messy testimony that Jay gave, the detectives still ended up believing him. Furthermore, interviews with Jay in the present day would have been absolutely fascinating; Koenig would have questioned why his stories were so flawed and disheveled, and hearing his responses would have painted a greater picture in all of our minds as to the type of person that Jay truly is, and especially would have called into question his trustworthiness in this whole affair. Nonetheless, Koenig crafts another masterful episode within this enthralling podcast, and I cannot wait to hear what new pieces of evidence shall arise next.
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