Don Clinedinst is a name you probably first came across in the hit true crime podcast Serial. But, thanks to The Case Against Adnan Syed, he's being talked about once again.

Having first aired on HBO in the US, and now available to stream via NOW TV and Sky Atlantic, the four-part documentary series picked up where Serial's 12 episodes left off, while also offering new information, evidence and leads.

Related: New information in The Case Against Adnan Syed that wasn't featured in Serial

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So who is Don Clinedinst, and what is his involvement in the case?

Don was dating Hae Min Lee at the time of her tragic murder in 1999. The former Woodlawn High School student went missing in January of that year and her body was later found in Leakin Park.

Hae's ex-boyfriend, Adnan Masud Syed, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He was convicted on February 25, 2000 but has always maintained his innocence.

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Related: Adnan Syed update: What's the latest?

Don did eventually speak to Serial's host Sarah Koenig about his relationship with Hae. In the final episode of the podcast, she revealed that Clinedinst didn't want her to play the audio from their conversation but that, from their chat, she gathered that "Don does not appear to know what happened to Hae, or why it happened to her, or whether Adnan is guilty" (Via Bustle).

In The Case Against Adnan Syed, two private investigators hired by the filmmakers to re-examine the case managed to track him down in 2017. Don, now an adult, is briefly seen on screen as the detectives approach him, and he says: "Most people don't have the resources you do to track me down."

Although he declined to appear in the documentary, audio of Don discussing the case is used. "There's not a day go by that I do not think about her and what happened," he said. "I was very much in love with her. But to be honest with you, I've got a lot of other things on my mind."

Don also revealed that he's been disabled since the age of 23 and has not been able to work. He said that he doesn't expect to live beyond 50, so he's more concerned with looking after his family than whether people believe his alibi.

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The only reasons to doubt that alibi, incidentally, are Serial and The Case Against Adnan Syed – police are satisfied with his account. So, what is it about Don that brought the documentary makers to his door so many years after the fact?

Don and Hae started dating after her final break-up with Adnan. This story is told in the documentary through excerpts from Hae's diary, as well as the testimonies of some of her former high school friends.

In audio clips of an interview, Adnan explained that his alleged motive was portrayed as stemming from jealousy or anger over Hae's new relationship. However, he was clear that she'd told him about the new guy in her life. Adnan also described that his relationship with Hae had started "transitioning towards friendship" by this point.

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Debbie Warren, a former Woodlawn student and close friend of Hae's, appeared to be the last person to see her at school on the day that she disappeared. In episode one, she described Hae walking down the steps towards her car.

According to Debbie, "she was in a rush" and was "intending to pick up her cousin directly after leaving, and then going to see Don".



On the day that Hae went missing, Don was at work. He finished at 6pm and is said to have got home at around 7pm (according to Rabia Chaudry, who has written a book on the case). The police attempted to call Don when looking for Hae on the day she went missing, but they were not able to get hold of him until 1.30am.

It's claimed in the documentary that Don's work manager was his mother, and therefore she was his alibi.

Luke Brindle-Khym, one of the private investigators in the documentary, said that "the failure to investigate Don more thoroughly just really stands out as a major mistake".

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The police disagree. Detective Darryl Massey, formerly of the Baltimore police, stated that Don was looked at, but cited the alleged anonymous phone call (pointing at Adnan as a suspect) as the reason why the investigation moved in a direction away from him.

At the time of the investigation, Debbie told police that she'd contacted Don to see if he knew anything.

"He was eager to give me his information and talk to me and everything," she recalled in the documentary. "He was very open."

Debbie said that she and Don ended up talking on the phone in a conversation that lasted seven hours.

She also told the filmmakers that Don had visited her during spring break, while she was staying with her sister. Debbie claimed that he had "expressed romantic interest" at that time, which she described as "kind of odd". Debbie eventually told him that she would not reciprocate.

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In the final episode of The Case Against Adnan Syed, the private investigators spoke to a number of people to learn more about Don's former place of work, LensCrafters.

One such person was Thomas Precht, who worked there for 32 years. He left the investigators with the impression that it would have been "out of the norm" for Don to have been working on that Wednesday (the day Hae went missing).

This raises questions, perhaps, but the private investigators were clear that they did not have any "direct evidence" to connect Don to the crime and there is no reason to doubt Don's alibi.



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Rabia Chaudry, close friend and advocate for Adnan, has previously told People that while she thinks Don warranted further investigation, she did not want to "leap to the conclusion that [Clinedinst] is guilty".

Nor should anybody, by the way – the documentary also touched on other possible people of interest, as well as information previously unknown.

The Case Against Adnan Syed is available to stream on NOW TV and Sky Atlantic.

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