Serial

S03 Episode 05: Pleas Baby Pleas

Don’t tell the judges, but the prosecutors have the most power in the building.

S03 Episode 03: Misdemeanor, Meet Mr. Lawsuit

The smell of raw marijuana + acting nervous + hands in pockets = ?

S03 Episode 02: You’ve Got Some Gauls

When a judge believes he knows you better than you know yourself.

S03 Trailer

Serial is heading back to court—this time, in Cleveland. Hear the trailer now.

Preview of S-Town, Our New Show

We have a new show! Here’s a sneak peek of S-Town, a new podcast from Serial and This American Life, hosted by Brian Reed. S-Town is the story of a man named John who despises his Alabama town and decides to do something about it. He asks Brian to investigate the son of a wealthy family who’s allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. But when someone else ends up dead, the search for the truth leads to a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure, and an unearthing of the mysteries of one man’s life. Coming March 28.

S02 Episode 10: Thorny Politics

Are you hearing what I’m hearing?

S02 Episode 08: Hindsight, Part 2

Woulda, coulda, shoulda…

S01 Update: Day 03, Adnan Syed’s Hearing

February 2016: Sarah Koenig ducks back into the Adnan Syed case for a few days. There’s a hearing in Baltimore—a court proceeding that’s been nearly sixteen years in the making. Syed’s attorney will introduce new evidence, and present a case for why his conviction should be overturned. Sarah and producer Dana Chivvis will discuss what happens, day by day.

S01 Update: Day 01, Adnan Syed’s Hearing

February 2016: Sarah Koenig ducks back into the Adnan Syed case for a few days. There’s a hearing in Baltimore—a court proceeding that’s been nearly sixteen years in the making. Syed’s attorney will introduce new evidence, and present a case for why his conviction should be overturned. Sarah and producer Dana Chivvis will discuss what happens, day by day.

S02 Episode 05: Meanwhile, in Tampa

CIA, FBI, YouTube, the Portland PD? There was no handbook for getting Bergdahl back.

S02 Episode 04: The Captors

What's happening on the other side of the door?

S02 Episode 02: The Golden Chicken

On the move with Bergdahl, the Taliban slip past the U.S. Army’s massive effort to find him. During those days and weeks, each side is asking, what is Bergdahl worth to us?

S01 Episode 12: What We Know

On January 13, 1999, Adnan Syed was a hurt and vengeful ex-boyfriend who carried out a premeditated murder. Or he was a bewildered bystander, framed for a crime he could never have committed. After 15 months of reporting, we take out everything we’ve got - interviews and documents and police reports - we shake it all out, and we see what sticks.

S01 Episode 10: The Best Defense is a Good Defense

Adnan’s trial lawyer was M. Cristina Gutierrez, a renowned defense attorney in Maryland – tough and savvy and smart. Other lawyers said she was exactly the kind of person you’d want defending you on a first-degree murder charge. But Adnan was convicted, and a year later, Gutierrez was disbarred. What happened?

S01 Episode 08: The Deal with Jay

The state’s case against Adnan Syed hinged on Jay’s credibility; he was their star witness and also, because of his changing statements to police, their chief liability. Naturally, Adnan’s lawyer tried hard to make Jay look untrustworthy at trial. So, how did the jurors make sense of Jay? For that matter, how did the cops make sense of Jay? How are we supposed to make sense of Jay?

S01 Episode 06: The Case Against Adnan Syed

The physical evidence against Adnan Syed was scant - a few underwhelming fingerprints. So aside from cell records, what did the prosecutors bring to the jury, to shore up Jay's testimony? Sarah weighs all the other circumstantial evidence they had against Adnan, including curious behavior, a disconcerting note, and an unexplained mid-afternoon phone call.

S01 Episode 04: Inconsistencies

A few days after Hae’s body is found, the detectives get a lead that opens the case up for them. They find Jay at work late one night and bring him down to Homicide. At first, he insists he doesn’t know anything about the murder. But eventually he comes clean. He tells them what happened on January 13th. A few weeks later, he’s back at Homicide and his story has changed. In some ways, these changes are small and understandable. In other ways, they’re big and confounding.

S01 Episode 01: The Alibi

It's Baltimore, 1999. Hae Min Lee, a popular high-school senior, disappears after school one day. Six weeks later detectives arrest her classmate and ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, for her murder. He says he's innocent - though he can't exactly remember what he was doing on that January afternoon. But someone can. A classmate at Woodlawn High School says she knows where Adnan was. The trouble is, she’s nowhere to be found.