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The physical evidence against Adnan Syed was scant - a few underwhelming fingerprints. So aside from cell records, what did the prosecutors bring to the jury, to shore up Jay\'s testimony? Sarah weighs all the other circumstantial evidence they had against Adnan, including curious behavior, a disconcerting note, and an unexplained mid-afternoon phone call.

If you\'re just landing here please go back and start with Episode 1.

A potential alibi surfaces … and then disappears again, at the worst possible time for Adnan’s case.

Friends say Adnan was sad when Hae dumped him, but not crazy sad - normal sad. The prosecutors say he was rage-filled and vengeful. Which is it?

Three weeks after Hae goes missing, a man discovers her body in the middle of a city forest. But his story is strange and his past is even stranger. Did he really just stumble on her by accident?

The detectives get a lead that opens the case up for them. They bring Jay in for questioning and he tells them the story of January 13th. But then, a few weeks later, his story changes.

Adnan once issued a challenge to Sarah: Recreate the state’s timeline of the murder by driving from Woodlawn High School to Best Buy in 21 minutes. It can’t be done, he said. So, we tried.

Sarah weighs all the other circumstantial evidence prosecutors had against Adnan, including curious behavior, a dramatic note, and an unexplained mid-afternoon phone call.

will follow one story - a true story - over the course of a whole season. We\'ll follow the plot and characters wherever they take us and we won’t know what happens at the end of the story until we get there, not long before you get there with us. Each week we\'ll bring you the latest chapter, so it\'s important to listen in order, starting with Episode 1. If you need help knowing how podcasts work and how you get one, watch our tutorial.

In Episode 5, Sarah points out that the prosecutors were clear during the trial that the come-and-get-me call from Best Buy was the one listed at 2:36 on Adnan’s call log. They said this even though no one testified to it. In fact, Jay says the come-and-get-me call didn’t happen until after he left Jenn’s house that day, around 3:45.

Sarah concludes that because there’s no incoming call around 3:45, the prosecution has to choose the 2:36 call.

Some savvy listeners have pointed out that if you look at Adnan’s call log, there’s an incoming call at 3:15. So couldn’t that be the come-and-get-me-I’m-at-Best-Buy call? We thought about this too, but there’s a good reason why it can’t be. (We also thought about explaining all this in Episode 5, but decided we’d probably exhausted everyone’s attention span for the intricacies of cell phone records.)

At trial, Jay testifies to a specific order of events on the afternoon of Jan. 13. He says he spent the bulk of the afternoon hanging out at Jenn’s house. He had just left Jenn’s to see if his friend Jeff was home when Adnan called to say meet me at Best Buy. So Jay drives approximately 8 - 10 minutes to meet Adnan at Best Buy.

He gets to Best Buy, Adnan pops the trunk of Hae’s car and shows Jay Hae’s body, and then they drive to the I-70 Park and Ride, which is another 7-10 minute drive away. They leave Hae’s car at the Park and Ride and start driving towards Patrick’s house, where they’re headed to buy some weed.

At this point in Jay’s testimony, Prosecutor Kevin Urick stops Jay and they have the following exchange:

KU: Okay. Hold on for a second, if you would, please. Look at line 26 on the exhibit again. Do you recognize that number?

Jay: Yes, that’s Jenn Pusateri’s number again.

KU: Please read it. Well, please read her number for the record first.

Jay: I believe so, to ask her if he was on or if he was home, one of the two, meaning if he had marijuana.

Jay: I was calling her, hey is “P” on, do you know if “P” is on again, do you know if he is home?

Jay testifies that he called Jenn at 3:21, after leaving the Park and Ride, to ask Jenn if Patrick is home.

If the come-and-get-me call were at 3:15, that would leave Jay only six minutes to drive to Best Buy, see Hae’s body, drive to the Park and Ride, and then on to Cook’s Lane toward Patrick’s and make the call to Jenn. But it’s impossible to do all that, because at minimum, that drive alone would take 15 minutes. So, Jay’s story is only possible if the come-and-get-me call happens at 2:36. ~ See More

is a podcast where we unfold one nonfiction story, week by week, over the course of a season. We\'ll stay with each story for as long as it takes to get to the bottom of it.

We\'ll release new episodes every Thursday morning. Listeners can subscribe for free to the

podcast on iTunes and other audio platforms, and can also listen here on this site.

, is a production of WBEZ Chicago, which also produces these podcasts. 

On January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, disappeared. A month later, her body turned up in a city park. She\'d been strangled. Her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested for the crime, and within a year, he was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely based on the story of one witness, Adnan’s friend Jay, who testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae\'s body. But Adnan has always maintained he had nothing to do with Hae’s death. Some people believe he’s telling the truth. Many others don’t.

first learned about this case more than a year ago. In the months since, she\'s been sorting through box after box (after box) of legal documents and investigators\' notes, listening to trial testimony and police interrogations, and talking to everyone she can find who remembers what happened between Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee fifteen years ago. What she realized is that the trial covered up a far more complicated story, which neither the jury nor the public got to hear. The high school scene, the shifting statements to police, the prejudices, the sketchy alibis, the scant forensic evidence - all of it leads back to the most basic questions: How can you know a person’s character? How can you tell what they’re capable of? In Season One of

Sarah worked for more than ten years as a producer of

several times, most memorably for the "No Coincidence, No Story" show. She’s produced and reported some of

most popular shows, including "Switched at Birth," "Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde," "Petty Tyrant," and "Habeas Schmabeas," a Peabody Award-winning show about Guantanamo Bay. Before joining

in 2004, Sarah covered criminal justice and was a State House reporter at

with Sarah Koenig. She\'s also the Senior Producer of

which she runs side by side with Ira Glass, setting the editorial agenda of the program, but also overseeing and editing hundreds of individual stories and episodes. She\'s been with the show since 1997 – almost from its inception- and has produced many of

most entertaining and ambitious episodes, including "24 Hours at the Golden Apple," "Notes on Camp," and the Peabody-winning episodes "Harper High School."

. She was also an education reporter and digital producer at NBC News, and a photo editor at

She has a master\'s degree in journalism from Columbia University.

for more than five years. Her prior projects include overseeing the launch of

and running the Oak Street Cinema, a single-screen revival movie theatre in Minneapolis.

. Generally this means he hears drafts of episodes and gives notes, helps with promotion, and consults on the show\'s format and business plan. He\'s the founder and host of

, which has won the highest honors for broadcast excellence, and which was declared by the

original score comes from both Nick Thorburn and Mark Henry Phillips.

Nick Thorburn composed our theme song. In 2003, he started The Unicorns, and released their first full-length album to critical praise from around the world. He went on to form another band called Islands, who\'ve released five albums and played festivals from Coachella to Primavera Sounds and La Route Du Rock. Nick has also released a solo record and a variety of collaborations, and composes scores for film and television.

, Mark Henry Phillips also mixes the show. He is a composer and sound designer and has worked on many critically acclaimed films such as the Oscar-nominated 

. When not scoring and mixing films, he releases music under the name Sono Oto. 

For press and media inquires, please contact Elise Bergerson at elise@thislife.org.