15 Serial Reddit Theories That Will Blow Your Mind
In October of 2014 the podcast “Serial” aired its first episode and the world was introduced to the case of Adnan Syed, who was imprisoned for the murder of Hae Min Lee, his high school ex-girlfriend. Sarah Koenig, a producer on the radio show “This American Life,” laid out an intricate narrative exploring the question, 'What really happened to Hae Min Lee on January 13th 1999?'
Koenig explored the story from many different angles, laid out the evidence as she saw it at the time, and even interviewed Adnan extensively. In the end, Koenig provided no answer to the question at the core of the podcast. She provided no definitive theory of the crime, and she didn't state whether she believed Adnan to be guilty or innocent.
Several spin off podcasts followed including “Crime Writers on Serial,” “The Truth and Justice Podcast,” “Serially Obsessed,” and the penultimate analysis of the case “Undisclosed: The State vs. Adnan Syed.” All the podcasts gave their own commentaries and added evidence as it became available.
People all over the world also began to dig in to the case and form their own theories about what happened. The Serial subreddit has become a treasure trove of theories about what might have happened to Hae:
12 Adnan killed Hae by himself
There are still plenty of people who believe that Adnan is guilty and that he killed Hae by himself. The Reddit theories make all sorts of guesses at motives. Some believe the theory put forth by the prosecution: that Adnan was a deeply religious man whose religion called for killing the woman who'd dishonored him, regardless of the fact that this theory is blatantly Islamophobic. Others simply believe that Adnan snapped when Hae started dating Don and killed Hae in a jealous rage. Still others believe that there was still something going on between Adnan and Hae and that a lover's spat caused him to fly off the handle and kill her accidentally.
The prosecution's narrative of the crime relied heavily on the testimony of Jay Wilds, a friend of Adnan's who claimed to have helped with Hae's burial. The Redditors who believe that Adnan killed Hae by himself believe that Jay wasn't involved at all, that he lied because Adnan threatened him, or the cops threatened him, or because he was afraid of facing jail time for being a dealer of illegal substances.
11 Adnan killed Hae and Jay helped
Others in the 'Adnan is guilty' camp believe that Adnan killed Hae, but that Jay was definitely involved somehow. These Redditors tend to agree that the crime didn't happen the way Jay said it did. Jay's testimony changed drastically throughout his police interviews and the course of the trial. Even if you listen to all of his testimony and read all his interview transcripts, it's impossible to pin down one coherent narrative of how the crime occurred according to Jay.
Redditors attribute his changing stories to his attempt to downplay his involvement in the murder. Subscribers to this theory all agree that Adnan killed Hae himself, but that Jay was complicit in planning the murder and helping Adnan cover it up after the fact. Jay's own testimony, at times, indicates that Adnan told him about the murder the day before he planned to commit the crime. Jay also states, on the record, that he helped Adnan bury the body.
Though subscribers to this theory can't agree on exactly how Jay was involved, they all agree that Adnan killed Hae and that Jay helped.
10 Don killed Hae
Don is the man that Hae began dating a month or so after she and Adnan broke up for the final time. He was Hae's coworker at Lenscrafters, an older man who she'd fallen head over heels for in the months before her death. The cops cleared Don early on in their investigation, believing that he had a solid alibi for the time of the murder: he was at work.
In the years since the murder people have uncovered some details that make Don's alibi seem less ironclad. Both of the Lenscrafters locations where he worked were managed by family members: his mother and his mother's live in girlfriend. His timecard for the day of the murder seems to have been doctored. Don didn't return calls from the police until the middle of the night the day of the murder.
Redditors who believe Don murdered Hae also point out how odd it is that Don didn't try to contact Hae when she went missing, stating that if their significant other was missing they'd at least give a call.
The biggest problem with the 'Don killed Hae' theory is motive. No one can really pin down why Don would kill Hae. His involvement in the whole story just seems suspicious.
9 Roy Davis, aka The Woodlawn Strangler, killed Hae
Seven months before Hae was killed, another Woodlawn High School student named Jada Lambert was abducted and killed. Jada Lambert was 17 years old when she was murdered. She was strangled and her body was found dumped in a local stream. At the time of Hae's disappearance no arrest had been made. In fact, the police became involved almost as soon as Hae was reported missing because they were concerned that the same person who had murdered Lambert had abducted Hae. The police abandoned the theory that Hae had been murdered by the same person who murdered Lambert when they began investigating Adnan, which was relatively early in their investigation.
In 2002 a DNA sample taken from an armed robbery case was a match to the DNA from the Jada Lambert case and Roy Davis was arrested for the murder. Many Redditors are convinced that Roy Davis murdered Hae. The crimes are shockingly similar. Jada and Hae were almost the same age when they were killed. Jada was strangled just like Hae was, and reports indicate that both girls were last seen in their cars.
DNA from Hae's body and the crime scene were never tested, so no connection to the Lambert case would have been made at the time. Redditors who subscribe to this theory of the crime are sure that if the DNA was tested now it would match Roy Davis aka the Woodlawn Strangler.
8 Jay and Jenn killed Hae because she found out about their secret relationship
The story of this case involves an intricate web of people connected in ways that only high school can produce. Jay, who supposedly helped Adnan plan and cover up Hae's murder, was dating Adnan's best friend Stephanie, who was also best friends with Hae. This is how Adnan knew Jay. Jay also had a best friend named Jenn, who was friends with Stephanie, but not Hae and Adnan.
Many Redditors suspect that Jenn and Jay were seeing each other behind Stephanie's back. Jenn and Jay were very close and they hung out together a lot. In fact, according to both their testimony, they spent most of the day together the day Hae was killed. They were often together during the day when Stephanie was at work. In interviews with Jay, he has hinted at the fact that he was not entirely faithful to Stephanie, though he never mentions being with Jenn.
During the trial, Adnan's lawyer, Christina Gutierrez, suggests that Jay and Jenn had a secret relationship, and though Jay denies this on the stand, this is still a popular theory among those familiar with the case.
Those who believe that Jay and Jenn were secretly together believe that Hae found out and threatened to tell Stephanie. Many believe that Hae may have stumbled on Jay and Jenn hooking up in Adnan's car and they freaked out and killed her together in the heat of the moment. Others believe that they planned to kill Hae after she threatened to expose them.
7 Hae confronted Jay about cheating on Stephanie alone and Jay killed her alone
Other Redditors who believe that Jay and Jenn's relationship was the motive for Hae's murder believe that Jay killed her alone. They believe that Hae ran in to Jay at some point on the 13th, or sought him out, and confronted him about cheating on Stephanie.
One of the as yet unexplained details about Hae's day relates to her change in plans for the after school hours. Some of the people close to Hae testified that she had planned to give Adnan a ride after school, but then abruptly changed her plans. One of the strong theories is that she received a message at some point during the school day that made her change her plans.
One theory is that Jay paged her and asked her to meet him somewhere to talk about the fact that she knew about him and Jenn. Their conversation turned nasty and Jay killed her in a fit of rage.
Another theory is that Jay and Hae ran in to each other randomly and Hae confronted him about his relationship with Jenn and he became violent.
6 Jenn killed Hae
One of the less popular and definitely more vague theories in that Jenn killed Hae, for a variety of different reasons. In Jen's interviews with police and in her testimony on the stand, Jenn makes it pretty clear that she didn't really like Hae, but she's never really clear on why.
Some people theorize that Hae and Jenn had their own personal beef that got out of hand and that Jenn killed her over whatever that was. Others think that Hae confronted Jen about her relationship with Jay and that Jenn killed her instead of Jay. Then Jenn roped in Jay to help her cover up the murder. Some even believe that Jenn was jealous of Hae because she was so smart and popular and that Jenn killed her out of jealousy.
The theories that Jenn killed Hae are definitely the most tenuous of the bunch, and not widely believed.
5 Jay killed Hae because she saw something she shouldn't
Jay readily admitted to being a dealer throughout his police interviews and testimony. On the official record he only ever admitted to selling weed, but there's some evidence to suggest that he was in to some more serious stuff.
In his interview with 'The Intercept' in 2014, Jay hinted at the fact that he was doing more than selling pot at the time of Hae's murder. Investigation in to Wilds' arrest records and the arrest records of his family members also adds credence to the fact that Jay was a more serious dealer than he had admitted to during the investigation and trial. A good amount of evidence indicates that Jay's family may have been running an illegal operation in their area.
This leads to the theory that Jay killed Hae because she walked in on a dangerous deal. Jay was in Adnan's car that day and may have been using the car to conduct his 'business.' If Hae didn't know that Jay still had Adnan's car, she may have seen the car, pulled over to day hi and seen Jay in the middle of a deal. Jay then killed her out of fear that she would go to the cops.
4 A dealer involved with Jay had Hae killed because she knew something she shouldn't
The theory that Jay was involved with some sort of larger illicit substances operation opened up a whole new avenue of theories about why Hae died. Some believe that she found out details of the operation and was planning to go to the police. Or that she stumbled upon Jay meeting with other high level dealers and could identify multiple members of the operation.
If Hae had information that she wasn't supposed to have or could identify people who didn't want to be identified, it's possible that someone arranged to have her killed to keep her quiet. This would mean that someone completely unconnected to the case as we know it may have killed her.
This would also explain why Jay was so scared in the month after Hae's disappearance. Friends and coworkers of Jay report that in the month after Hae disappeared Jay had become increasingly paranoid, convinced that he was being watched or followed. Jay also stated that Hae's killer had threatened him. Many struggled to believe that Adnan would threaten Jay or that a threat from Adnan would actually frighten Jay, but if Jay had been threatened by other dealers responsible for Hae's death that would certainly frighten him.
3 Jay was on something, freaked out and killed Hae
The possibility that Jay was involved in harder substances led to the theory that Hae's death was the result of Jay's substance induced freak out. If Jay was high on PCP or meth or something else and Hae ran in to him that day maybe he just freaked out and strangled her in a substance induced rage. Or maybe Hae did start a confrontation with him about him and Jenn or his dealing and the substances led him to be more violent than he normally would have been.
This theory is definitely a fringe theory as there's no evidence that Jay was using any substances harder than pot. That being said, it's no less plausible than some of the other theories Redditors have come up with. There seem to be many plausible reasons that Jay and his substance use would be involved in Hae's murder.
2 Hae was killed by a carjacker
Many of the theories about how Hae died are centered around the core group of people central to the case: Adnan, Jay, and Jenn. Due to their knowledge of the supposed details of the case, it seems obvious to most that one of these three killed Hae.
However, other details of the case present a scenario in which a total stranger killed Hae while they were trying to highjack her car. The steering column in Hae's car was tampered with and her turn signaler was broken. Disassembling the steering column and connecting the wires is a common way to hotwire a car, and perhaps the turn signal was also broken in an attempt to mess with the steering column.
Perhaps Hae came back to her car while someone was in the process of trying to hotwire it. Maybe she got involved in a struggle with the carjacker, who pushed her back in to her car and then strangled her. Maybe when the carjacker shoved her back in to the car she hit her head and then the carjacker strangled her in the heat of the moment. This scenario is consistent with the fact that Hae also experienced blunt force trauma to the head before her death.
1 A totally random and yet unidentified person killed Hae
Another common theory floating around Reddit indicates just how uncertain people are about what really happened to Hae Min Lee. Some suggest that despite all we seem to 'know' about the case, we don't really 'know' anything at all. Proponents of this theory suggest that no one close to Hae was involved in her murder; that Adnan, Jay, and Jenn are all innocent. These Redditors also believe that Roy Davis didn't kill Hae and that there wasn't any vast conspiracy that resulted in Hae's death.
They believe that some totally random stranger abducted and killed Hae and that she was a completely random victim. This theory isn't actually all that far fetched. At the time that Hae was murdered Baltimore's crime rate was basically an epidemic. Murders weren't all that uncommon.
When all the evidence in the case is examined, there's very little that's actually 'sure.' The only sure things are that Hae was murdered some time on Jan 13th after school and she was likely buried within eight to ten hours of her death. She was murdered in her own car and likely transported to the burial site in the same car. Other than that, pretty much all of the facts of the case are up for grabs. This leaves a lot of room for a suspect who is still unidentified.
Of course, all these theories are just speculation. Unfortunately, over 18 years after she was murdered, we still have no idea what happened to Hae Min Lee on January 13th 1999. We may never know.
If you want to learn more about the case be sure to check out the Serial and Undisclosed podcasts and their accompanying websites. If you want to delve deeper in to some of these conspiracy theories, check out the Serial subreddit.
