Analytical Reading and Writing: Examining the Murder of Hae Min Lee

This essay provides an analytical reading of the Hae Min Lee murder case, focusing on the evidence presented in the Serial podcast. The essay delves into the complexities of the case, including the testimonies of key individuals like Jay and Adnan, the significance of the 'Nisha call,' and the impact of the victim's diary entries and breakup letters. The author explores how their perspective on Adnan Syed's guilt shifted throughout the podcast, initially leaning towards his innocence but ultimately concluding that the evidence pointed towards his guilt. The essay also discusses the challenges in interpreting evidence and the podcast's role in presenting information in a way that allows listeners to draw their own conclusions. The author highlights specific pieces of evidence, such as the timing of the call to Nisha, and the reluctance of Jay to provide information, which led to the ultimate conclusion of Syed's guilt. The essay emphasizes the importance of considering all available evidence in evaluating the claims and arguments made throughout the podcast.

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.

ANALYTICAL READING AND WRITING 4
It was baffling that Syed could not remember the day Hae went missing. It could be
common sense that the previous relationship with Hae the details of that day could be clear to
him (Rhetoric 2017, p. 54). It is quite common for people to forget uneventful details; however,
this is not the case for the significant event such as the missing of a dear one. The disappearance
of a girl that Syed claimed to have loved is with no doubt a significant even whose details could
not be forgotten (Gilbert 2019). It is a convenience of the lack of memory and concern that
cemented my doubt over his innocence.
In the investigation, the “Nisha Call” was a crucial factor. In the references call logs of
the “Nisha Call” it was indicated that a person called a girl using Adnan’s phone just an hour
after the murder of Hae (Chaudry 2015, p.363). Adnan claims that his phone was in Jay’s car at
the time the call was made. However, the call had lasted two minutes with Adnan claiming that
Jay might have called Nisha while in the car. From the narrator’s point of view, the Nisha call
was the focal point of the entire investigation where Adnan claims that his best friend was using
his phone while he was in school. The pocket dial explanation might be a possibility, but based
on my point of view, it is just a mere excuse (Koenig and Foucault 2017, p.87). It was clearly
counterintuitive that Adnan’s friend could take his phone for any given reason. The most likely
case is that Adnan dialed Nisha’s phone and is covering up things.
In conclusion, the Serial podcast has skillfully presented enough evidence which refuted
or supported the Syed’s innocence claims. Even though there was proof convincing enough to
support both sides, I do feel that the evidence and argument proving his guilt were stronger and
were in line with my belief by the end of the podcast. Even though this might be the opposite of
the narrator’s intention, at the end of it all, the podcast focused mainly on the entertainment of

ANALYTICAL READING AND WRITING 5
the audience with the presentation of information that was neither subjective nor objective hence
allowing the listeners to come up with their own conclusions.

ANALYTICAL READING AND WRITING 6
References
Chaudry, R., 2015. Undiscovered: Five Legal Lessons from the Case of Adnan Syed. Tex. Tech
L. Rev., 48, p.363.
Gilbert, S., 2019. 'The Case Against Adnan Syed' Challenges the True-Crime Playbook. The
Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/03/case-against-
adnan-syed-review/584149/ [Accessed September 27, 2019].
Koenig, S., and Foucault, L., 2017. 6 The Impossible Ethics of Serial. The Serial Podcast and
Storytelling in the Digital Age, p.87.
Lawrence, S.A., 2017. Lawrence and Labissiere. The English Record, p.47.
McHugh, S.A., 2016. Video didn't kill the radio star she's hosting a podcast, p.1.
Ora, R., 2018. Invisible Evidence: Serial and the New Unknowability of Documentary.
In Podcasting (pp. 107-122). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Rhetoric, R., 2017. 4 The Serial Commodity. The Serial Podcast and Storytelling in the Digital
Age, p.54.
Tinker, R., 2018. Guilty Pleasure: A Case Study of True Crime’s Resurgence in a Binge
Consumption Era. ELON JOURNAL, p.95.
Valdez, C., 2017. Serial’s Aspirational Aesthetics and Racial Erasure. In the Serial Podcast and
Storytelling in the Digital Age (pp. 101-113). Routledge.