New NPR series "Serial"

[Carol/Bonadie]

If anyone listens to podcasts, there's one that's exploding in popularity, and it's about a real life murder case. The series is called "Serial" and it's by the creators of This American Life. It follows the 1999 case of a Baltimore teen imprisoned for killing his ex-girlfriend. I've listened to the first podcast and I'm hooked! Here's the link.

http://serialpodcast.org/season-one/1...

[Ann]

Thanks, Carol! Looks good. Just curious - do you use your browser or a podcast app to listen?

[Carol/Bonadie]

Being a Mac girl, I subscribe through the Apple store, which deposits podcasts into iTunes. Then I download onto my iPod or Shuffle.

I have to tell you I have been binge-listening to this ALL DAY. I'm on the last of 11 episodes. There is one more due. It is SO gripping. I know you like Ann Rule and the True Crime genre, so you will absolutely get drawn in to this, I promise you!

[Amy]

Carol, if I listen to the first podcast, will it let me go to the next one?

[Amy]

I just listened to the first chapter, very good. How do I get the next one.
Thanks.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Amy wrote: "I just listened to the first chapter, very good. How do I get the next one.
Thanks."

Not sure where you're listening to it, web site or iTunes?

[Amy]

On my iPad, I figured it out.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Amy wrote: "On my iPad, I figured it out."

Oh, great. Get ready for a ride!

[Donnajo]

I started listening to it on my mac but when I looked how to listen to it. I remember my ipad mini I just got a podcast on in the last download update. so I stopped listening to it and will continue from the ipad mini. what I listened to so far sounded interesting.

[Carol/Bonadie]

I listened to the final episode yesterday. So interesting. I wonder what they will do next year.

[Amy]

Carol, when you find out please let me know. I'm up to chapter 8.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Amy wrote: "Carol, when you find out please let me know. I'm up to chapter 8."

I will, Amy. I listened to the last episode when it was released last week. A fascinating series.

[[deleted user]]

This looks really interesting, I'm going to try this out. For those who are still looking for a way to access the podcast on mobile devices, you can download the Stitcher app and they have it. Just search Serial and it will come up.

[Ann]

Thanks,Frankie!

[Ann]

Carol: thanks for mentioning this podcast - it was very compelling. (view spoiler)[and frustrating too, to not really know what and who to believe. It always amazes me that people charged with murder will try to keep parts of the truth untold even if it could potentially prove their innocence. "I don't remember what I was doing" that day/ night, in this case is almost maddening. What an interesting behind the scenes look. (hide spoiler)]

[Carol/Bonadie]

It was compelling. For anyone who listened to this, a series of articles came out last month featuring an interview with Jay, the key witness who refused to be interviewed for Serial. Very interesting.

There were three parts but here is the link to part one:

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/20...

SNL also did a very funny parody of the podcast...

http://youtu.be/EjidkNvN-Ps

[Carol/Bonadie]

Ann, to your point, (view spoiler)[I have many occasions in mysteries to wonder what would happen if I were asked to account for my whereabouts months or years in the past. Luckily I have an electronic calendar that might help jog my memory but still it could be tricky. But the idea that quite a few of these kids, who were likely freaked out by the disappearance and murder of their school mate, wouldn't have from day one been talking with each other about this incessantly and thinking about things like when they last saw her, etc., is ridiculous! I would think it would be imprinted in their brains. (hide spoiler)]

[Ann]

Carol re your spoiler - exactly! I was also trying to put into context "the way it was" in 1999 with phones and pagers from the distance of 15 years.
Thanks for the links!

[Carol/Bonadie]

Oh, and another thing (view spoiler)[I don't remember which of the kids couldn't remember that he talked to the cops, much less what he said, but it just blew my mind. Is that even possible? My acquaintance gets murdered, the cops show up at my house, even if it is full of people, and I don't remember talking to them? Cops probably in uniform? C'mon!!!! I mean maybe you could have some sort of PTS that wiped out your memory, but that seems like a long shot. (hide spoiler)]

[Donnajo]

I still haven't gotten back to listening to it.

[Ann]

I read the interviews with Jay parts 1-3 they are quite interesting!

[Carol/Bonadie]

I thought so, Ann. (view spoiler)[with his voice missing throughout the series, it was easier to imagine that he was the villain. Reading his words, much harder to do. What a mystery!!!! (hide spoiler)]

Ann wrote: "I read the interviews with Jay parts 1-3 they are quite interesting!"

[Ann]

Carol:
Re the Jay interviews. I had been initially disappointed that I had the read the transcript instead of listen! (view spoiler)[ It was very hard to see Jay as the murderer after reading about his side of things and his reasons for his inconsistent stories held water pretty well. Protecting his grandmother I can buy. I can almost see the police deciding a weed dealer was ok to let off the hook if they could get a murderer. They must have known what he was up to, and if they didn't know exactly where the actual meetings took place regarding Hae's body in the trunk, they could have suspected. With the parts of Jay's pre-interview not available from a recording who knows what the detective did know and decided not to press.
I was disappointed that Jay only knew what was said about him on the podcast secondhand from his wife reading the transcripts. Not hearing the tone and words of Sarah Koenig from her own mouth makes quite a difference in his understanding of the intent.
This raises all sorts of swirling thoughts in my head about the guilt of Adnan.
You have to feel for Jay and family with the threats and his location and last name now being public, that is scary - some of the "public" are not nice people unfortunately. (hide spoiler)]
This really adds to the story.
(view spoiler)[It makes me wish for a follow-up Serial episode from This American Life. I suppose there are all sorts of legal reasons we might not get one. (hide spoiler)]

[Carol/Bonadie]

Response to your second spoiler: (view spoiler)[Koenig said in an interview I heard with her by Terri Gross of Fresh Air, that they would do a new story next year. So I bet we will only hear updates, if something major and new develops, which I hope happens. I am so longing to have this mystery solves! (hide spoiler)]

It is quite amusing to look at the last series of posts, which are almost entirely comprised of spoiler alerts!

[Ann]

Carol: thanks for that info. I look forward to the next This American Life. I guess we'll have to wait a while, or do they produce them on the fly while investigating I wonder. (view spoiler)[ re listening to Terri Gross. Sorry I missed that interview! (hide spoiler)]
The spoilers are abundant, I can't stop thinking about this case!

[Ann]

Looks like Serial2 will be a while away.
http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywoo...?
But it has been funded!

[Ann]

Carol: have you seen these?
I have listened to two new podcasts about the Adnan Syed case, these are funded by his defense fund and are somewhat biased to Adnan's innocence; they are bringing new details and timelines to consider, if not new evidence that Hae Min Lee's killer has not been found and is not the man serving time for her murder in 1999.
There is another episode coming soon.

[Ann]

It is not without controversy.http://www.bloombergview.com/articles...-

[Carol/Bonadie]

Ann wrote: "It is not without controversy.http://www.bloombergview.com/articles...-"

Ann, can you try this link again? It takes me to a page that says "sorry, we have no opinion on this topic."

Also, can you give a reference to the two podcasts you've listened to? I don't think I've listened to any more podcasts, although I do think I read the article you referenced, which is from January.

[Ann]

Carol: here's a different link with general information.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/a...

[Ann]

I can't get the Bloomberg article to come up with a link which is odd. Try searching for Bloomberg and undisclosed podcast - it was an April 22 article.

[Ann]

and see if this will open the podcast http://undisclosed-podcast.com/

[Carol/Bonadie]

yes, those two links worked, thanks!