HBO has unveiled a new installment in its 2019 documentary series, The Case Against Adnan Syed, which chronicles the final chapters in the legal ordeal of a man incarcerated in 2000, at eighteen, following his conviction for the 1999 murder of his former girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in a Baltimore park. Syed’s situation garnered widespread attention from the 2014 podcast Serial, a Peabody Award winner, recognized for its probing examination into whether he was wrongfully convicted.
Six years after the HBO series initially delved into Lee’s murder, Syed’s conviction, and its repercussions, the latest episode tracks Syed’s release from prison in 2022 after two decades behind bars. This newfound liberty was, however, temporary. In 2023, half a year post-release, Maryland’s highest judicial body, the Court of Appeals, sided with Hae Min Lee’s relatives, who contended they had been insufficiently informed about his release. Syed’s murder conviction was thus reinstated. Nevertheless, in March 2025, a court ruled that he posed no danger to society, and therefore would not be compelled to return to incarceration.
The episode includes discussions with Syed from his time incarcerated and post-release, as well as interviews with figures associated with the case and members of Syed’s family. Below is what viewers should know about the documentary’s final segment and the ongoing developments of the case.
Re-evaluating a 26-year-old case
Adnan Syed’s life sentence stemmed from the 2000 testimony of his friend, Jay Wilds, who claimed to have assisted Syed in burying Lee’s remains. Director Amy Berg points out that there is “no actual physical evidence” linking Syed to the offense.
This raises the question: if Adnan wasn’t the perpetrator, then who was responsible for Lee’s death? No other individual has faced charges for Hae Min Lee’s murder. As of May 2025, the Baltimore police department had not processed any fresh DNA evidence against potential alternative suspects.
The fifth episode centers on a 2020 occurrence that prompted law enforcement to re-evaluate Syed’s connection to the case. A mail carrier reported being pursued by a naked man; officers later identified him as Alonzo Sellers, the individual who, in 1999, informed police he had discovered Hae Min Lee’s body in Baltimore’s Leakin Park. During a search of Sellers’s residence, officers found a collection of newspaper articles from the period surrounding Lee’s discovery. Berg describes this as “very suspicious.”
While Sellers was charged with assault and indecent exposure, his DNA samples have not been compared with the DNA evidence from Lee’s case. Sellers declined to comment when contacted by an HBO producer.
When Adnan Syed returned home
Audiences will observe Syed’s emotional homecoming to his childhood residence after 23 years, where he is reunited with his parents and younger sibling. “I haven’t touched a tree in almost 24 years,” he remarks, placing his hand on a tree in his family’s front yard.
Syed was profoundly eager for release, driven by his mother’s cancer diagnosis and his desire to assist her through treatment. His reunion with his father holds even greater emotional weight now, as his father passed away approximately a year ago following a prolonged illness.
As he sits on his childhood bed, he recounts the abrupt moment when police arrived and instructed him to dress and leave with them. Syed characterizes his freedom as bittersweet, expressing sorrow that he formed bonds with friends in prison whom he worries he will never encounter again, given their life sentences. “People that I see every night, people that I see every morning, they’re not here.” Nonetheless, he discovered a sense of belonging within a network of exonerees.
Where is Adnan Syed now?
In March 2025, Syed’s prison term was commuted to time already served, in accordance with the Maryland Juvenile Restoration Act. Currently 44 years old, he is serving a five-year probationary period.
He had a long-standing aspiration to pursue higher education, and during his imprisonment, he enrolled in a few classes at Georgetown University as part of its bachelor of arts curriculum offered at Patuxent Institution.
Presently, he is employed by Georgetown’s Prisons and Justice Initiative, an organization that delivers educational opportunities and vocational training to incarcerated individuals and those transitioning back into the workforce. He persistently champions the cause of individuals who have been wrongly convicted.
“He’s a very optimistic person,” Berg observes. “We could all learn a lot from Adnan.”
