Search icon

News

11th Mar 2022

New DNA test could lead to major update in Hae Min Lee murder case

Sarah McKenna Barry

Modern DNA testing could help identify new suspects, or it may rule out Adnan Syed.

There has been a major update in the 1999 murder case of Hae Min Lee as prosecutors have called for new DNA testing.

Ms Lee was killed 23 years ago, and her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed was convicted of her murder.

Mr Syed has been serving a life sentence since 2000 but has long maintained his innocence. The case, and his efforts to overturn his conviction, have been the subject of the popular true crime podcast Serial.

We could be seeing a major update in the murder case as Syed’s legal team have filed a motion calling for a modern DNA test on Lee’s clothes, shoes and rape kit to be carried out.

According to PEOPLE, the joint motion was filed with the Baltimore City State’s Attorney and, depending on the results, it may help identify other suspects in the case, or it could possibly rule Adnan Syed out entirely.

The motion states that the prosecutors believe that there is a “reasonable possibility” that modern DNA testing could have the “scientific potential to produce exculpatory or mitigating evidence relevant to a claim of wrongful conviction or sentencing”.

Hae Min Lee was a Korean-American high school student who was killed in Maryland in 1999. She was just 18-years-old.

The young woman’s body was found in Leakin Park in Baltimore four weeks after she was last seen alive.

Syed has appealed his conviction multiple times since he was first imprisoned. His last appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States was rejected in November 2019.

At the time, Maryland’s Attorney General Brian said: “The evidence linking Seyd to Lee’s death is overwhelming.

“We remain confident in the verdict that was delivered by the jury and are pleased that justice for Hae Min Lee has been done.”