What happened to Hae Min Lee?
THE HORRIFIC 1999 murder mystery of 18-year-old Hae Min Lee re-surfaced when the now-infamous podcast Serial cast doubt on the conviction of Lee's ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed.
Adnan Syed was of his deceased ex-girlfriend's murder in 2000, yet he still maintains his innocence, and on September 19, 2022, , pending that could come to light in Hae Min Lee's case, which is officially being re-opened for investigation.
What happened to Hae Min Lee?
Hae Min Lee was an honors student who was a member of the magnet program at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland.
She was a student athlete who played lacrosse and field hockey.
Her family reported her missing on January 13, 1999, after she failed to show up to pick up her little cousin from school.
She was found buried in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park nearly a month later, on February 9, 1999.
After a few other leads failed to pan out, Lee's ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed was jailed for the murder and was given plus 30 years.
Syed was convicted of on February 25, 2000, and was also found guilty of robbery, kidnapping, and false imprisonment.
Syed has always maintained his innocence of the first-degree murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and robbery of which he was convicted in 2000.
Fresh evidence uncovered by smash-hit series podcast Serial led to an eventual retrial, and now a new four-part TV documentary released even more “ground-breaking revelations that challenge the state’s case.”
The conviction of teenager Adnan Syed for the murder of Hae Min Lee, 18, became an international obsession when it was the subject of the 12-part audio series in late 2014.
What is the Serial podcast about?
Syed's story was publicized in the first season of Sarah Koenig's 2014 podcast, Serial.
Koening, a US journalist from New York, who investigated the murder case in her popular podcast, created doubt over his conviction.
She revealed weaknesses in the evidence used to convict him and raised questions about his defense lawyer, Maria Gutierrez, who was suffering from multiple sclerosis at the time.
According to iTunes, Serial won a Peabody Award in April 2015 and was the fastest podcast in history to receive five million downloads.
What happened after Serial?
In February 2016, Syed was granted a post-conviction hearing in which, as officials argued, his defense lawyer failed to represent him effectively.
Four months later, retired Judge Martin Welch, who previously denied Syed's request for a retrial, vacated his conviction and ord
ered a new trial.
Syed's lawyer was criticized for not calling a key witness Asia McClain Chapman, to give evidence during his initial murder trial.
In March 2018, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the second-highest court in Maryland, granted Syed's request for a new trial.
The Court's opinion said that Syed's attorney failed to contact a potential alibi witness, his friend Asia McClain, who said she'd seen Adnan after school the day Lee disappeared, at the library.
The state Attorney General argued that her testimony wouldn't have changed the outcome of the case.
Prosecutors next turned to the Maryland Supreme Court, which reversed the lower court's ruling.
The US Supreme Court then denied him a new trial on November 29, 2019.
In March 2022, Syed's defense att
orney Erica Suter filed a motion requesting that the court order new DNA testing on items that included Lee's rape kit, clothing, and shoes.
Finally, on September 19, 2022, Syed's conviction was vacated by Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn.
This came after prosecutors claimed that new evidence had been uncovered which undemined Syed's conviction.
He was freed from prison the same day, and the investigation into Hae Min Lee was officially re-opened.