Hae Min Lee

On January 13, 1999, 18-year-old Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, disappeared after school. She had been planning to pick up her young cousin from daycare. Her body was found on February 9, partially buried in Leakin Park. She had been strangled.

Hae's ex-boyfriend, 17-year-old Adnan Masud Syed, was arrested and charged with her murder in February 1999. The prosecution's case relied heavily on testimony from Syed's acquaintance Jay Wilds, who said he helped Syed bury the body, and cell tower location data that purportedly placed Syed at key locations. Syed was convicted in February 2000 and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.

The case became internationally famous in 2014 when journalist Sarah Koenig examined it in the first season of the groundbreaking podcast 'Serial,' which questioned the reliability of the evidence and raised the possibility that Syed was wrongfully convicted. The podcast became the most downloaded podcast in history at that time.

After years of appeals, in September 2022, Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby's office filed a motion to vacate Syed's conviction, citing the discovery of two alternative suspects who were never disclosed to the defense. Judge Melissa Phinn granted the motion, and Syed was released after 23 years in prison. However, in 2023, Maryland's Supreme Court reinstated Syed's conviction, ruling that the victim's family had not been given adequate notice of the vacatur hearing. The legal battle continued into 2024, with the case's ultimate resolution still uncertain.