Jay Wilds interview: Serial witness denies making threats

THE key witness to a 1999 murder case which has gripped the world has revealed the moment the killer allegedly threatened him.

Hae Min Lee, the murdered ex-girlfriend of Adnan Syed. Her murder investigation was unofficially re-opened by Serial producer Sarah Koenig on October 3, 2014. Picture: Supplied.

JAY Wilds, the key witness in a 1999 murder which gripped the world when it became the focus of the wildly popular Serial podcast, says he fears for his family’s safety after self-appointed internet sleuths posted his personal information online.

The 12-part podcast investigated the murder of young student Hae Min Lee, who was found buried in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park.

Lee’s former boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested weeks after the murder and convicted largely on the back of testimony from Jay Wilds, who said he helped to bury the body.

All 3 parts of @natashavc's interview with Jay from Serial http://t.co/V8BYdoHzCZ

— The Intercept (@the_intercept) January 1, 2015

Wilds, who did not speak to the producers of Serial, has given a series of interviews explaining his side of the story, as well as its personal effects on him and his family, to The Intercept.

In the third and final instalment, Wilds described the fallout from the podcast, including his fears for his family after people parked outside his home, contacted his wife and threatened to confront him.

1999 MURDER BAFFLES WORLD: Serial podcast reopens cold case

MYSTERY: Who really murdered Hae Min Lee

BURIAL GROUND: Baltimore’s Leakin Park

JAY SPEAKS: Serial witness Jay Wilds breaks silence

Adnan Syed in 1998

The victim, Hae Min Lee

“The thing that’s been the most scary for my family has been people showing up at my house. Twice I’ve caught people videotaping our home and me”, he says.

The interview includes screenshots from Reddit in which users posted Wilds’ home address and promise to confront him.

“Now it looks like the moderators of the forum [Reddit] try to delete any personal information of ours after it’s posted”, he says.

“But they weren’t that good about it when the show first started. Sometimes stuff would be left on Reddit about me for days and weeks at a time before it had to be checked, and the post deleted.

“People were able to go onto my Facebook page and pull pictures of my kids, my dog, my house, my wife.

Baltimore’s Woodlawn High School group photo, with murdered student Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed, the man convicted for her murder, in the middle. Photo: Supplied.

Wilds also accuses Serial presenter Sarah Koenig, or someone connected to the show, of leaking personal information to Reddit and of creating an evil characterisation of him.

“I feel like she created an evil archetype of me and sensationalised my motives. It helped fan the flames of this story that people had already moved on from.”

In a reply email from Koenig published byThe Intercept, the journalist denies being involved in the leaking of any personal information

“Neither I nor anyone I actually work with — the staff of Serial and of This American Life, has EVER given anything to Reddit”, she says.

“Nor did we authorise or deputise someone else to do so. It would have been stupid and irresponsible for us to have given anything to Reddit.”

Wilds says he believes the podcast was responsible for him losing work, and fears for his wife, who works in the non-profit industry.

Serial presenter Sarah Koenig photo credit Meredith Heuer.jpg

“It makes me sick to think that maybe people might not give money to these very good places that do a lot for people, because of me.”

Wilds also answers accusations that he was threatened by Syed’s close friendship with his girlfriend, Stephanie.

One theory floated online has been that Wilds murdered Hae Min Lee himself as a form of revenge, but Wilds says the opposite is true.

“I loved her a lot,” he says. “But if there was any risk of infidelity it was going to come from me. I know they made a big deal on the podcast about her and Adnan both getting crowned homecoming court, but I was like, ‘Yeah baby! Go get your crown!’ I knew what that crown was coming home to. So no, I was at no point threatened by Adnan.”

Wilds says it was Syed who made the threats.

“[One night ] he drove Stephanie to my house, because her car had broken down. We talked for a minute, and he said something like, ‘You know, I can be alone with her whenever I like, because me and Stephanie are friends.’ I took that as a threat.”

Read the full interview at The Intercept.