Adnan's Story Page 13

  6/21/1999

  Dear Rabia,

  Asalaamulaykum. How is everything w/ u and ur family? Fine, I hope. It hasn’t been hot the past week or so, and the temperature in here has been pretty nice. Sometimes it gets kinda chilly, but I’d rather have it be cooler than hotter. Hopefully, it’ll last 4 awhile.

  I received my diploma on the 11th. It was kinda nice, it was during the function held for the end of the school year. It was nice, they called my name, and I went on stage and received it, + shook the hand of the school principal. A lot of people clapped + cheered, so it made memorable. It’s weird though, cause there were a lot of cameras flashing, and a lot were for the PR dept. they have in here. I was really happy that my parents were there though. I know it meant a lot to them for me to receive my diploma. I guess it’s a memorable event for every parent. Honestly though, it didn’t mean so much to me as it would’ve if all this stuff hadn’t happened. I mean, I really appreciate the trouble the teachers went to get my diploma, and I’m grateful that my parents were there, but to me it really was just a piece of paper. (actually, an italicized jacketed certificate). I guess while some people would look at it + say this is 12 years worth of work; I think that my mind is 12 years worth of work (actually 18). In the beginning, I used to think, man, they took my graduation day away from me. But now, it’s like, all those years are shown in my head, not on a piece of paper, and they can never be taken away from me. I’m really glad my parents were there, though.

  You know what, I’ve developed a liking for crossword puzzles. Not w/clues, but the word searches. I don’t know if you could send me a book, but maybe if you just sent the pages, do you think u could find some for me? Not little kid ones, but sometimes u can find them in little kid magazines, or they probably sell crossword puzzle books. If you get the chance, do you think you could send me some. I don’t think they would fit in a small envelope. So maybe you could send them in a 8"x11" envelope. I think they’re called manilla envelopes. I go through them pretty fast, so as many as you could send I would really appreciate it. Not the kind w/ clues, though, cause it’s really frustrating if you can’t figure them out, and there is no answer key.

  I hope your exams went well, and so is everything else. Take care, give Sunnah a hug for me.

  —Adnan Sayed

  As we all feigned ignorance about the enormity of the situation, Adnan and his defense team were busy trying to nail down the seminal questions: where was Adnan (and how could they prove it) from after school on January 13, 1999, until he went to the mosque for Ramadan prayers that night, and why would Jay implicate him in Hae’s murder?

  Gutierrez’s files show that Adnan was grappling with these issues but initially seemed to have a decent grasp of exactly what happened during the day. Not all of his attorney visits are documented, but there are numerous notes in Gutierrez’s handwriting that show Adnan had discussed Asia.

  One note reads in part: “Asia and boyfriend saw him in library 2:15-3:15. Went to library often. 3:30 practice started.”

  The notes confirm that Adnan remembers seeing Asia and her boyfriend at the library and also reflect something else that becomes very important at trial: that track practice began at 3:30 p.m., as Coach Sye indicated to detectives and PI Davis earlier. So Adnan would have had to get dressed in time to be there by 3:30. This narrows the window of opportunity for the crime to have been committed by Adnan.

  The notes are undated, but we know from prison visitor logs that Gutierrez met with Adnan on May 28, June 5, June 26, and July 10. The latest they could have been written was July 10, months before the defense or Adnan know anything about Jay’s timeline, who puts track practice later.

  Asia comes up again in these notes, dated July 13, 1999, taken by Gutierrez’s law clerk during a visit with Adnan:

  Adnan’s schedule for January 13, 1999, is clearly laid out, including the time he spent at Jay’s house. Most importantly, though, is the notation about Asia McClain: “saw him in the library @ 3:00, Asia boyfriend saw him too; Library may have cameras.”

  Again, at this point neither Adnan nor Gutierrez know the State’s theory of the case—they have no idea what Jay has said about when Hae was killed. But they do know she disappeared sometime between school and when Adnan got the phone call from Officer Adcock around 6:00 p.m. that day. So independent of any knowledge of when Hae was killed, Adnan has already established a firm alibi for that exact time.

  About a month later, on August 21, a law clerk takes more notes during a visit with Adnan that reiterate his recollection: “States he believes he attended track practice on that day because he remembers informing his coach that he had to lead prayers on Thursday.” He also recalls that when Hae’s brother called on the evening of January 13, he was with Jay in his car, recalling “reaching over Jay to get the cell phone from the glove compartment.”

  He also provided a handwritten account of his recollection of the school day.

  There is a marked difference in these notes and the ones from July—there is no mention of Asia. By this time, having given Gutierrez Asia’s letters and repeatedly asking her to speak with her, Adnan has given up on Asia. Gutierrez told him that she had checked with Asia, but Asia had her dates wrong; she hadn’t seen Adnan on January 13 after all.

  Adnan was confused, he was sure it must have been that day because he also remembered the following two days of school being closed, the days right after Hae went missing. Asia’s letters had jogged his memory; he remembered teasing his friend Justin Adger, Asia’s ex-boyfriend, about seeing her with her new man. And he was certain this happened right before the big storm in January that shut everything down for a couple of days.

  He could have called Asia himself. He didn’t, though, because Gutierrez had strictly warned him against talking to too many people, kids at the school in particular. It’s not clear why, but she may have worried about his calls and mail being monitored or that he could be accused of influencing potential witnesses.

  There were two important time frames he had to account for: the hour or so between school and track practice, and the time between track practice and the night prayers at the mosque. He was sure that he was there the night of the 13th because he had to lead prayers the next day. Gutierrez had spoken to a few people in the community who also remembered that Adnan led prayers on January 14, including the president of the mosque, Maqbool Patel, and his son Saad Patel. It’s considered an honor for a young man to get to lead prayers for the first time, and it was a meaningful day for Adnan, his family, and others in the community.

  Adnan didn’t think he had to worry about the evening anyway; everyone knew Hae went missing right after school. That was the most important time to account for, and he wasn’t able to do it. He had no alibi. It was in those days, as he spent time with other inmates who filled his head and heart with fear that beating such serious charges was nearly impossible, that he began thinking about the possibility of a plea deal. Asia was gone, he had no alibi, he had no idea what evidence the State had against him, or what was in Jay’s statement to the police. He had spent time with Jay during the morning when he dropped off the car, and after track practice when they grabbed some food and smoked some weed. If he had no way to prove that’s all they did, Jay could say whatever he wanted. It would be his word against Adnan’s.

  After all, Jay had Adnan’s car that day. It was Stephanie’s birthday and Adnan let Jay borrow the car to make a mall run for a present. It wasn’t the only reason he gave him the car, though; Jay got him weed. He didn’t particularly like Jay and wasn’t friends with him, but he was, simply put, useful. He had to hang out with Jay every so often anyway, because of Stephanie, so he might as well get something out of it. Jay had connections none of Adnan’s other friends had, to get cheap pot. Jay also did a little dealing, and if Adnan let him borrow the car (and sometimes money), he might get a bit of a kickback, or at the very least, free weed.

  Jay also had Adnan’s phone on the 13th.

 
; Adnan couldn’t take the cell phone to school so he left it in the glove compartment on January 13th, and it was with Jay all day, just like his car was. Jay could have used his phone, and his car, in any way while he was at school; he might even have gotten to Hae that way, which explained why he was framing Adnan for the murder. Adnan had no idea where Hae went after she left school, but she had his cell phone number. What if she had called it and connected with Jay instead? What if she met up with him and he killed her?

  But why would Jay hurt Hae? Adnan had one theory, though even he didn’t really believe it.

  Jay had been cheating on Stephanie. Jay had told him about another girl he was seeing, his “booty call,” while Stephanie was at school or basketball. He had one regular girl he would hook up with, but there were other random girls too. During an assembly in school about a year prior, Stephanie had told Adnan she was going to swing by Jay’s house, and he had talked her out of it. He knew Jay had one of his girls over, the girls he called “ghetto white girls.”

  Adnan didn’t understand it, because Jay was crazy about Stephanie. He couldn’t imagine his life without her. Would he kill someone who threatened that prospect? That’s what Adnan worried about. Because he had made the mistake of telling Hae that Jay was sleeping around, and she was livid. She’d told him that she’d confront Jay about it, that Stephanie needed to know. But Adnan begged her not to. He knew it would wreck Stephanie’s heart. He figured that next year Stephanie and Jay would break up anyway, once she went away to college.

  Adnan, said Hae, was thinking like a guy. It wasn’t fair to Stephanie, but Hae agreed not to say anything. She and Stephanie weren’t that close, and she realized that being the one to break such news could backfire—Jay could deny it and then Stephanie would hate her and Adnan.

  But what if Hae changed her mind? What if she inadvertently connected with Jay using Adnan’s phone and just couldn’t hold it in?

  This thought plagued Adnan.

  That’s why, in Gutierrez’s undated notes from her visit with Adnan, it says at the top, in reference to Stephanie, “Jay—if anyone ever tried to get between her & I, I’d kill him.”

  But of course, Adnan had no proof. The state refused to turn over Jay’s statements. All Adnan knew was that up until around 8:00 p.m., when he was at the mosque for prayers, he had no one to vouch for him. In a nutshell, things weren’t looking great for Adnan.

  Still, said some of the jailhouse F. Lee Baileys, the State almost always offers a plea deal. Especially to someone like him, who had a clean record and was a juvenile. The State was going hard but if all they had was a witness and no other evidence, they probably also knew their case wasn’t rock solid.

  So Adnan asked Gutierrez, as the trial date of October 14, 1999, approached, whether the prosecutor had offered a plea deal. She said, categorically, no. They had said nothing.

  Well, then, could she approach them and ask if they’d consider it?

  She said she would.

  Adnan never told any of us that he did this—he knew that everyone, the family and community, would be in an uproar. None of us could fathom the idea that he would or should spend twenty, ten, or any years at all in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. But none of us were in his shoes. He knew that if he didn’t win at trial, he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

  “A couple decades, man, and you’ll still get out young. You still got your life. That, or you die in here,” was the message he was getting from other inmates.

  He waited anxiously for her answer, thinking the State would definitely make an offer. He’d figure out how to deal with the rest of us, how to explain it to his family and friends, later.

  But he never had to because when Gutierrez came back to him she repeated what she said before. There was no offer on the table, the State said no.

  If there was ever a time to worry, this was it. If the State wasn’t interested in a deal, it could only mean one thing: they had the evidence to put him away forever.

  * * *

  Baltimore City Police were indeed doing their best to gather evidence against Adnan. On March 9, 1999, the cops executed a search warrant on Adnan’s car.

  Every loose item was retrieved from his car, including the trunk lining, to be tested for traces of blood, hair, or other DNA sources linking him to the crime. Samples of soil and leaves were also taken—presumably to match with soil and leaves from Leakin Park.

  The police had already taken vacuum samples of soil from different parts of his car on the day they seized it, the same day they recovered Hae’s car. All items from Hae’s car were also collected and catalogued: a $10 checking withdrawal receipt dated 1/10/99, a credit card receipt from a gas station, a woman’s school ring with no stone in it, Almay hand lotion and Mystic perfume spray from her purse, a plastic hanger, a red Big Gulp cup, a red ink pen, a blue ink pen, banana flavored lip balm, a package of maxi-pads, three stuffed animals including a Tweety Bird, a pair of black socks, a “happy birthday” paper crown, a size 7 pin-striped miniskirt, Nike cleats, a card with pictures of currants, a paystub for Adnan Syed dated 11/13/98, a folded note made out to “Don,” a pack of index cards, six pictures of flowers, a thank-you card made out to the Lee family, a medium cotton T-shirt with short sleeves, a multi-county map with a pages 33 and 34 missing, a striped short-sleeved shirt with possible blood on it, a vehicle registration and insurance, a Baltimore Zoo map, a dried rose and baby’s breath in a wrapper, a mango drink, an empty apple drink box, black dress heels, an empty gift box, a hockey stick, a gold heart charm with attached $119.95 price tag, a University of Maryland admissions card, and her Eastpack blue book bag with miscellaneous items including a copy of Othello, a senior portrait order form, various photographs, and a high school agenda with Don’s name written all over the first page.

  A hair sample taken from the front right floor between the seat and the door and seventeen vacuum samples were also taken from Hae’s car.

  The prints found in Hae’s car were compared to Jay’s and Adnan’s, and while there wasn’t a single match for Jay, Adnan’s prints appeared three times in her car: a partial palm print on the rear cover of the map book, on an insurance card in her glove compartment, and on floral paper wrapped around the dried rose and baby’s breath.

  Considering the fact that Adnan had been in Hae’s car dozens of times, his prints should have been everywhere. The fact that they were not seems to suggest the car had been wiped down for prints when it was dumped, but the person who wiped it down didn’t think to wipe down less obvious things—like paper.

  Sixteen other prints found in the car were run through a database with no hits. Two of those appeared on the car’s rearview mirror. These prints were compared against Adnan’s, Jay’s, Hae’s, and a criminal database, with no luck, but prints were never taken from Don or Hae’s family members.

  According to State disclosures, “about 40” hairs were recovered from Hae’s body and clothing. The majority were Hae’s but two were not. Those two also didn’t match Adnan’s. Three hairs recovered from Hae’s car weren’t tested at all.

  The soil samples taken from Adnan’s and Hae’s cars, and Adnan’s home, clothing, and shoes, were all compared against soil samples from Leakin Park. Given Jay’s narrative, having trudged through Leakin Park in the dark, dug a grave, and gotten back in both cars with dirty shovels and shoes, some dirt or soil from the park should have been present in the cars or on Adnan’s clothing and shoes. But nothing matched. There was no soil from Leakin Park anywhere to be found.

  A T-shirt found in Hae’s car, which turned out to be her brother’s, appeared to have a small amount of blood on it. Testing showed the blood matched Hae’s and no one else.

  The clothing Hae was wearing was examined for spermatozoa, but the lab found nothing. And then there were the swabs taken from Hae’s body. The lab report indicates six of them were not analyzed, a very odd move considering that these items, listed in the lab report, consist of nearly every poten
tial source of perp DNA from Hae’s body: the vaginal, anal, and oral swabs, pubic hair sample and combings. Similarly, a brandy bottle retrieved from the crime scene had skin cells on it that were never tested for DNA, and neither was a thin, white rope recovered from within inches of the body.

  Fingernail clippings tested were returned with results that read “nothing of evidentiary value was detected.”

  The lack of sperm is not as telling as it may seem, though. To be clear, examining clothing for semen is not the same as running a DNA analysis. According to the autopsy, along with Hae’s clothing, the oral, vaginal and anal swabs were tested for spermatozoa and returned negative results. But there are two glaring issues here: first, sperm is not the only source of DNA. The medical examiner was only looking for signs of rape or sexual activity by seeking sperm traces. Second, they were using a common phosphate enzyme test to check for the presence of sperm—a test that can only detect sperm within roughly a hundred hours of sexual activity; if Hae had been raped or otherwise had sexual activity on the day she disappeared, this particular test would be useless to determine it.

  At the end of the day, other than the partial palm print on the map book, a book Adnan had used many times while in Hae’s car, the State found no physical evidence tying him to the crime scene or her body. Or, for that matter, tying Jay to any of it either. And for some reason, the State put a hold on the DNA testing.

  During the police’s search of Adnan’s home, executed on March 20, they retrieved his clothing and shoes, the boots they believed he had worn while committing the crime. But they also turned his room upside-down looking for any other evidence of his plans to murder Hae. In doing so, they came across a psychology textbook on Adnan’s bookshelf crammed with cards and notes from Hae, and pictures of them together. It was his secret stash of relationship memorabilia. In that stash was a note from four months prior, the note written by Hae to Adnan right after she broke up with him because of the homecoming dance fiasco.