Serial Episodes 2 and 3 Notes and Reflections

Episode 2- The Breakup

Notes

Last episode: basis supplied by the state prosecutor was that when Hae broke up with Adnan, he couldn’t accept it, was so furious and wounded he decided to kill her
prosecutor Kevin Urik’s opening statements to the jury: Adnan felt betrayed that his honor was besmirched, crime about pride, not love
friends of Hae and Adnan were close-knit group, in magnet program of 30 kids who dated each other and took similar classes
evidence at trial: Hae’s diary
- chronicle of Adnan era of Hae’s life
- first date of entry: 4/1/1998- first started going out
- last date of entry 1/12- day before Hae went missing
Junior Prom Dance
- Adnan asked Hae to prom after a bet between friends of who could get the prettiest girl
- 4/7 journal entry: Hae calls Adnan sweetest guy, Adnan (prom prince) stopped dancing with prom princess to dance with Hae
  - first kiss
  - must keep their love secret, but was okay with it
    - neither of the families knew about the relationship
Adnan and Hae had immigrant parents, both understood their expectations
- do well in school, take care of family, for Adnan- no girls allowed
- both understood that their families couldn’t know about relationship
- system for keeping relationship a secret:
  - one would page the other when coast was clear, would call 800 service and the other would call in so phone wouldn’t ring
state painted a picture of Adnan as possessive and controlling
- Hae’s closest friends said Adnan was a little over-involved with Hae
- Hae’s opinion on Adnan’s impromptu visits to girl events:
  - 7/16: Adnan dropped by late, doesn’t describe Adnan as possessive or over-bearing
Hae had strong personality; most of diary was about how she loved Adnan
- friends said they had a silly,teenage, high school relationship
  - lots of teasing, holding hands, nothing weird or anything that stands out
State laid out that Adnan was betraying everything he held dear for Hae; was a good Muslim but wasn’t supposed to be dating, twisted him up inside
- evidence in diary
  - Adnan called Hae a “devil” a few times as she opposed his religion
  - Adnan went to Islamic conference in Texas
    - Hae said religion was life to Adnan, that he tried to remain a Muslim all his life but fell in love with Hae which was a sin
    - Adnan told Hae that he would never leave her as he couldn’t live life without her; one day he would have to choose between her and his religion
    - not read in trial
- Adnan claims he wasn’t that he was religious; culturally he was a Muslim but not in other ways
  - says his behavior didn’t change when Hae broke up with him
state said Adnan was guilt-ridden over lying to his family over Hae, but Adnan said he didn’t feel guilty over it as he was a good kid
Adnan’s mother Shameem: from Pakistan where one doesn’t date; she would check mileage on car to see if he was going somewhere he shouldn’t be, eavesdropped when Adnan was on the phone
- didn’t punish Adnan, was being reminded of his responsibilties
Homecoming Dance of Senior Year
- Adnan’s parents got word that he was taking Hae to homecoming, parents showed up at dance and chastised him
- prosecutors argued that this scene came to haunt Adnan until the day he killed Hae
  - Adnan saw pain in his family’s faces when he strangled Hae
- Adnan’s best friend says Adnan was “dying laughing” over the events at the dance
Adnan’s cell phone as evidence
- he bought it 2 days before Hae disappeared
- state showed it was part of his plan, that he needed it for the murder
- Adnan said he needed phone for calling girls; said he had earned it with his job
Adnan as an EMT as evidence
- state said Adnan would have known how to strangle someone and revive them if needed
- Adnan said he liked his job, loved working with older people
Adnan wrote dark, sad poetry- teacher said all students wrote this way
Hae was very angry after homecoming dance, says she doesn’t want to be with Adnan as the scene was unbearable but expected with Adnan’s parents
Hae has crush on Don (20 years old) who she worked with at Lens Crafters
- feels guilt and confusion over what to do
New Year’s Day: Hae has first official date with Don and they start going out
Whole premise of state’s case against Adnan was that he felt betrayed and humiliated and angry, and then killed her
Jay- says Hae broke Adnan’s heart, that he couldn’t believe that she could be that heartless, says he was going to kill her
Adnan’s friends and teachers say Adnan was initially devastated and jealous, but wasn’t rage-filled or vindictive; Adnan’s friend says he was dating other girls
- Adnan made out with other friends, considered a “player” by his close friends
Adnan says he never pestered Hae after the breakup, he knew that what Hae was saying made sense, still remained friends
- says breakup was mutual, both were sad, no one said Adnan was acting obsessed
Koenig (narrator) doesn’t buy motive for the murder as state explains it
- not one person said Adnan was acting strangely after the breakup
- Hae and Adnan still remained friends, interested in other girls, was getting into college
night before Hae disappeared, Adnan called her 3 times
- 3rd call lasted 1 min, 24 secs to give her his new phone number
last entry of Hae’s diary: states how much she loves Don, how they’re soulmates
state said that Adnan fabricated a reason to get into Hae’s car the afternoon she disappeared
- Jay says Adnan told him that he was going to tell Hae his car was broken down and that he needed a ride, would kill her in her car
- Adnan said he didn’t need a ride, wouldn’t have asked as he knew Hae had to pick up a kindergartner after school
- few friends said Adnan did ask Hae for a ride
- Adnan told the cops that he was supposed to get a ride home from Hae but he got detained at school and Hae left
- Adnan reverses himself by telling another detective that he didn’t ask Hae for a ride as he has his own car
  - Koenig states she isn’t a detective, but that this is a red flag

Episode 3- Leakin Park

Notes

Baltimore detectives Ritz and MacGilliary didn’t want to be interviewd for Serial, didn’t see the point as the case was adjudicated; believe that Adnan certainly committed the crime
Hae disappeared January 13th, investigation starts off slowly
- police call around from her friends, areas where she was last seen and hospitals,
- keep going back to Don and Adnan
- Don had alibi- working at Lens Crafters
- Adnan doesn’t have clear alibi- track coach can’t remember if Adnan was present for practice, no attendance
new suspect-Mr. S
- man who found Hae’s body
- works at maintenance department at local school
- discovered body in Leakin Park
  - over 1,000 acres, has reputation for dead bodies
  - 68 dead bodies found there since 1946, but this number is low as page is missing 7 years of statistics
  - friends of Adnan believe the park is no where near the school, about an hour into the city; in reality, the park is only about a 7 minute drive from Woodlawn High School
  - Adnan says he had never heard about Linkin Park, no reason for him to go there
- told cops that he gotten work order to shave down a door, so he went home to get tool from basement, went into woods to urinate so no one can see him after drinking Budweiser
  - 127 feet back into woods is where he goes to urinate
  - looks down and sees hair covered in dirt, was an open area and fallen tree that captured his attention, says he didn’t go to the area for any particular reason
Peculiar Parts of Mr. S’s story
- 127 feet back into woods there was a fallen tree parallel to the tree
  - says he stopped at log to pee, but says he was going to go farther back
- the path he takes to the woods doesn’t lead to log; many other choices to go
  - “stumbled” across body or knew it was already there?
- Hae’s body in the woods was almost impossible to spot, very well covered
- had urgent need to go to bathroom, but never actually pees in the wood; walked so far into the woods when he just needed a quick pee; looking down at ground
Philip Budehiemer- city surveyor
- log 40 feet long, walked along edge of log expecting to see a body but there wasn’t any
- someone had to point him to the sight where the body was, couldn’t see the body at all as it “blended in with the natural surroundings on the ground”
127 feet back doesn’t seem to far to Koenig as there isn’t much privacy; can still see cars from this point in the woods
liquor bottle and rope found near Hae’s body by police
- detectives Ritz and MacGillivary bluff by saying to Mr. S that they will test the DNA on the liquor bottle found at crime scene
- Mr. S says he may have thrown a bottle out, says he throws lots of bottles outside windows
- liquor bottle found near body was Brandy, which Mr. S never says he drank or threw out
Mr. S
- is a streaker
- indecent exposure charges, arrested for running around naked multiple times
- Dec 1998- cop named Margaret says Mr. S was naked and shaking around up and down in front of her car
- Mr. S files own report saying someone has taken his keys, work clothes, but Officer Margaret has them
- no evidence Hae was sexually assaulted, but strange behavior from Mr. S
- fails polygraph test- deception included
  - do-over a week later: no deception indicated and he passes
Koenig’s thoughts
- wondered if Mr. S heard something about the crime and where Hae was buried
- wanted to go find the girl and tell the cops, didn’t want to say he’s heard about it before as to not get anyone in trouble
- possibly Mr. S is telling truth- why seek out a dead girl with history of run-ins with the police?

Reflection

After listening to both episodes 2 and 3 of Serial, I found it particularly fascinating how the narrator Koenig goes into great depth about specific pieces of evidence that were used in the trial to paint Adnan as guilty of killing Hae. Through her employment of audio aid with interviews of detectives, friends and family of both Adnan and Hae, as well as recordings from those involved in the trial, Koenig allows the audience to feel particularly attached to this case, as if they were uncovering new evidence within the case beside her. I also enjoy how unbiased Koenig seems to be with the case; she doesn’t tend to choose sides or advocate for the guilt or innocence of Adnan, she simply lays out the evidence as it’s presented or understood and adds helpful context so podcast listeners can better understanding of why certain evidence was presented. By coming off as an impartial host and refraining from taking either the side of the state or of the defense, Koenig elevates her reputabiltiy with the audience and therefore becomes more trustworthy, allowing the audience to side with her and want to listen in to future episodes.

Upon reviewing the pieces of evidence used against Adnan in his trial, I find myself heavily disagreeing with the image that the state prosecutors try to paint of Adnan when Hae had broken up with him. Time and time again, Koening emphasizes that the state repeatedly stated that Adnan committed the crime out of hate and jealousy; since Adnan had gone against the values of his family and religion for a girl, and this girl ends up breaking up with him and dating another man (an older one, I might add), Adnan chose to kill Hae out of spite and vengeance. I tend to side with Koenig, who states that she doesn’t buy the motive for the murder as the state explains it. Adnan states himself that he wasn’t overly religious; he was often doing the typical rebellious things that teenagers do: have intimate relationships, smoke weed, and go against the advice of his parents. Furthermore, I highly doubt that Adnan was overly depressed and maddened over his breakup with Hae, because he was seeing so many girls afterwards. The facts don’t add up with the state’s portrayal of Adnan, and I found it comical at times the lengths the state would go to smear Adnan’s reputation and cast him as the villain; using his position as an EMT against him and implying that he had the knowledge to strangle an individual due to his training made me question the state’s motives and ethics.

While I thoroughly enjoyed and was entertained by both episodes, I believe that a few more sources of evidence could have been included to gain a better picture of the story and to better the podcast overall. Hae’s diary, for example, is one of the biggest pieces of evidence in this case as there are no reputable or truly credible eye witness testimonies. While a few of her entries were mentioned throughout the podcast, I feel as if diving more in depth to the diary would have been helpful for getting a better picture of the type of person that Hae was and how her relationship with Adnan was progressing. Specifically, reading journal entries after the breakup would have been helpful into gaining insight on how she thought Adnan was behaving and how amiable they were towards each other after this breakup that “devastated” Adnan. I would have also liked to have had Koenig investigated the finding of Hae’s body in Leakin Park more closely and deeply. I find it very suspicious how Mr. S just so happened to find the exact spot that Hae was buried in such a large recreational area after having to urinate very badly; it seems almost too good to be true. Koenig does a great job highlighting Mr. S’s past run-ins with the law and his unusual behavior, which raises concerns about his statements and the validity or trustworthiness of his story. This unusual covering of Hae’s dead body was the most fascinating aspect of both episodes to me, and I wish it had been investigated further. Nevertheless, this podcast series gets more captivating and compelling every episode, and I find myself on the edge of my seat and constantly wanting more.

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