Jay Wilds Interview: ‘Serial’ Key Witness Explains Why He Helped Adnan Syed

Even more than a week after its final episode, the podcast “Serial” remains a baffling whodunit. In the 12-part series, host Sarah Koenig investigated the real-life murder in 1999 of Baltimore 18-year-old Hae Min Lee, sharing her findings and conclusions with listeners. After the series ended Dec. 18, some fans were left wondering if Adnan Syed, the teen convicted of the crime, was actually guilty. Though “Serial” -- a spinoff of “This American Life” -- has turned into a sensation, key witness Jay Wilds refused to speak to Koening for the podcast. It was Wilds' testimony that helped put Syed behind bars for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, but now he’s ready to speak -- just not to Koening. Instead, Wilds sat down with the Intercept for an exclusive interview. He answers burning questions about Lee’s murder and why, he says, he helped Syed bury her body.

He started at the very beginning, when he first met Syed. The two became friendly after Wilds agreed to sell him marijuana, but “there was never a real friendship,” Wilds told the Intercept. “I only smoked with him two or three times.”

Even though they weren’t true friends, Syed opened up to Wilds about problems in his relationship with Lee. Wilds said Syed first mentioned harming Lee a week before her murder, but Wilds didn’t take it seriously. “I just thought he was just shooting off like everyone else shoots off when they’re mad at their girlfriend,” Wilds said. “I had never known anybody who had killed anybody else, so there’s no way I could have known.”

While Wilds denied he was involved in Lee’s murder, he said he helped bury her body. “[Syed] said, ‘You’ve gotta help me, or I’m gonna tell the cops about you and the weed and all that s---,’ ” Wilds said, adding, “I was convinced that I would be going to jail for a long time if he turned me in for drug dealing, especially to high school kids.”

Though Wilds said he helped dig Lee’s grave, he said he would not help put her in the ground. When Syed was finished, he drove Wilds back home after they dropped off Lee’s car behind some houses, according to Wilds.

For Wilds’ extended answers, and why he told a different story to police, check out his full interview with the Intercept here. In the second part of the conversation, which hasn’t been released yet, the Intercept says Wilds explains why he testified against Syed and his thoughts about the mysterious unknown caller.