In light of the state of Maryland’s latest filing pertaining to the Adnan Syed case, I have decided to issue my own response to the state.

I first met the two sisters at Woodlawn Senior High School and until most recently, have had nothing but positive, friendly exchanges and conversations with them. In addition, over the last several years I have remained Facebook “friends” with them, us all sharing many personal posts and photos with one another on a regular basis.

After the debut of the Serial Podcast, sister #1 contacted me on November 7th 2014, via Facebook Messenger, to inform me of the podcast’s existence and sent me a link to the publication. In this message she stated that she became aware of the podcast thru a relative and that (like that of many of my other friends and classmates) she had no idea that I had been involved in the case. As I stated in my post-conviction testimony and in my memoir, during the debut of the podcast I had become inundated with many calls, texts and messages from many friends, all alerting me to the podcast’s existence. As such, I did not deem it necessary to respond to every message and therefore did not respond to hers.

After testifying, I was introduced to a publishing company and began finalizing my memoir, Confessions of a Serial Alibi. On March 2, 2016, I was researching a minor fact for my memoir. In addition, I located a photograph of my co-opt teacher with one of the sisters, taken during the last few days of school in May of 1999. I was unable to determine which one of the sisters was in the photograph and wanted to make sure before possibly referencing facts surrounding it. As such, I sent a group Facebook message to both sisters, asking both for clarification on the matter.

Unfortunately for me, the two sisters were unable to determine which one of them was in the photograph. Each sister claimed it to be the other. One sister was unsure of the teacher in the photograph, while the other had no idea of what class the photo was taken. By the end of that conversation they agreed with me that the photo was taken in co-opt class, they also confirmed my suspicions regarding the class dismissal policy, and we ended the conversation on positive terms.

Five months later, after the publication of my internationally recognized memoir and increasing media attention, I received a message from sister #1, who had previously admitted no recollection of the class or its specifics. This time the message was abrasive and completely out of character from what I had come to expect from her. In the message she accused me of wrong doing in connection with the Adnan Syed investigation and questioned my validity as a potential alibi witness for Mr. Syed. Dumbfounded by her newfound accusations and feeling them to be both bizarre and untrue, I naturally assumed that her Facebook account had been hacked and that I was once again being targeted for cyber-bullying. I tried to respond to the message, but found that I had already been blocked. I immediately sent a message to sister #2 asking if sister #1’s Facebook account had been hacked because of the language and ideals expressed (Not to mention Facebook accounts get hacked all the time). It was at that time that sister #2 proceeded to verbally attack me and she too blocked me, once I denied such allegations.

It has been with great dismay that I have now read these entirely false allegations from these two sisters and it is with great sadness that I am now forced to question the true purpose and motivations behind these awful and untrue allegations. I have never wavered in my recollection of the events surrounding the murder of Ms. Lee. I also did not consent to any on camera interviews prior to testifying in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, because I felt it was important that what I knew to be first heard and evaluated by a judge, not the court of public opinion. I have, on more than one occasion, offered to meet with the prosecution in this matter, to discuss with them what I know. They have never taken me up on my offer. Instead, they choose to publish these hurtful untruths without giving me a chance to contextualize the allegations and demonstrate their falsity. The prosecution should explain why they have never had time to meet with me, but will gladly take the opportunity to meet with, publish, and lend credence to my detractors. As such I highly encourage the public to continue to scrutinize these types of practices. This is after all, supposed to be a search for the truth.

Which is it? Seems Wildly inconsistent doesn’t it?