The man who served as the key witness against Adnan Syed in the 2000 Baltimore murder investigation, which recently has gained national attention thanks to the hit podcast Serial, revealed new details about the case in a report released Monday.
Although Jay Wilds declined to be formally interviewed by Serial host Sarah Koenig, he told The Intercept in a multi-part interview that he was unfairly portrayed.
Koenig investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of Hae Min Lee, Syed’s ex-girlfriend, and the role that Wilds played. Syed was later found guilty of murder and is serving a life sentence in prison. Although Wilds admitted to police that he helped Syed bury her body, he denied further involvement — and Koenig questioned why his story surrounding the afternoon of Lee’s murder changed over time. Wilds, who dealt pot at the time, said:
I wasn’t openly willing to cooperate with the police. It wasn’t until they made it clear they weren’t interested in my ‘procurement’ of pot that I began to open up any. And then I would only give them information pertaining to my interaction with someone or where I was.
Wilds also clarified his friendship with Syed (“I only smoked with him two or three times”), his fear of retribution for dealing drugs (“I also ran the operation out of my grandmother’s house and that also put my family at risk”) and chilling details about seeing and burying Lee’s body.
Read more at The Intercept
Read next: The Innocence Project Tells Serial Fans What Might Happen Next
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