‘Serial’ Podcast Releases New Episode After Adnan Syed’s Life Sentence for Murder of Girlfriend Vacated (Talk About a Plot Twist!)

Hard to believe, but podcasts weren’t always a thing. In fact, most people weren’t listening to podcasts before a little program known as Serial came along. For those who are too young to remember, the first season of Serial was released in 2014 and focused on Adnan Syed, a young man who was convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999.

Syed vehemently denied any involvement in Lee’s murder, and the case was murky enough that journalist Sarah Koenig decided to take a deep dive into the circumstances surrounding the murder and Syed’s role in particular. The podcast was an overnight success, and suddenly, podcasts turned into a pop culture phenomenon that just won’t die.

Serial hasn’t been buzz-worthy for years now (though it did inspire an HBO documentary, The Case Against Adnan Syed, in 2019), but that all changed this week after Judge Melissa Phinn of the Baltimore City Circuit Court vacated Syed’s life sentence for first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping, and false imprisonment.

The podcast has since released a new, 17-minute episode that explores how the case against Syed “crumbled” when the prosecutor’s office took a hard look at it.

“Adnan’s case was a mess – is a mess,” Koenig says in the episode.

A Baltimore prosecutor stumbles upon two handwritten notes in Adnan’s case file. They change everything. A new episode from season one, out now. https://t.co/0O60tPrtxS

— Serial (@serial) September 20, 2022

“Material in the state investigation that was not properly turned over to Syed’s defense attorneys, and the existence of two suspects who may have been improperly cleared as part of the investigation, were cited as the reasons for the conviction being vacated,” CNN reported.

Though this is a happy ending for Syed’s supporters, his troubles might not be over. That’s because prosecutors still have 30 days to contemplate pursuing a new trial against him.

Koenig doesn’t think there’s going to be another chapter in this true crime whodunnit, however.
“Baltimore City Police have told the prosecutor’s office they’re gonna put someone back on the case. Someone will try to talk to the two suspects Becky [Feldman, chief of the state’s attorney’s office sentencing review unit] identified in the motion,” she said. “I have zero predictions about what could come of that. But I do know that the chances of the state ever trying to prosecute Adnan again are remote at best.”

Good news for Syed, bad news for Serial podcast fanatics everywhere.

Cover Photo: HBO