Table of ContentsJennifer “Jenn” PusateriAsia McClainRabia ChaudryJay WildsThroughout the serial podcast, we got to know and understand several people. Sarah Koenig guided us through this series by giving us clips from an ongoing murder case from 1999; this case was the murder of Hae Min Lee. Koenig introduced us to all the main suspects in the case. Adnan Syed was convicted of Lee's murder and is currently in prison. The case was recently reopened in 2016 regarding speculation about Syed's innocence and the justice of Lee's death. As the case progresses and was recently reopened, I can't help but ask the question: "Where are they now?" ". With background information, Serial fans can now gain a new perspective on the individuals involved in the case. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In this article, I will take stock of the less notable characters in the serial trial and move towards the main suspects. I found it very interesting throughout my research how easy it was to find all the main suspects involved in the case via the internet. I found that most of the individuals involved in this case remained in Maryland after Lee's murder and also after they all graduated from high school. I still didn't expect to be able to find them all in Maryland. I would have assumed they would have gone to college or moved away and started a family, but most individuals stayed in Maryland. Several of the serial individuals were easily traced through the Maryland justice system. Unfortunately, most of the individuals involved in this case now have criminal records. Many people have criminal records due to the sale and possession of marijuana; a handful of others were arrested on fraud and debt charges. Besides individuals who are easy to track down through court records, some members of the show were easily tracked down because they promoted themselves a lot. Asia McClain now has her own book and website and can simply be found and searched by her first and last name. Rabia Chaudry was also easily found through her participation in her own podcast regarding Adnan's innocence and the book she had written. It is my hope that readers can, throughout this article, be enlightened on the current situation of these individuals and gain a new perspective on who they are, as the case has been reopened. Jennifer "Jenn" Pusateri Listeners may remember "Jenn" Pusateri as Jay Wild's high school friend and during an interview with police, she said she saw Wild and Syed together the night of the murder and that Pusateri had been informed by Wilds that Syed had murdered Lee. Koenig says: “At times, unintentionally or not, Jay's testimony is almost poetic. He said he told Jenn Pusateri to be honest with detectives because "the lies we told to try to protect each other were obscuring the truth." (The Deal with Jay: Serial, 2016, 12:23) Pusateri also played an intriguing role in the case by examining cell phone records. According to the call log provided on the Serial Podcast website, Syed's call record shows that he called Pusateri several times the night of the alleged murder. Pusateri is believed to be Wild's friend and her information regarding the murder was provided through Wild. (Koenig, Serial, 2016) Syed had itcalled several times late on the night of the murder and we were told, as listeners, that Wild's only told her that he had killed Lee (Koenig, Serial, 2016). Pusateri being a friend of Wild's made me wonder whether or not she participated in Wild's weed use and if she was close to Wild for that reason. Trying to find information about Pusateri wasn't much of a challenge. I was able to find Pusateri's publicly available court records and see that she has had numerous charges over the past decade for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia (Maryland Open Access 2016). Pusateri had an active criminal record from 2008 to 2014. Most of those are related to marijuana possession. There was no information regarding the Serial case in his file, so detectives could not assign blame or wrongdoing to Pusateri. Koenig goes on in one episode to talk about Pusateri's involvement and his testimony to the police, saying, "They were suspicious of Adnan from the beginning, and then from Adnan's cell recordings, they get to Jenn, who leads them to Jay, who tells them it's Adnan. (The Deal with Jay: Series, 2016, 9:28). Pusateri's involvement in Wild seemed quite suspicious. Pusateri appears to be a messenger for Wild and appears to be protecting someone. However, since the case, she hasn't had a record since 2014 and is either still in Maryland trying to get her life in order or she has moved away. At this point, I have not been able to find any other court documents going back beyond 2014. So I can close Pusateri's current status on the fact that we know, based on her court documents, that she is neither in jail or prison, and could not be easily located except that he was in Maryland in 2014.Asia McClainMcClain in 1999, at the time of the murder, was Syed's classmate at Woodlawn High School. McClain has fought for Syed's innocence since the case opened. McClain said she saw Syed at the library around the time of the alleged murder. She questioned Syed's innocence for this reason and remained in contact with him through letters, even though they had just been classmates. She tried to contact him while he was in prison. During the episode titled "The Alibi" of the Serial podcast, Koenig speaks with Rabia Chaudry about where she or Adnan knew McClain from. Chaudry says: “But then he mentions that there was this girl, an alibi girl. He says the only thing I can offer is that I remember a girl I went to school with. Her name is Asia McClain. He told me that right after my arrest, she wrote me a few letters. And she said she also went to see my family. And she said she particularly remembered me at the library, at the public library, right after school. (The Alibi: Series, 2016, 9:13). Upon further investigation into McClain, as of 2016, she has no criminal record in the state of Maryland. That doesn't mean she hasn't moved and doesn't have a record elsewhere. Asia has her own website and has written her own book. His book is called Confessions of a Serial Alibi. The book is based on his version of the story told throughout the Serial podcast and how it affected his life. I found this interesting because it almost seems needy. Koenig talks about McClain saying, “Asia wrote an affidavit on the spot. In it, she says she and Adnan spoke for about 15 to 20 minutes while she waited for her boyfriend to drive her. I quote: "We left around 2:40 p.m.", without quoting. Remember, Hae is supposed to be dead at 2:36. And then, the thing: "No lawyernever contacted regarding January 13, 1999 and the above information." (The Alibi: Series, 2016, 11:34 p.m.). One might wonder if, since McClain was never contacted by lawyers, she decided to show herself to the world One wonders if McClain decided to become famous not out of pity but because she didn't feel like the court was taking her seriously. Her website calls it. book "the story of Asia McClain Chapman's journey from ordinary library patron to Serial Podcast's alibi witness for Adnan Syed (McClain, 2016) It seems she does." worth his name a little more than it's worth I see this as a ploy to try to get more money and fame, as the Serial case has recently gained popularity. of the entire Serial trial, and given that they were just classmates, McClain really exploited his involvement in this case. everything it was worth. In the episode The Alibi, Koenig tells us: “Asia said she was scared when the private detective came to her house. I don't know if that's why she didn't testify at the hearing or why she called the prosecutor. But she told me that when there was a knock on the door, quote, "it wasn't cool." Because for her, if Adnan did it, I quote, "the last thing you want is a murderer to be angry at you, knowing where you live." (The Alibi: Series, 2016, 48:46). Although McClain was disconcerted by the arrival of private investigators at her door, it did not prevent her involvement in the case several years after the murder. McClain has his own active Facebook and Twitter accounts. His website was created in 2014 and that seems to be when McClain really became the center of attention. Coincidentally, 2014 is also the year Koenig began podcast episodes about the case. McClain maintains an active blog and also hosts events for people to come meet and talk with her (McClain, 2016). It's as if Asia has created a career and name for herself through the use of this case. Rabia Chaudry According to the people map provided on the Serial podcast website, Chaudry is a family friend of Syed as Chaudry's younger brother Saad is friends with Syed. . Chaudry is also a lawyer and has maintained Adnan's innocence since 2000. Koenig also states in the episode "The Alibi": "I first heard about this story over a year ago when I received an email from a woman named Rabia Chaudry. Rabia knows Adnan quite well. His younger brother Saad is Adnan's best friend. And they believe he's innocent. (Koenig, The Alibi: Serial, 2016, 38:30) According to Syed, Chaudry was the first person to send a letter to Syed in prison. A quote from Syed on Chaudry's website states: "The first letter I received after being arrested in 1999 was from Rabia. Since then, she has believed in my innocence and has committed to exonerating me. There is no one better to help. tell my story, and no one I trust more to tell it than Rabia. (Chaudry, 2016). Besides Koenig, Chaudry has been the most eloquent on the matter. She has done countless interviews, meet and greets since 2000, when Syed was convicted. In an interview with Chaudry, she was asked what made her write an article. book on Syed. She told the interviewer that she was exhausted and really had no idea about writing a book before the Serial podcasts started (Chaudry, 2016). After the podcast aired for a few weeks, Chaudry was contacted by publishers about writing a book, she said she would as long as she received permission from Syed to do so. THEEditors and Syed both agreed that someone should do it. ultimately wrote about the case and that Chaudry was best placed to do so given her insistence on Syed's innocence (Chaudry, 2016). Although his attempt to dismiss the trial as flawed and prove Syed's innocence was a noble cause. , it was not without payment. Chaudry, with her blogs and podcasts, has also sold quite a few products related to her and the case. She made a career and name for herself just like McClain through the use of information from the Serial case. Chaudry has just published his book on Adnan's story and his innocence and is in the spotlight for his involvement in the case due to the reopening of his case. It's also worth noting that she's been trying to prove Adnan's innocence since 2000, but her book was published around the same time the case reopened. Chaudry was extremely involved in Syed's life and in proving his innocence. It makes sense that she would continue to try to stay in the spotlight and show everyone her involvement since the case has achieved such popularity, unlike individuals like Jay. Wilds that tried to stay completely under the radar. Jay WildsWilds played an interesting role in this matter. Wilds was Syed's friend at the time of the murder. Syed and Wilds were together regularly. Wilds was selling weed and smoking with Syed. They both went to school together at Woodlawn High School and were in the same group of friends (Serial, 2016). Wilds gave testimony against Syed which was one of the main reasons Syed was convicted of Lee's murder. In Wild's testimony, he portrayed Syed as a cold-blooded killer who he had to meet and help hide Lee's body. When Adnan was asked about Jay, he responded, "With Jay, it was more like – in my mind I was like, 'Maybe the police are making him do this.' » (Syed, The Deal with Jay: Serial, 2016, 0:19). During all of this, Wilds was not convicted of any charges, even though he was complicit in Lee's murder. He got away with no jail time and only probation, before being released a year later (Maryland Open Access, 2016). Wilds has a significant criminal record. Wilds' court case begins, of course, with the probation orders he was issued for the Serial case. After that, Wilds was charged with multiple counts of theft, eviction, domestic violence, assault, divorce, possession of marijuana, sale or intent to distribute marijuana, and counterfeiting (Maryland Open Access, 2016). Although Syed and Wilds were rather young during the aftermath of this case, Wilds had a prior criminal record for robbery. During the investigation, the police had of course questioned Wilds and his testimony, but given the number of appeals rejected and even the reopening of Syed's case, Wilds suggested the presence of a rather violent individual. (Wilds, Interview 2016) More than half of Wilds' criminal record involves assault and domestic violence. Interestingly, the podcast investigators never really looked closely at this simple fact about Wilds, which can easily be found on the internet. Koenig and others made several attempts to interview Wilds and get his side of the story. Koenig came to Wild to talk to her and when asked how she found them, she simply replied, "Unfortunately, it wasn't difficult" (Serial, 2016). Wilds has tried to keep him and his family extremely under the radar of social media and any association with.