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Serial, The Alibi (1)

The Alibi (1)

Sarah Koenig For the last year, I've spent every working day trying to figure out where a high school kid was for an hour after school one day in 1999-- or if you want to get technical about it, and apparently I do, where a high school kid was for 21 minutes after school one day in 1999. This search sometimes feels undignified on my part. I've had to ask about teenagers' sex lives, where, how often, with whom, about notes they passed in class, about their drug habits, their relationships with their parents. And I'm not a detective or a private investigator. I've not even a crime reporter. But, yes, every day this year, I've tried to figure out the alibi of a 17-year-old boy. Before I get into why I've been doing this, I just want to point out something I'd never really thought about before I started working on this story. And that is, it's really hard to account for your time, in a detailed way, I mean.

How'd you get to work last Wednesday, for instance? Drive? Walk? Bike? Was it raining? Are you sure? Did you go to any stores that day? If so, what did you buy? Who did you talk to? The entire day, name every person you talked to. It's hard.

Now imagine you have to account for a day that happened six weeks back. Because that's the situation in the story I'm working on in which a bunch of teenagers had to recall a day six weeks earlier. And it was 1999, so they had to do it without the benefit of texts or Facebook or Instagram. Just for a lark, I asked some teenagers to try it.

Sarah Koenig Do you remember what you did on that Friday?

Tyler No. Not at all. I can't remember anything.

Sarah Koenig Wait, nothing?

Tyler No. I can't remember anything that far back. I'm pretty sure I was in school. I think-- no?

Sarah Koenig That's Tyler. He's 18. I asked my nephew Sam. He's 18, too.

Sam Not a clue. In school, probably. I would be in school. Actually, I think I worked that day.Yeah, I worked that day. And I went to school. That was about it. Actually, on second thought? I don't think I went to school that day.

Sarah Koenig You don't think you went.

Sam Yeah, no, I didn't. I definitely didn't.

Sarah Koenig Here's Sam's friend Elliot. He seemed to have better recall.

Elliot Actually, I may have gone to the movies that night later.

Sarah Koenig Do you remember what you saw?

Elliot Now that I'm thinking. I'm sorry? Yeah, I think I saw 22 Jump Street.

Sarah Koenig OK. And did you go with friends?

Elliot Yeah. I went with Sam and this kid Sean, Carter, a bunch of people.

Sarah Koenig Wait, Sam, my nephew Sam?

Elliot Yeah, yeah.

Sarah Koenig Oh, OK. So Sam says he was at work.

Elliot Oh, then it wasn't that night, then.

Sarah Koenig One kid did actually remember pretty well, because it was the last day of state testing at his school and he'd saved up to go to a nightclub. That's the main thing I learned from this exercise, which is no big shocker, I guess. If some significant event happened that day, you remember that, plus you remember the entire day much better. If nothing significant happened, then the answers get very general. I most likely did this, or I most likely did that. These are words I've heard a lot lately. Here's the case I've been working on.

Almost 15 years ago, on January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Leedisappeared. She was a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County in Maryland. She was Korean. She was smart, and beautiful, and cheerful, and a great athlete. She played field hockey and lacrosse. And she was responsible.

Right after school she was supposed to pick up her little cousin from kindergarten and drop her home. But she didn't show. That's when Hae Lee's family knew something was up, when the cousin's school called.

About a month later, on February 9, Hae's body was found in a big park in Baltimore, really a rambling forest. A maintenance guy who said he'd stopped to take a leak on his way to work discovered her there. He'd noticed a bit of her black hair poking out of a shallow grave.

The cause of death was manual strangulation, meaning someone did it with their hands. A couple weeks after that, so six weeks after she first went missing, Hae's ex-boyfriend, a guy named Adnan Syed, was arrested for her murder. He's been in prison ever since.

I first heard about this story more than a year ago when I got an email from a woman named Rabia Chaudry. Rabia knows Adnan pretty well. Her younger brother Saad is Adnan's best friend. And they believe he's innocent. Rabia was writing to me because, way back when, I used to be a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, and she'd come across some stories I'd written about a well-known defense attorney in Baltimore who'd been disbarred for mishandling client money. That attorney was the same person who defended Adnan, her last major trial, in fact.

Rabia told me she thought the attorney botched the case-- not just botched it, actually, but threw the case on purpose so she could get more money for the appeal. The lawyer had died a few years later. She'd been sick. Rabia asked if I would please just take a look at Adnan's case. I don't get emails like this every day. So I thought, sure, why not?

I read a few newspaper clips about the case, looked up a few trial records. And on paper, the case was like a Shakespearean mashup-- young lovers from different worlds thwarting their families, secret assignations, jealousy, suspicion, and honor besmirched, the villain not a Moor exactly, but a Muslim all the same, and a final act of murderous revenge. And the main stage? A regular old high school across the street from a 7-Eleven.

Sarah Koenig Hi, are you Rabia? Hi. Am I saying your name correctly?

Rabia Rabia.

Sarah Koenig Rabia. OK.

Sarah Koenig I went to go see Rabia. She was surrounded by paper-- files, loose stacks, binders, some crappy looking boxes-- all court documents and attorney's files from Adnan's case. Some of the papers were warped and discolored.

Sarah Koenig Why do they look wet? They look wet.

Rabia These have been damaged, because these--

Sarah Koenig She explained that it was because the boxes had been in her car, on and off, for 15 years. Rabia is a lawyer herself. She mostly does immigration stuff. Her office takes up the corner of a much larger open space that I think is a Pakistani travel agency, though it's hard to tell.

It's in this little strip mall. Across the parking lot, there's a new Pakistani restaurant, an African evangelical church, an Indian clothing shop, a convenience store. On the sidewalk outside, I found a teeny weeny bag of marijuana. Baltimore County is like this, at least on the west side. It's where a lot of middle class and working class people go, many immigrants included, to get their kids out of the badass city. Though the badass city is close by.

Rabia is 40. She's short, and she's got a beautiful round face framed by hijab. She's adorable looking, but you definitely shouldn't mess with her. She's very smart and very tough, and she could crush you. Her brother Saad was at Rabia's office too the first time I went. He's 33, a mortgage broker, more laid back than Rabia. They told me about Adnan Syed, their friend-- not just a good kid, but an especially good kid-- smart, kind, goofy, handsome. So that when he was arrested for murder, so many people who know him were stunned.

Rabia He was like the community's golden child.

Sarah Koenig Oh, really? Talk more about that.

Rabia He was an honor roll student, volunteer EMT. He was on the football team. He was a star runner on the track team. He was the homecoming king. He led prayers at the mosque. Everybody knew Adnan to be somebody who was going to do something really big.

Sarah Koenig I later fact checked all these accolades, of course, and learned that Rabia was mostly right, though she sometimes gets a little loosey-goosey with the details. Adnan was an EMT, but he didn't volunteer. He was paid for it. He was on the track team, but he wasn't a star. He did play football. And he did lead prayers on occasion.

He wasn't homecoming king. But he was prince of his junior prom, and this at a high school that was majority black. They picked the Pakistani Muslim kid. So you get the picture. He was an incredibly likable and well-liked kid.

This conversation with Rabia and Saad, this is what launched me on this year long-- "obsession" is maybe too strong a word-- let's say fascination with this case. By the end of this hour, you're going to hear different people tell different versions of what happened the day Hae Lee was killed. But let's start with the most important version of the story, the one Rabia told me first. And that's the one that was presented at trial.

The state's case against Adnan went like this. He and Hae had been going out since junior prom. But Adnan wasn't supposed to be dating at all. Adnan was born in the US, but his parents are from Pakistan. And they're conservative Muslims-- no drinking, no smoking, no girls, all that.

Saad and Rabia's parents are the same way. Their families are friends. But even though Adnan and Saad and their buddies were Muslims, they were also, shall we say, healthy American teenagers who were going to do what teenagers do, so long as they didn't get caught.

So Adnan had to keep his relationship with Hae secret. The state used this against him in two ways. First, they argued, he put everything on the line-- his family, his relationships at the mosque-- to run around with this girl. So that when she broke up with him eight months later, he was left with nothing, and he was outraged. He couldn't take it, and he killed her.

And the second way they used it, as they said-- look at what a liar he is, how duplicitous. He plays the good Muslim son at home and at the mosque, but look what he was up to. Saad remembers the prosecutor's closing argument at trial.

Saad His family didn't know that he actually drank, he smoked, he was having sex.

Sarah Koenig This was proof of bad character, someone who could be a murderer. But Saad says, if Adnan is guilty of anything, it's of being a normal kid with immigrant parents.

Saad So the prosecution had painted Adnan as a totally bipolar or a maniacal dual personality. We all grew up with that dual personality. I know, it was forced. I'm the same way. I was like, they could paint the same thing. Because I was actually homecoming king, which I don't know if my sister even knows.

Rabia I did not know this.

Saad She did not know. So I was dating a girl that was--

Sarah Koenig And why is homecoming king bad? That sounds like a good thing.

Rabia We don't go to homecoming. We don't--

Sarah Koenig Because it's a dance.

Rabia It's a dance. It's a mixed gender--

Saad So I was in the same boat. My parents, my sister, they didn't know about this at all. Right now, more than 10 year later, she's finding out. I know, I'll admit. On one side, my family thinks I'm a virgin. But on the other hand, I play-- you know.

The Alibi (1) Das Alibi (1) The Alibi (1) La coartada (1) L'alibi (1) アリバイ (1) Alibi (1) O Álibi (1) Алиби (1) 不在场证明 (1) 不在场证明 (1)

Sarah Koenig For the last year, I’ve spent every working day trying to figure out where a high school kid was for an hour after school one day in 1999-- or if you want to get technical about it, and apparently I do, where a high school kid was for 21 minutes after school one day in 1999. Sarah Koenig Im letzten Jahr habe ich jeden Arbeitstag damit verbracht, herauszufinden, wo ein High-School-Kind eines Tages im Jahr 1999 für eine Stunde nach der Schule war – oder wenn Sie es technisch wissen wollen, und anscheinend tue ich das, wo ein Highschool-Kind eines Tages im Jahr 1999 21 Minuten nach der Schule war. Sarah Koenig Przez ostatni rok, spędzałam każdy dzień roboczy, próbując dowiedzieć się, gdzie uczeń szkoły średniej był na godzinę po szkole pewnego dnia w 1999 r. – lub jeśli chcesz się tym zająć technicznie, i najwyraźniej tak robię, gdzie pewnego dnia w 1999 roku uczeń szkoły średniej przebywał 21 minut po szkole. Sarah Koenig No ano passado, passei todos os dias tentando descobrir onde um garoto do ensino médio estava por uma hora depois da escola em um dia de 1999 - ou se você quiser ser técnico sobre isso, e aparentemente eu quero, onde um garoto do ensino médio ficou 21 minutos depois da escola em um dia de 1999. This search sometimes feels undignified on my part. Diese Suche fühlt sich meinerseits manchmal würdelos an. To poszukiwanie czasem wydaje mi się niegodne. I’ve had to ask about teenagers' sex lives, where, how often, with whom, about notes they passed in class, about their drug habits, their relationships with their parents. Ich musste nach dem Sexleben von Teenagern fragen, wo, wie oft, mit wem, nach Notizen, die sie im Unterricht weitergegeben haben, nach ihren Drogengewohnheiten, ihren Beziehungen zu ihren Eltern. Musiałam wypytać o życie seksualne nastolatków, gdzie, jak często, z kim, o notatki, które przekazali na zajęciach, o ich nałogi, relacje z rodzicami. And I’m not a detective or a private investigator. I’ve not even a crime reporter. Ich habe nicht einmal einen Kriminalreporter. Nie mam nawet reportera kryminalnego. But, yes, every day this year, I’ve tried to figure out the alibi of a 17-year-old boy. Aber ja, dieses Jahr habe ich jeden Tag versucht, das Alibi eines 17-jährigen Jungen herauszufinden. Ale tak, każdego dnia w tym roku próbowałem ustalić alibi 17-letniego chłopca. Before I get into why I’ve been doing this, I just want to point out something I’d never really thought about before I started working on this story. Bevor ich darauf eingehe, warum ich das mache, möchte ich nur auf etwas hinweisen, worüber ich nie wirklich nachgedacht hatte, bevor ich anfing, an dieser Geschichte zu arbeiten. Zanim przejdę do tego, dlaczego to robię, chcę tylko wskazać coś, o czym nigdy tak naprawdę nie myślałem, zanim zacząłem pracować nad tą historią. And that is, it’s really hard to account for your time, in a detailed way, I mean. Und das heißt, es ist wirklich schwer, Ihre Zeit detailliert zu erklären, meine ich. A to znaczy, naprawdę ciężko jest szczegółowo rozliczyć swój czas, mam na myśli. Ou seja, é muito difícil contabilizar o seu tempo, de forma detalhada, quer dizer.

How’d you get to work last Wednesday, for instance? Wie bist du zum Beispiel letzten Mittwoch zur Arbeit gekommen? Como você chegou ao trabalho na última quarta-feira, por exemplo? Drive? Walk? Bike? Was it raining? Are you sure? Sind Sie sicher? Did you go to any stores that day? Waren Sie an diesem Tag in irgendwelchen Geschäften? If so, what did you buy? Who did you talk to? Mit wem hast du geredet? The entire day, name every person you talked to. Nennen Sie den ganzen Tag alle Personen, mit denen Sie gesprochen haben. It’s hard.

Now imagine you have to account for a day that happened six weeks back. Stellen Sie sich nun vor, Sie müssten einen Tag berücksichtigen, der vor sechs Wochen passiert ist. Because that’s the situation in the story I’m working on in which a bunch of teenagers had to recall a day six weeks earlier. Denn das ist die Situation in der Geschichte, an der ich arbeite, an die sich ein Haufen Teenager an einen Tag vor sechs Wochen erinnern musste. And it was 1999, so they had to do it without the benefit of texts or Facebook or Instagram. Und es war 1999, also mussten sie auf die Vorteile von SMS oder Facebook oder Instagram verzichten. Just for a lark, I asked some teenagers to try it. Aus Spaß habe ich einige Jugendliche gebeten, es zu versuchen.

Sarah Koenig      Do you remember what you did on that Friday? Sarah Koenig Erinnerst du dich, was du an diesem Freitag gemacht hast?

Tyler      No. Not at all. Gar nicht. I can’t remember anything.

Sarah Koenig      Wait, nothing?

Tyler      No. I can’t remember anything that far back. I’m pretty sure I was in school. Ich bin mir ziemlich sicher, dass ich in der Schule war. I think-- no? Ich denke nicht?

Sarah Koenig That’s Tyler. Sarah Koenig Das ist Tyler. He’s 18. I asked my nephew Sam. Ich fragte meinen Neffen Sam. He’s 18, too.

Sam      Not a clue. Sam Keine Ahnung. In school, probably. In der Schule wahrscheinlich. I would be in school. Ich wäre in der Schule. Actually, I think I worked that day.Yeah, I worked that day. Eigentlich glaube ich, dass ich an diesem Tag gearbeitet habe. Ja, ich habe an diesem Tag gearbeitet. And I went to school. Und ich ging zur Schule. That was about it. Das war es auch schon. Actually, on second thought? Eigentlich auf den zweiten Gedanken? I don’t think I went to school that day. Ich glaube, ich bin an diesem Tag nicht zur Schule gegangen.

Sarah Koenig      You don’t think you went. Sarah Koenig Du glaubst nicht, dass du gegangen bist.

Sam      Yeah, no, I didn’t. Sam Ja, nein, habe ich nicht. I definitely didn’t. Ich definitiv nicht.

Sarah Koenig Here’s Sam’s friend Elliot. He seemed to have better recall. Er schien sich besser erinnern zu können.

Elliot      Actually, I may have gone to the movies that night later. Elliot Eigentlich bin ich an dem Abend vielleicht später ins Kino gegangen.

Sarah Koenig      Do you remember what you saw?

Elliot      Now that I’m thinking. Elliot Jetzt, wo ich nachdenke. I’m sorry? Yeah, I think I saw 22 Jump Street. Ja, ich glaube, ich habe 22 Jump Street gesehen.

Sarah Koenig      OK. And did you go with friends? Und bist du mit Freunden gegangen?

Elliot      Yeah. I went with Sam and this kid Sean, Carter, a bunch of people. Ich ging mit Sam und diesem Kind, Sean, Carter, einem Haufen Leute.

Sarah Koenig      Wait, Sam, my nephew Sam?

Elliot      Yeah, yeah.

Sarah Koenig      Oh, OK. So Sam says he was at work. Also sagt Sam, er war bei der Arbeit.

Elliot      Oh, then it wasn’t that night, then. Elliot Oh, dann war es also nicht diese Nacht.

Sarah Koenig One kid did actually remember pretty well, because it was the last day of state testing at his school and he’d saved up to go to a nightclub. Sarah Koenig Ein Kind erinnerte sich tatsächlich ziemlich gut, denn es war der letzte Tag der Staatsprüfung an seiner Schule und er hatte gespart, um in einen Nachtclub zu gehen. Sarah Koenig Um garoto realmente se lembrava muito bem, porque era o último dia de teste estadual em sua escola e ele havia economizado para ir a uma boate. That’s the main thing I learned from this exercise, which is no big shocker, I guess. Das ist die Hauptsache, die ich aus dieser Übung gelernt habe, die kein großer Schock ist, denke ich. Essa é a principal coisa que aprendi com este exercício, que não é muito chocante, eu acho. If some significant event happened that day, you remember that, plus you remember the entire day much better. Wenn an diesem Tag ein bedeutendes Ereignis passiert ist, erinnern Sie sich daran, und Sie erinnern sich viel besser an den ganzen Tag. If nothing significant happened, then the answers get very general. Wenn nichts Wichtiges passiert ist, werden die Antworten sehr allgemein. I most likely did this, or I most likely did that. Ich habe höchstwahrscheinlich dies getan, oder ich habe höchstwahrscheinlich das getan. These are words I’ve heard a lot lately. Das sind Worte, die ich in letzter Zeit oft gehört habe. Here’s the case I’ve been working on. Hier ist der Fall, an dem ich gearbeitet habe.

Almost 15 years ago, on January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Leedisappeared. Vor fast 15 Jahren, am 13. Januar 1999, verschwand ein Mädchen namens Hae Min Lee. She was a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County in Maryland. Sie war Seniorin an der Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County in Maryland. She was Korean. She was smart, and beautiful, and cheerful, and a great athlete. Sie war klug und schön und fröhlich und eine großartige Athletin. She played field hockey and lacrosse. And she was responsible. Und sie war verantwortlich.

Right after school she was supposed to pick up her little cousin from kindergarten and drop her home. Gleich nach der Schule sollte sie ihre kleine Cousine vom Kindergarten abholen und nach Hause bringen. But she didn’t show. Aber sie zeigte sich nicht. That’s when Hae Lee’s family knew something was up, when the cousin’s school called. Da wusste Hae Lees Familie, dass etwas nicht stimmte, als die Schule der Cousine anrief.

About a month later, on February 9, Hae’s body was found in a big park in Baltimore, really a rambling forest. Etwa einen Monat später, am 9. Februar, wurde Haes Leiche in einem großen Park in Baltimore gefunden, eigentlich ein weitläufiger Wald. Cerca de um mês depois, em 9 de fevereiro, o corpo de Hae foi encontrado em um grande parque em Baltimore, na verdade uma floresta extensa. A maintenance guy who said he’d stopped to take a leak on his way to work discovered her there. Ein Hausmeister, der sagte, er habe auf dem Weg zur Arbeit angehalten, um zu lecken, entdeckte sie dort. Um cara da manutenção que disse ter parado para fazer xixi no caminho para o trabalho a descobriu lá. He’d noticed a bit of her black hair poking out of a shallow grave. Er hatte bemerkt, dass ein Stück ihres schwarzen Haares aus einem flachen Grab ragte. Ele notou um pouco de seu cabelo preto saindo de uma cova rasa.

The cause of death was manual strangulation, meaning someone did it with their hands. Die Todesursache war manuelle Strangulation, was bedeutet, dass jemand es mit seinen Händen getan hat. A couple weeks after that, so six weeks after she first went missing, Hae’s ex-boyfriend, a guy named Adnan Syed, was arrested for her murder. Ein paar Wochen danach, also sechs Wochen nach ihrem ersten Verschwinden, wurde Haes Ex-Freund, ein Typ namens Adnan Syed, wegen Mordes festgenommen. He’s been in prison ever since. Seitdem sitzt er im Gefängnis.

I first heard about this story more than a year ago when I got an email from a woman named Rabia Chaudry. Ich habe zum ersten Mal vor mehr als einem Jahr von dieser Geschichte gehört, als ich eine E-Mail von einer Frau namens Rabia Chaudry erhielt. Rabia knows Adnan pretty well. Rabia kennt Adnan ziemlich gut. Her younger brother Saad is Adnan’s best friend. Ihr jüngerer Bruder Saad ist Adnans bester Freund. And they believe he’s innocent. Rabia was writing to me because, way back when, I used to be a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, and she’d come across some stories I’d written about a well-known defense attorney in Baltimore who’d been disbarred for mishandling client money. Rabia schrieb mir, weil ich vor langer Zeit Reporterin für die Baltimore Sun war und sie auf einige Geschichten gestoßen war, die ich über einen bekannten Verteidiger in Baltimore geschrieben hatte, der wegen Misshandlung vom Anwalt ausgeschlossen worden war Kundengeld. Rabia estava me escrevendo porque, na época, eu costumava ser repórter do Baltimore Sun, e ela se deparou com algumas histórias que escrevi sobre um conhecido advogado de defesa em Baltimore que foi expulso por mau trato dinheiro do cliente. That attorney was the same person who defended Adnan, her last major trial, in fact. Dieser Anwalt war tatsächlich dieselbe Person, die Adnan, ihren letzten großen Prozess, verteidigt hatte.

Rabia told me she thought the attorney botched the case-- not just botched it, actually, but threw the case on purpose so she could get more money for the appeal. Rabia sagte mir, sie dachte, der Anwalt habe den Fall verpfuscht – eigentlich nicht nur verpfuscht, sondern den Fall absichtlich verworfen, damit sie mehr Geld für die Berufung bekommen könnte. Rabia me disse que achava que o advogado estragou o caso - não apenas estragou, na verdade, mas abandonou o caso de propósito para que ela pudesse conseguir mais dinheiro para o recurso. The lawyer had died a few years later. Der Anwalt war einige Jahre später gestorben. She’d been sick. Sie war krank gewesen. Rabia asked if I would please just take a look at Adnan’s case. Rabia fragte, ob ich mir bitte einfach Adnans Fall ansehen könnte. I don’t get emails like this every day. So I thought, sure, why not?

I read a few newspaper clips about the case, looked up a few trial records. 私はこの事件に関する新聞のクリップをいくつか読み、いくつかの裁判記録を調べました。 And on paper, the case was like a Shakespearean mashup-- young lovers from different worlds thwarting their families, secret assignations, jealousy, suspicion, and honor besmirched, the villain not a Moor exactly, but a Muslim all the same, and a final act of murderous revenge. Und auf dem Papier war der Fall wie ein Shakespeare-Mashup – junge Liebende aus verschiedenen Welten, die ihre Familien durchkreuzen, geheime Aufträge, Eifersucht, Misstrauen und Ehre beschmutzt, der Bösewicht nicht gerade ein Mohr, aber dennoch ein Muslim, und ein Finale Akt mörderischer Rache. そして紙の上では、事件はシェイクスピアのマッシュアップのようなものでした-家族を妨害するさまざまな世界の若い恋人たち、秘密の割り当て、嫉妬、疑惑、名誉が罵倒され、悪役はムーア人ではなくイスラム教徒であり、最後の殺人的な復讐の行為。 E no papel, o caso era como um mashup de Shakespeare - jovens amantes de mundos diferentes frustrando suas famílias, encontros secretos, ciúmes, suspeitas e honra manchada, o vilão não exatamente um mouro, mas um muçulmano do mesmo jeito, e um último ato de vingança assassina. And the main stage? Und die Hauptbühne? そしてメインステージは? E o palco principal? A regular old high school across the street from a 7-Eleven. Eine normale alte Highschool gegenüber einem 7-Eleven.

Sarah Koenig      Hi, are you Rabia? Hi. Am I saying your name correctly?

Rabia      Rabia.

Sarah Koenig      Rabia. OK.

Sarah Koenig I went to go see Rabia. Sarah Koenig Ich bin Rabia besuchen gegangen. She was surrounded by paper-- files, loose stacks, binders, some crappy looking boxes-- all court documents and attorney’s files from Adnan’s case. Sie war umgeben von Papier – Akten, losen Stapeln, Ordnern, ein paar beschissen aussehenden Kisten – alles Gerichtsdokumente und Anwaltsakten aus Adnans Fall. Ela estava cercada por papéis - arquivos, pilhas soltas, fichários, algumas caixas de aparência ruim - todos os documentos do tribunal e arquivos do advogado do caso de Adnan. Some of the papers were warped and discolored. Einige der Papiere waren verzogen und verfärbt.

Sarah Koenig      Why do they look wet? Sarah Koenig Warum sehen sie nass aus? Sarah Koenig Por que eles parecem molhados? They look wet. Sie sehen nass aus.

Rabia      These have been damaged, because these-- Rabia Diese wurden beschädigt, weil diese-- Rabia Estes foram danificados, porque estes--

Sarah Koenig She explained that it was because the boxes had been in her car, on and off, for 15 years. Sarah Koenig Sie erklärte, das liege daran, dass die Kisten 15 Jahre lang immer wieder in ihrem Auto gewesen seien. Sarah Koenig Ela explicou que era porque as caixas estavam em seu carro, entrando e saindo, por 15 anos. Rabia is a lawyer herself. Rabia ist selbst Anwältin. She mostly does immigration stuff. Sie macht hauptsächlich Einwanderungssachen. Her office takes up the corner of a much larger open space that I think is a Pakistani travel agency, though it’s hard to tell. Ihr Büro nimmt die Ecke eines viel größeren offenen Raums ein, von dem ich glaube, dass es sich um ein pakistanisches Reisebüro handelt, obwohl es schwer zu sagen ist. Seu escritório ocupa o canto de um espaço aberto muito maior que eu acho que é uma agência de viagens paquistanesa, embora seja difícil dizer.

It’s in this little strip mall. Es ist in diesem kleinen Einkaufszentrum. É neste pequeno shopping center. Across the parking lot, there’s a new Pakistani restaurant, an African evangelical church, an Indian clothing shop, a convenience store. Auf der anderen Seite des Parkplatzes gibt es ein neues pakistanisches Restaurant, eine afrikanische evangelische Kirche, ein indisches Bekleidungsgeschäft, einen Lebensmittelladen. On the sidewalk outside, I found a teeny weeny bag of marijuana. Auf dem Bürgersteig draußen fand ich eine winzig kleine Tüte Marihuana. Na calçada do lado de fora, encontrei um saquinho minúsculo de maconha. Baltimore County is like this, at least on the west side. Baltimore County ist so, zumindest auf der Westseite. O condado de Baltimore é assim, pelo menos no lado oeste. It’s where a lot of middle class and working class people go, many immigrants included, to get their kids out of the badass city. Viele Menschen aus der Mittelschicht und der Arbeiterklasse, darunter viele Einwanderer, gehen dorthin, um ihre Kinder aus der knallharten Stadt zu holen. É para onde vão muitas pessoas da classe média e da classe trabalhadora, muitos imigrantes inclusive, para tirar seus filhos da cidade badass. Though the badass city is close by. Obwohl die Badass City in der Nähe ist. Embora a cidade badass esteja por perto.

Rabia is 40. She’s short, and she’s got a beautiful round face framed by hijab. Sie ist klein und hat ein wunderschönes rundes Gesicht, das von einem Hijab umrahmt wird. She’s adorable looking, but you definitely shouldn’t mess with her. Sie sieht hinreißend aus, aber du solltest dich definitiv nicht mit ihr anlegen. Ela tem uma aparência adorável, mas você definitivamente não deveria mexer com ela. She’s very smart and very tough, and she could crush you. Sie ist sehr schlau und sehr zäh, und sie könnte dich vernichten. Ela é muito esperta e muito durona, e pode te esmagar. Her brother Saad was at Rabia’s office too the first time I went. Ihr Bruder Saad war bei meinem ersten Besuch auch in Rabias Büro. O irmão dela, Saad, também estava no escritório de Rabia na primeira vez que fui. He’s 33, a mortgage broker, more laid back than Rabia. Er ist 33, Hypothekenmakler, entspannter als Rabia. Ele tem 33 anos, é corretor de hipotecas, mais descontraído do que Rabia. They told me about Adnan Syed, their friend-- not just a good kid, but an especially good kid-- smart, kind, goofy, handsome. Sie erzählten mir von Adnan Syed, ihrem Freund – nicht nur ein guter Junge, sondern ein besonders guter Junge – klug, freundlich, albern, gutaussehend. Bana arkadaşları Adnan Syed'den bahsettiler-- sadece iyi bir çocuk değil, aynı zamanda özellikle iyi bir çocuk-- zeki, kibar, aptal, yakışıklı. So that when he was arrested for murder, so many people who know him were stunned. Als er wegen Mordes verhaftet wurde, waren so viele Menschen, die ihn kennen, fassungslos. Öyle ki, cinayetten tutuklandığında, onu tanıyan pek çok kişi şaşkına döndü.

Rabia      He was like the community’s golden child. Rabia Er war wie das goldene Kind der Gemeinde.

Sarah Koenig      Oh, really? Talk more about that. Sprechen Sie mehr darüber.

Rabia      He was an honor roll student, volunteer EMT. Rabia Er war ein Ehrenschüler, freiwilliger Sanitäter. Rabia Ele era um aluno do quadro de honra, voluntário EMT. He was on the football team. Er war in der Fußballmannschaft. He was a star runner on the track team. Er war ein Starläufer im Leichtathletikteam. Ele era um corredor estrela na equipe de atletismo. He was the homecoming king. Er war der heimkehrende König. Ele era o rei do baile. He led prayers at the mosque. Er leitete Gebete in der Moschee. Ele liderou as orações na mesquita. Everybody knew Adnan to be somebody who was going to do something really big. Jeder wusste, dass Adnan jemand war, der etwas wirklich Großes tun würde.

Sarah Koenig I later fact checked all these accolades, of course, and learned that Rabia was mostly right, though she sometimes gets a little loosey-goosey with the details. Sarah Koenig Ich habe all diese Auszeichnungen später natürlich überprüft und festgestellt, dass Rabia größtenteils Recht hatte, obwohl sie manchmal mit den Details etwas locker wird. Sarah Koenig Mais tarde verifiquei todos esses elogios, é claro, e descobri que Rabia estava certa, embora às vezes ela fique um pouco confusa com os detalhes. Adnan was an EMT, but he didn’t volunteer. Adnan war Sanitäter, aber er hat sich nicht freiwillig gemeldet. He was paid for it. Dafür wurde er bezahlt. He was on the track team, but he wasn’t a star. Er war im Leichtathletikteam, aber er war kein Star. He did play football. Er hat Fußball gespielt. And he did lead prayers on occasion. Und er leitete gelegentlich Gebete.

He wasn’t homecoming king. Er war nicht der heimkehrende König. But he was prince of his junior prom, and this at a high school that was majority black. Aber er war Prinz seines Junior-Abschlussballs, und das an einer mehrheitlich schwarzen Highschool. They picked the Pakistani Muslim kid. Sie wählten das pakistanische muslimische Kind aus. So you get the picture. So bekommen Sie das Bild. He was an incredibly likable and well-liked kid. Er war ein unglaublich sympathischer und beliebter Junge.

This conversation with Rabia and Saad, this is what launched me on this year long-- "obsession" is maybe too strong a word-- let’s say fascination with this case. By the end of this hour, you’re going to hear different people tell different versions of what happened the day Hae Lee was killed. Am Ende dieser Stunde werden Sie verschiedene Leute hören, die verschiedene Versionen dessen erzählen, was an dem Tag passiert ist, als Hae Lee getötet wurde. But let’s start with the most important version of the story, the one Rabia told me first. Aber fangen wir mit der wichtigsten Version der Geschichte an, derjenigen, die Rabia mir zuerst erzählt hat. And that’s the one that was presented at trial. Und das ist derjenige, der bei der Verhandlung vorgelegt wurde.

The state’s case against Adnan went like this. Der Fall des Staates gegen Adnan lief so ab. He and Hae had been going out since junior prom. Er und Hae gingen seit dem Abschlussball aus. Ele e Hae estavam saindo desde o baile de formatura. But Adnan wasn’t supposed to be dating at all. Aber Adnan sollte überhaupt nicht ausgehen. Mas Adnan não deveria estar namorando. Adnan was born in the US, but his parents are from Pakistan. And they’re conservative Muslims-- no drinking, no smoking, no girls, all that. Und sie sind konservative Muslime – kein Alkohol, kein Rauchen, keine Mädchen, all das.

Saad and Rabia’s parents are the same way. Die Eltern von Saad und Rabia sind genauso. Their families are friends. But even though Adnan and Saad and their buddies were Muslims, they were also, shall we say, healthy American teenagers who were going to do what teenagers do, so long as they didn’t get caught. Aber obwohl Adnan und Saad und ihre Kumpel Muslime waren, waren sie auch, sagen wir, gesunde amerikanische Teenager, die tun würden, was Teenager tun, solange sie nicht erwischt wurden.

So Adnan had to keep his relationship with Hae secret. Also musste Adnan seine Beziehung zu Hae geheim halten. Así que Adnan tuvo que mantener su relación con Hae en secreto. The state used this against him in two ways. Der Staat benutzte dies auf zweierlei Weise gegen ihn. El Estado lo utilizó en su contra de dos maneras. First, they argued, he put everything on the line-- his family, his relationships at the mosque-- to run around with this girl. Erstens, argumentierten sie, habe er alles aufs Spiel gesetzt – seine Familie, seine Beziehungen in der Moschee –, um mit diesem Mädchen herumzulaufen. En primer lugar, argumentaron, puso todo en la línea - su familia, sus relaciones en la mezquita - para correr con esta chica. Primeiro, eles argumentaram, ele colocou tudo em risco - sua família, seus relacionamentos na mesquita - para sair com essa garota. So that when she broke up with him eight months later, he was left with nothing, and he was outraged. Als sie acht Monate später mit ihm Schluss machte, stand ihm nichts mehr zur Verfügung, und er war empört. De modo que, quando ela terminou com ele oito meses depois, ele ficou sem nada e ficou indignado. He couldn’t take it, and he killed her. Er konnte es nicht ertragen und tötete sie. Ele não aguentou e a matou.

And the second way they used it, as they said-- look at what a liar he is, how duplicitous. Und die zweite Art, wie sie es benutzten, wie sie sagten – sehen Sie sich an, was für ein Lügner er ist, wie doppelzüngig. He plays the good Muslim son at home and at the mosque, but look what he was up to. Er spielt den guten muslimischen Sohn zu Hause und in der Moschee, aber schau, was er vorhatte. Saad remembers the prosecutor’s closing argument at trial. Saad erinnert sich an das Schlussplädoyer des Staatsanwalts im Prozess.

Saad      His family didn’t know that he actually drank, he smoked, he was having sex. Saad Seine Familie wusste nicht, dass er tatsächlich trank, er rauchte, er Sex hatte.

Sarah Koenig This was proof of bad character, someone who could be a murderer. Sarah Koenig Das war ein Beweis für einen schlechten Charakter, jemand, der ein Mörder sein könnte. But Saad says, if Adnan is guilty of anything, it’s of being a normal kid with immigrant parents. Aber Saad sagt, wenn Adnan an irgendetwas schuld ist, dann daran, ein normales Kind mit Einwanderereltern zu sein.

Saad      So the prosecution had painted Adnan as a totally bipolar or a maniacal dual personality. Saad So hatte die Staatsanwaltschaft Adnan als eine völlig bipolare oder wahnsinnige Doppelpersönlichkeit dargestellt. We all grew up with that dual personality. Wir sind alle mit dieser Doppelpersönlichkeit aufgewachsen. I know, it was forced. Ich weiß, es war erzwungen. I’m the same way. Mir geht es genauso. I was like, they could paint the same thing. Ich dachte, sie könnten dasselbe malen. Because I was actually homecoming king, which I don’t know if my sister even knows. Weil ich eigentlich Homecoming King war, von dem ich nicht weiß, ob meine Schwester es überhaupt weiß.

Rabia      I did not know this. Rabia Das wusste ich nicht.

Saad      She did not know. Saad Sie wusste es nicht. So I was dating a girl that was-- Also war ich mit einem Mädchen zusammen, das...

Sarah Koenig      And why is homecoming king bad? Sarah Koenig Und warum ist Homecoming King schlecht? That sounds like a good thing. Das klingt nach einer guten Sache.

Rabia      We don’t go to homecoming. Rabia Wir gehen nicht nach Hause. We don’t-- Wir nicht--

Sarah Koenig      Because it’s a dance. Sarah Koenig Weil es ein Tanz ist.

Rabia      It’s a dance. It’s a mixed gender-- Es ist ein gemischtes Geschlecht--

Saad      So I was in the same boat. Saad Also saß ich im selben Boot. My parents, my sister, they didn’t know about this at all. Right now, more than 10 year later, she’s finding out. Gerade jetzt, mehr als 10 Jahre später, findet sie es heraus. I know, I’ll admit. Ich weiß, ich gebe es zu. On one side, my family thinks I’m a virgin. Auf der einen Seite denkt meine Familie, ich sei Jungfrau. But on the other hand, I play-- you know. Aber auf der anderen Seite spiele ich – wissen Sie.