And I said, Hey, I need to run to the mall cause I need to get a gift for Stephanie., He said then, No, I gotta go do something. At that age, it's intense and he never called Jay a liar, even in Serial. From the way he carried himself, at least, it looked like he had never lost anything before. Its in the evening after school, we never hung out in the morning. Be the first one to comment on this story. Shes a high school girl, Oh, hes cute, Oh, whateverthings fizzleout. He recalls a tense meeting with Koenig, who was attempting to persuade him into participating in the podcast, and remembers Koenig telling him that there were new developments in the case. As for Lees family, all they knew was that she didnt show up to pick up her cousin, which is when they reported her missing. When the Serial podcast premiered in October of 2014, many listeners were shocked to find that almost the entirety of the prosecutions case to convict Adnan Syed for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee hinged on the testimony of one witnessJay Wilds. In the phone conversation, he contradicted past statements by suggesting he tried to return Adnans car at school, but couldnt find him and left. Syed's release on September 19, 2022, was attributed to various factors, including the prosecution losing faith in Wilds' testimony. Meanwhile,Maryland's highest court denied a new trialfor Syed earlier this month, according to The Associated Press. McClain in 1999 at the time of the murder was Syed's classmate at Woodlawn High School. They also highlighted the inconsistent statements of his co-defendant, Jay Wilds, who testified against him. They were granted Syeds cell phone call records and then looked at two recipients of calls from Syeds phone: Jennifer Pusateri and Wilds. Hae was dead before she got to my house. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Last seen driving away from the high school in her gray Nissan on January 13, 1999, the 18-year-old Lee was found dead in Baltimore's Leakin Park about a month later. Phinn's decision came after prosecutors told the court they lost faith in Syed's conviction in light of new evidence and violations in the governments turning over evidence. how old was jay wilds in 1999 In a sudden twist, the Maryland Court of Appeals votes 4 to 3 to reverse the decision, denying a new trial saying, There is not a significant or substantial possibility that the verdict would have been different, the Associated Press reported. The judge gave prosecutors 30 days to proceed with a new trial or drop the case. And hes like, Ive gotta put her car somewhere. So I follow him around for a few minutes, and he just picks a place at random behind some row houses, leaves her car, gets into his car, takes me home. He had a professional job in high school, he was aparamedic or something [Ed. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Now, after years of controversy, a Baltimore court has overturned Syed's conviction after a judge ruled that the legal proceedings were violated during the initial trial. Jay told the filmmakers that Adnan showed up at his house and thats where he saw Haes body, not Best Buy as he had previously stated. Four weeks later, her half-buried body was found at Leakin. Everything We Know About Jay Wilds from Serial, Every Song From the Daisy Jones' Soundtrack, police may have already been looking at him as an accomplice, an adult who sold marijuana to high school kids, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Wilds has played an interesting role in this case. And then in his Intercept interview, Wilds said the body was actually in front of his grandmas house, but he told police it was at the Best Buy, because he didnt want to involve his grandma. Im going to be late for practice, so just drop me off. Mr. Syed, 41, had been serving a life sentence after he was convicted in the 1999 murder of his high school classmate Hae Min Lee. I told [Adnan] that I wouldnt touch her car, or any of her possessions, and I say, Fuck it. Just after his arrest, McClain writes a letter to Syed and details talking to him in the library on January 13, Serial reported. I remember the highway traffic to my right, and I remember standing there on the curb. We got in his car and start driving. Supposed evidence of this relates to how the reward money was paid out. We dont have ads, so we depend on our members 35,000 and counting to help us hold the powerful to account. According to the Undisclosed podcast, Lee goes on her first date with her LensCrafter co-worker Don Clinedinst, who happens to be the son of the store manager. I know that he came from a very strict religious background and that he was uneasy with some of the things he was doing. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. But this account somewhat differsfrom Jays second police interview, as well as his court testimony. The trial begins the second week of December and quickly ends as a mistrial, the court appeals papers say. The podcast alleged that there were inconsistencies between his police statements and the testimony he gave at Syed's second trial. She never showed up to either. Once the police made it clear that my drug dealing wasnt gonna affect the outcome of what was going on, I became a little bit more transparent. The police arrested and charged Lee's ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed with the murder six weeks later. Adnan Syed, 41, was released from prison earlier this month after revelations proved that key information which could have proved his innocence was withheld from his defense counsel back then. After the party, Adnan drove Jay home and then dropped Stephanie home afterwards. There is a separate page withdetails of Jays own court case for the murder of Hae Min Lee. Additionally, two other potential suspects with questionable backgrounds have surfaced. She got a new boyfriend? And he didnt know how to deal with that. Family friend and attorney Rabia Chaudry asks McClain to write an affidavit after Syed is convicted, Serial reported. Matt Tinoco provided research for this interview. than she was letting on. I had cops show up and harass me before at my house. I've known Adnan for many years, and I have. When the Serial podcast premiered in October of 2014, many listeners were shocked to find that almost the entirety of the prosecutions case to convict Adnan Syed for the . Because Pusateris testimony corroborated Wilds (and also changed over time), many listeners came to believe that Pusateri also knew more (or less?) We are deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court, but by no means is this the end of Adnan Syed, attorney C. Justin Brown told AP at the time. Before you would just go down there for drafting, shop, and everyone would co-mingle, and all the students interacted. Jay Wilds was the star witness in the trial of Adnan Syed - the 18-year-old who was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999. Even though he and Syed were allegedlyjust acquaintances, Wilds police interviews and witness testimony would ultimately be key to convicting Syed despite his storys inconsistencies and contradictions. Photo: Natasha Vargas-Cooper for The Intercept, Natasha Vargas-Cooper[emailprotected]theintercept.org@natashavc. Classmates last saw her leaving school around 2:15 p.m. February 9, 1999: Lee's body is found in Leakin Park. "Jay told the story that convicted Adnan.. And thats not necessarily mebut that is my family, that is my uncles and cousins. It all revolves around Jay," lawyer and Syed family friend, Wilds, who gave police multipleinterviews and testified in court, was first questioned on Feb. 28, 1999, just hours before police arrested Syed on suspicion of Lees murder. They didnt have to go by us, except to come to lunch, and that was it. The Lord knows I didnt kill her, The Baltimore Sun reported. And they were getting sentenced to three and five years. February 9, 1999 : Lee's body is found. The short version: On January 13th, 1999, Lee was supposed to pick up her younger cousin from daycare at 3:15 p.m. She never showed, which immediately set off alarm bells among those who knew her. From your perspective, what was Adnans reputation at Woodlawn? The following two series stepped away from the whodunnit intensity of the first, and went on to examine an American army deserter and the court system in Ohio. On January 13th of 1999, a 17 year old Korean girl by the name of Hae Min Lee when missing after school in Baltimore, Maryland. March 9, 2019 7:21 PM. When Adnan loaned you his car onJan. 13, 1999, did he tell you it was because he planned on murdering Hae? What happened before that, I dont know.. However he ended up doing itwhether it was premeditated, an involuntary reaction at that point in timehe just couldnt come to grips with being a loser and failing. I was a bit of an outdoorsman, adventure seeker, fishing, camping, learned to ride a motorcycle. According to Wilds, he and Syed were not incredibly close at school. I didnt resent the students, I resented the school for setting it up like that. Police take evidence from the scene and interview several people in an attempt to find the killer. Hae Min Lee's body was found buried in a shallow grave in Maryland in February 1999. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. A second court proceedings begin, the papers say. As long as I live, my daughter is buried in my heart. The paper says she almost collapsed as she stepped off the witness stand and that her sobs from outside the courtroom could still be heard inside. Though Wilds didnt participate in Serial, he did conduct a .css-16acfp5{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.125rem;text-decoration-color:#d2232e;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-16acfp5:hover{color:#000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;background-color:yellow;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}three-part interview with The Intercepts Natasha Vargas-Cooper, and attorney Rabia Chaudry (also Syeds childhood friend) launched the Undisclosed podcast, both of which add layers to the mystery enshrouding Wilds testimony. Based on Syeds indictment date, the CrimeStoppers reward should have been paid in June, but it was not paid until November. READ MORE ON CRIME Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. And I looked real good again, and thats when I seen what looked like a foot. He later becomes a suspect because he walked 127 feet to find a place to use the restroom. March 1, 1999: McClain writes Syed a letter. I think and, look, its been 15 years about 6 p.m. Lees mother, Youn Wha Kim, says she moved to America from Korea to give her kids a better life. Thats led to some wild and totally unproven ideas on reddit, notably that Adnan hired Jay as a kind of hitman. Apparently, Wilds had been inquiring about the sale price of a teachers motorcycle, which Kelly Blue Book puts at $3,000. I was not sure. Jay is the center of gravity in this case. Three days later, Baltimore Police . In July 2014, a cold case in Baltimore County was solved when new DNA evidence was tested. The five-day hearing includes witness testimonies from McClain, as well as a cell phone expert, Harpers Bazaar reported. I only smoked with him two or three times. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. For his testimony, Wilds was given probation instead of a jail sentence for his said involvement in the crime. The motion to set aside Adnan's conviction stated prosecutors no longer trusted Jay Wilds's wildly inconsistent testimony. When did he first talk to you about hurting her? Yes. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Justice Martin Welch vacates the original conviction, saying there should be a new trial. The podcast attracted global attention, and had gained more than 100 million downloads by June 2016. His evidence was crucial to the state's case. But when they put the magnet wing in, it was kinda like these people were different from us. And they didnt have to interact with us anymore. Wilds' first taped interview with police occurred on February 28, 1999. There were some big forces going on that didnt have anything to do with Hae. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. One big theory being floated around is that Wilds was the anonymous tipster who called Detective Massey and told police to focus on the ex-boyfriend. Once the police made it clear that my drug dealing wasn't gonna affect the outcome of what was going on, I became a little bit more transparent.". Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? And soon after that, Syed was charged with her murder. It all revolves around Jay," lawyer and Syed family friend Rabia Chaudry says in episode two ofThe Case Against Adnan Syed." Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. In one police interview, Wilds said he saw the body, it was in a car in the parking lot of a Best Buy. Wilds alleged that Syed had told him he had murdered Lee. Thus, this article dives further into the details. But she seemed to be more mature, like she was two, three, four years older than us. I guess I was being kind of a jury on whether or not people needed to be involved or whatever, but these people didnt have anything to do with it, and I knew they didnt have anything to do with it. The case was covered in-depth in the first season of the podcast by host Sarah Koenig. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Idaho Murders: What Led Police to Bryan Kohberger. Number of episodes: 25+ (ongoing). Many questions remain about Wilds true role in the case, but theres no shortage of theories. Maintenance worker Alonzo Sellers, known as Mr. The Serial podcast threw some question marks over Wilds' version of events.. As the state's star witness, Jay. I met him while I was still at Woodlawn, so around 1998. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. It wasnt until they made it clear they werent interested in my procurement of pot that I began to open up any. You follow me some of the way, and then Ill take care of it.. She never showed up, and was never seen alive again.. There was enough doubt for me to want to give this a real close look. I saw her body later, in front ofof my grandmothers house where I was living. The teacher, Mr. Brown, didnt know either Syed or Lee, raising eyebrows at his participation in the investigation. Its just on the street. Though Wilds testimony seemed to have been trusted implicitly by Syeds jury, the Serial podcast shining a light on the key details of Wilds claims led many listeners to believe Wilds was not exactly truthful and that even the slightest bit of questioning could have unraveled his story. October 11, 2022: Prosecutors drop charges against Syed. This is a moot point now, as Syed was granted a new trial in 2018. Investigators at the time determined that she died by . The Woodlawn man has maintained his innocence and the HBO series "The Case Against Adnan Syed" concluded. Their accounts depart when Wilds says Syed showed him the body in the trunk of the car, and then Syed enlisted Wilds to bury Lee. Lee's body was discovered in Leakin park; three weeks later in a shallow grave. Syed went on trial in February 2000 and was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend Hae Min Lee. Syed's classmate Jay Wilds, who said at trial that he helped Syed bury Lee's body, became the central figure in the national conversation over Syed's guilt. Theyre gonna pin me to the fucking wall. Cathy has people over when we get there. Wilds looms large in Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyders reporting about the trial. The way Wilds tells it, Syed pressured him to help dispose of Lees body. Well, according to Chaudra, Wilds attorney told her that the prosecutors threatened him by promising to prosecute him in a predominantly white county, and Wilds, who is black, was frightened enough to do what he was told. Adnan Syed leaves the courthouse after Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, overturned his first-degree murder conviction in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee. Syed was actually convicted in February 2000. The thing is that the story Jay told at trial is not the same story Jay told police the first time.". She was still in the trunk. So I said, Look man, Im not touching [Hae]. November 25, 2019: The Supreme Court rejects bid for a new trial, Without comment, the Supreme Court decided not to open a new trial. I dont necessarily know if he meant to kill Hae before he did it or if it was a sudden moment thing, but looking at his life, from what I saw, he seemed to be far out of his realm when it came to Hae leaving him. Going to work on February 9, 1999, a school maintenance worker stops at Leakin Park to urinate and finds Hae's body. She just seemed like an older chick who happened to be in high school. I saw the ATF and DEA take down guys in my neighborhood for selling much less than I was at the time. She dated Adnan in. And detective notes capped Browns interview with the word REWARD, written in all caps. Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that Adnan Syed went to trial in December 2000. On January 13, 1999, Korean-American high school student Hae Min Lee, 18, was reported missing by her family after failing to come home. Never really a big group of friends. When was the first time you hung out with Adnan? Wilds, who gave police multiple interviews and testified in court, was first questioned on Feb. 28, 1999, just hours before police arrested Syed on suspicion of Lee's murder. I know it didnt happen anywhere other than my grandmothers house. Wilds also makes clear in the interview that Baltimore isnt the place where one who ran afoul with the law wanted to get hooked by the cops or work with them both options were not good. The Intercept is an independent nonprofit news outlet. To better understand this, we need to look back at Feb. 12 . They did not have his permission to record, so we do not hear his voice. Syed has maintained his innocence during his decades in prison, yet a 2019 attempt to hear an appeal for a new trial was turned down by the Supreme Court. "This was true in 1999 when he was a 17-year-old child. Syed, whose life sentence was recently overturned by a Baltimore Circuit Judge, has been released from prison after serving nearly 23 years of jail time. Yeah. People had lives and were trying to get into college and stuff like that. Jay firmly believes that he was wrongfully represented on the podcast. Instead, his words were shown on a screencap: Jay maintained to the filmmakers that on the day of the murder, he borrowed Adnans car to buy his girlfriend a birthday present. What happened on this particular day depends on who you talk to. Jays testimony was critical to the states case; indeed,without his testimony its virtually impossible that the state could have even brought Syed to trial. COMING NEXT: PART 2, Jays theory on the anonymous caller, why he agreed to testify in the states case against Adnan, and how Serial showed up at his front door. Jay Wilds, who claimed he helped . who has spent the past 15 years in jail for the murder of 17-year-old Hae Min Lee, . In support of their request, prosecutors cited two "alternative suspects" who were known at the time of the investigation and expert. We drive over toCathys house to smoke. Much of the attention came after the case became the subject of the This American Life podcast Serial in 2014. Wilds, who gave police multipleinterviews and testified in court, was first questioned on Feb. 28, 1999, just hours before police arrested Syed on suspicion of Lees murder. I think that was his first real girlfriend, and I think thats why his reaction was so strong. You cant start drawing conclusions like that. In another interview, he said the body was on Edmondson Avenue, while a detective testified in court that Wilds told him the body was on Franklintown Road. Yes we dig for about 40 minutes and we dig and dig, and hes digging less and less. McClain has fought for Syed's innocence since the case had originally opened. They had to chase me around before they could corner me to talk to me, and there came a point where I was just sick of talking to them. Koenig noted then that despite there being no physical evidence linking Syed to Haes murder, Wilds police interviews provided the groundwork for a conviction. Yes. Getting them in trouble for anything that they knew or that I had told them I couldnt have that. Launch Gallery. Other contributing causes included the emergence of new suspects in the case. On Monday, a Maryland judge overturned Adnan Syed 's first-degree murder conviction for the 1999 death of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. Also Jay had no motive. She had been strangled. The popular podcast detailed an investigation into the 15-year-old murder of . Lets back up, tell me what happened when you arrived at the Best Buy to pick up Adnan. Ok, so you arrive at Cathys with Adnan after he tells you he murdered Hae? This week, in an interview with The Intercept , Jay Wilds came forward with his account of the January day in 1999 when Hae Min Lee was murdered. Though Wilds stands by his storyat least the one he told The InterceptChaudry and Undisclosed have continued to dig up evidence that wouldnt just exonerate Syed, but also Wilds himself. "That's the best way I can account for the inconsistencies. A star witness in the case against Syed was fellow Woodlawn High School student Jay Wilds, . I don't know what happened, what occurred between them that day," he said of Lee's death. Im not a lawyer and Im not a cop. What the Undisclosed pod offers up for an explanation is that because Wilds himself came under investigation, he could not recover the money. It doesnt seem like enough of a reason to not talk to the police. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! In 1999 18-year-old high school student Hae Min Lee was murdered. Were sitting there smoking and he receives a phone call from the police and gets all panicky. Adnan says, Just help me dig the hole. And Im still thinking, Inner-city black guy, selling pot to high school kids. The cops are going to fry me. Wilds stated that he helped the 17-year-old Syed, who was accused of killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999, bury her body, which was later discovered in Baltimore's Leakin Park. There was a reward of $3,075 from CrimeStoppers for information on the case leading to the indictment. Jays wife and mother entertained the couples young children while Jay and I spoke in the family living room. I stonewalled them that way. of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999. We were in the car together during last periodhe was ditching the last period.

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