Advertisement 'Serial' producer talks about murder case Podcast focuses on case of Adnan Syed, killing of Hae Min Lee in 1999 Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Hundreds of thousands of people tune in each week to a podcast depicting a riveting mystery about a 15-year-old Baltimore murder case.Producer Sarah Koenig has become a popular figure because of the podcast "Serial," and she recently spoke only to WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Lisa Robinson.Mobile users, tap here for videoIt's a throwback to radio days, but in this digital age, it's a podcast. The story is based in Baltimore, one on which 11 News reported dozens of times. The podcast has been downloaded on iTunes more than 5 million times."Serial" follows one story in depth week by week. This story is about Adnan Syed, who has been in prison for 15 years for murdering his fellow Woodlawn High School classmate and ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in January 1999 and burying her body in Leakin Park. He was largely convicted on cellphone records and the testimony of an acquaintance who said Syed told him he was going to kill Lee, showed him the body and even helped dig her grave."Something is not right, doesn't make sense here in this case, and I don't know where the problem is, and so it really is me trying to figure that out," Koenig said.Friends of Syed asked Koenig to look into it. They knew Koenig was a former Baltimore Sun reporter who had written stories about Syed's now-deceased attorney, Christina Gutierrez, who was disbarred. Those friends said they believe Gutierrez botched the case."You can take any piece of it and say, 'This didn't happen, that didn't happen,' but it does not mean the whole thing is corrupt," Koenig said.Throughout the podcast, Koenig and her colleagues uncover new evidence by revisiting the crime scenes and talking to people the police didn't talk to, and Syed himself calls Koenig from the maximum security prison in Cumberland."He's smart. He can be really funny. He's thoughtful, and I think we all want to believe that people like that aren't capable of horrible things," Koenig said.Koenig has taken her share of criticism on social media and through the Internet. Still, she keeps digging for answers and said she doesn't know how it will end."I feel like it's very, very easy if you have not spoken to these people or see these people or thought about what they have been through to throw out accusations and to be disrespectful and play with it. It's that part that makes my heart hurt," Koenig said.Syed's case is being looked into by the University of Virginia Law School's Innocence Project and the Maryland Court of Appeals as the state weighs in on whether Syed had poor counsel.Koenig asked that anyone who may know something about the case after looking at this story get in touch with her.