The murder of Baltimore high school student Hae Min Lee in 1999, and the question of her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed’s guilt, has captivated the world since the phenomenally successful podcast Serial popularised the case in 2014.
Now, armchair detectives will have more to consider as director Amy J. Berg’s (West of Memphis) four-part docuseries , available to watch now at SBS On Demand, reveals tantalising new evidence.
We won’t spoil it for you, but here’s a teaser of what you can expect to find in The Case Against Adnan Syed.
The DNA
A police report from the burial site itemising evidence. Source: SBS
In July last year, prosecutors submitted items from the crime scene for testing and the documentary reveals not only what they were but also some surprising results. There were 12 items tested including Lee’s fingernail clippings, necklaces and shirt, blood samples, a condom wrapper, a liquor bottle, and rope found close to her body buried at Baltimore’s Leakin Park.
The fingernail clippings and the rope particularly raise some intriguing questions over the case.
The body
Hae and Adnan in happier times, photographed at their high school prom in 1998. Source: SBS
Her analysis raises an alternate theory that paints the circumstances surrounding Lee’s death and burial, as presented by the prosecution, in a glaringly different light.
Key to her findings are some unusual markings on Lee’s body, and the process of lividity, “the settling of the blood after you die,” according to Gorniak. Lividity can determine the position of a body at death.
The car
Grass has never been so interesting. Source: SBS
But was the car really there that long? Maroney and Brindle-Khym enlist Dr. Erik Ervin, turf physiologist at the University of Delaware, to carry out grass simulations to test Wilds’ story. Turns out, watching grass grow is actually very interesting, and revealing.
And fingerprints taken from the rear-view mirror of Lee’s car could determine if someone other than Syed and Wilds moved the vehicle.
The key witnesses
Witness Kristi Vinson is floored by evidence presented to her by the filmmakers. Source: SBS
And in some stunning sequences, the filmmakers present key prosecution witnesses Kristi Vinson and Jennifer Pusateri, who corroborated Wilds’ testimony, with a piece of evidence that has them doubting their memory of events.
Interview: Director Amy Berg, on finding new witnesses, and on her conversation with Jay Wilds
The other suspects
Lee’s boyfriend when she died, Don Clinedinst, is explored as a suspect. Source: SBS
Is there more to the involvement of Alonzo Sellers, who found Lee’s body, than meets the eye?
And why weren’t the movements of Lee’s boyfriend at the time, Don Clinedinst, more closely scrutinised? The private investigators explore a theory of deception, and speak with a former colleague who makes an alarming allegation about Clinedinst’s state at the time of the disappearance.
More questions are raised in The Case Against Adnan Syed, but the fresh evidence could be bringing us that much closer to the truth.
All episodes of The Case Against Adnan Syed are available to stream at SBS On Demand. Watch episode 1 of 4 here:
