Hae Min Lee Essay

There was a cold and brutal murder that involved the strangulation of an innocent girl awaiting her own high school graduation, Hae Min Lee, on January 13, 1999. She was only 17 at the time, with a bright future ahead; good grades, involved in many school activities, responsible, and well-known by many. Only a senior at her school, in a small town in Baltimore, Maryland, she was found dead at Leakin Park, only a few miles away from Woodlawn high school, where she attended until her murder. About 18 years later, her brutal death is still a mystery, and the true question is, who really killed Hae Min Lee and what was their motive? Jay Wilds is guilty of Hae Min Lee’s murder, another student at Woodlawn High School, committed on January 13,

According to Sarah Koenig, creator of Serial, a podcast created to spread some insight on Lee’s murder, she argues that, “...Then there are more significant changes, but, still, you chalk them up to Jay trying to protect his friends – or trying to protect himself. In the first taped interview, Jay says they're grabbing some food at a restaurant when Officer Adcock calls Adnon asking if he's seen Hae. The next time he tells it, he says that when that call comes, they're at a friend's apartment – a friend whose father happens to be a homicide detective in another county. Jay tells the cops he'd actually been to her house three different times that day, but he didn't want to get her in trouble. In the first taped statement, Jay says he refused to help dig a grave for Hae. Two weeks later, he says they both dug the hole. But then, there are other changes – bigger changes – where it's harder to judge why the details shift. This one, for instance: In the first taped interview, Jay says Adnan only told him that same day that he was going to kill Hae. Two weeks later, Jay says that Adnan had started talking about it beforehand – four or five days before.” This quote supports my claim because it proves that Jay has lied on many times on where he was on January 13, 1999, and these significant/insignificant changes

Sarah Koenig states, “So Jay says the next thing that happens is the cops come to see him, on September 6, and tell him he’s about to be charged with accessory after the fact and that he’ll be able to get a lawyer. The next day, September 7, they come pick him up, they book him, and they take him to the State Attorney’s office. He meets Kevin Urick, the prosecutor. Jay says he’s never met Urick before and then he says Urick introduces him to Anne Benaroya, who can represent him for free. Jay and Benaroya talk privately for a while, and then they sign a plea agreement. Then, that same day, they all go across the street to the courthouse and present the signed plea to a judge. If you or a loved one is an attorney, your jaw is hanging open right now, correct? Prosecutors do not find attorneys for witnesses they are prosecuting. That is not a thing. A former prosecutor that worked in the Baltimore office at the time said she’s never heard of anything like that happening before. It sounded very strange to her, hence Gutierrez’s freak out” (Episode 10). The fact that a prosecutor, specifically Kevin Urick, was able to help aide Jay in