Article on The Murder of Hae Min Lee

ANALYTICAL READING AND WRITING 1
Analytical Reading and Writing
Student’s Name
Course Name
Professor’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
City and State
Date

ANALYTICAL READING AND WRITING 2
The Murder of Hae Min Lee
The incident in which Hae Min Lee was murdered is very intriguing since it is full of
gaps as well as facts that do not match. For the investigators along with the observer, the case is
very difficult due to the number of evidence present o support any given claim. The main idea is
that Hae Min Lee, a 17-year-old girl, was killed on January 13, 1999 (McHugh 2016, p.1). She
was barred at the Leaking Park forest. The jury quickly found Adnan Syed guilty of murdering
his ex-girlfriend. However, in Serial, a podcasted in which Sarah Koenig is the main narrator, the
investigative podcast focused on the case with the aim of unraveling the truth of all events which
resulted to the death of miss Hae (Ora 2018, p.107). The facts that were brought out led to many
arguments with the major side believing that Adnan was indeed guilty.
After listening to Serial podcast, I have changed my point of view on the case on multiple
occasions. The testimonies of all that knew Adnan in the original episode, as well as the way the
evidence was presented by Koenig, made me well convinced that truly Adnan was wrongfully
convicted (Valdez 2017, p.102). An innocent man had been sent to jail, but the last episode of
the podcast changed my mind from innocent to guilty. In this episode, Koenig doubted the
innocence of the boyfriend in the course of her narration.
Adnan had maintained in the first episode all through to the rest of the episodes that he
had an amicable relationship and breakup with Hae. This was a claim that was supported by
everyone. However, the victim’s diary narrative a different ordeal. From the diary entries, it was
clear that Adnan did not take the break up so well hence his behavior threatened her with a single
entry in the diary indicating that the victim went to the extent of asking the teachers to keep Syed
away from her (Ora 2018, p.108). It was a clear indication that the behavior was quite unusual
for anyone claiming to have moved on.

ANALYTICAL READING AND WRITING 3
More evidence in the form of handwritten breakup letter from Hae to Adnan was present.
The letters were sent two months before her murder. The content was like most of the breakup
notes, but the essential aspect of the letter was that the Adnan had scribbled a kill you note on top
(Ora 2018, p.108). A clear indication of the level of contempt that Adnan had towards his ex-
girlfriend. The anger was strange for a teenager who was claiming that he was not upset for the
breakup. The aggressive tone that Syed portrayed was contrasting to the person presented in the
earlier episodes (McHugh 2016, p.1). The phrase “I am going to kill” is a clear suggestion that
the action will happen based on verb usage (Tinker 2018, p.95). It is substantiated by the fact that
Hae died two months later. The breakup notes and the diary entries are physical piece of
evidence which cast enough suspicion on Adnan as the perpetrator of the murder.
The other piece of evidence was the testimony given by Jay. Jay new Adnan very well
since he was his best friend for a long time. During interrogation by police, Jay was reluctant to
give information but gave in after pressure on him from the law enforcers. It was not long before,
and Jay had verbal diarrhea of information of detailed quality (Lawrence 2017, p.47). From the
podcast, Jay was painted as a liar since he was initially reluctant to give information and
immediately managed to narrate the whole story. I must admit that I thought Jay was
manipulated by the police since they based the case from his testimony immediately. Jay started
talking. But unless Jay rehearsed everything the lie could have been very difficult to tell. It is not
easy for a teenager to develop such an elaborate as well as a detailed scheme. But one could
wonder, why would Jay frame his best friend by fabricating a story? Nonetheless, the reluctance
on providing information can be attributed to the fact that Jay feared to be labeled an accomplice.
He only told the truth after realizing that telling the truth will set him free.