Season One: Episode 10

The Best Defense is a Good Defense

Adnan’s trial lawyer was M. Cristina Gutierrez, a renowned defense attorney in Maryland – tough and savvy and smart. Other lawyers said she was exactly the kind of person you’d want defending you on a first-degree murder charge. But Adnan was convicted, and a year later, Gutierrez was disbarred. What happened? 

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There will be a Season Two of Serial!

Last week, we asked people who’ve been listening to Serial to chip in if they wanted a second season. This American Life funded the bulk of Season One, but to make Serial ongoing, it needs to pay for itself. Today, we have good news: between the money you donated and sponsorship, we’ll be able to make a second season of Serial. We don’t know yet what the story will be or exactly when we’ll be airing Season Two, but we’ll be working on it as soon as this season ends.

Thanks so much to everyone who gave.

P.S. Still want to donate? Click on the red button below.

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What is Serial?

Serial is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial 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.

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Latest Post

Nov 28

Timelines: January 13, 1999

By Dana Chivvis

Click on the image to see a larger version of the timeline.

Obviously Adnan and Jay have different memories of Jan. 13, 1999. This graphic lays out the details of those differences.

Adnan never testified at his trial, but we can cobble together a timeline of his version of Jan. 13 from Sarah’s interviews, his class schedule, detectives' notes of interviews with his teachers, and witness testimony. You’ll see that in the second column, to the right of the call log.

Jay, on the other hand, had to recount the events of that day numerous times for the police and prosecutors. The graphic includes three of the timelines Jay described: his first taped statement to the detectives, his second taped statement to the detectives, and his testimony at the second trial. Some of the details in his version shifted around from statement to statement, though - as Prosecutor Kevin Urick pointed out - the main points remained consistent over time. In all of Jay's versions, there are points in his story that are simply impossible from a timing perspective. So you'll see places in those timelines where the approximate times don't add up with the times that Jay has given or that we can determine from the call log.

The black timestamps are entries where we can calculate specific times based on Jay’s statement, Adnan's class schedule, or the call log. The entries labeled “Approximate time” are times we’ve calculated based on Jay's memory of how long it took to get places or our own understanding of how long it takes to get around Baltimore County. The “No timestamp” entries are for the movements when Jay wasn’t specific enough for us to make a calculation. You can click on those little note icons to read more about certain timestamps. ~ See More

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About

Serial 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 Serial podcast on iTunes and other audio platforms, and can also listen here on this site. Serial, like This American Life, is a production of WBEZ Chicago, which also produces these podcasts. 

Season One

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.

Sarah Koenig, who hosts Serial, 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 Serial, she looks for answers.

Staff

Sarah Koenig

Host and Executive Producer

Sarah worked for more than ten years as a producer of This American Life before she and Julie Snyder started Serial. She’s guest-hosted TAL several times, most memorably for the "No Coincidence, No Story" show. She’s produced and reported some of TAL's 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 This American Life in 2004, Sarah covered criminal justice and was a State House reporter at The Baltimore Sun and the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire. All staff photos by Meredith Heuer.

Julie Snyder

Executive Producer

Julie created Serial with Sarah Koenig. She's also the Senior Producer of This American Life, 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 This American Life's most entertaining and ambitious episodes, including "24 Hours at the Golden Apple," "Notes on Camp," and the Peabody-winning episodes "Harper High School."

 

Dana Chivvis

Producer

Before joining Serial, Dana did the fellowship at This American Life. She was also an education reporter and digital producer at NBC News, and a photo editor at National Geographic. She has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.

Emily Condon

Production & Operations Manager

In addition to working on Serial, Emily manages This American Life. She's been at TAL for more than five years. Her prior projects include overseeing the launch of Rookie and running the Oak Street Cinema, a single-screen revival movie theatre in Minneapolis.

Ira Glass

Editorial Advisor

Ira gives editorial and business advice to Serial. 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 This American Life, which has won the highest honors for broadcast excellence, and which was declared by the American Journalism Review as "at the vanguard of a journalistic revolution.”

Music

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

Mark Henry Phillips composes much of the music for Serial and also mixes the show.  Mark is a composer and sound designer and has worked on many critically acclaimed films such as the Oscar-nominated Cutie and the Boxer. When not scoring and mixing films, he releases music under the name Sono Oto. 

Nick Thorburn composed our theme song, as well as many other songs in the show. 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.

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Press

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