‘Serial’ followers await last podcast with curiosity, dread (w/video)

Thursday looms large for North Coast residents who are among the legions of Americans who over the past 12 weeks have become part of a nationwide cultural phenomenon called “Serial.”

The final episode of the addicting, true-crime podcast is to be released Thursday morning, inciting a jumble of emotion among those whose devotion to the serialized story has made it so immensely popular that some say we’re at a tipping point for this relatively new medium.

Listeners just say “Serial” is fascinating, thought-provoking and, yes, somehow entertaining - a point that’s sparked controversy, given the real lives lost and forever altered by the murder at its core.

But it’s also a study of our imperfect criminal justice system - a whodunit whose central question is the guilt or innocence of a young man already convicted and serving a life sentence in the case.

Sebastopol attorney Chris Haws, for instance, said he’s been “hooked” since Episode I, drawn in by excellent storytelling and what still seems like an unsolved mystery. He enjoys the interesting conversations it’s inspired, as well as the camaraderie of the converted.

But he’s also disturbed by the apparent inconclusiveness of the evidence - both as a lawyer and as someone facing a program finale few now anticipate will wrap up the many loose ends.

“There’s just reasonable doubt all over the place, and for the jury to say ‘no reasonable doubt’ is just shocking,” said Haws, 31. “And at the same time, none of us were in the courtroom. None of us heard the trial start to finish.”

At the center of the story is the 1999 murder of a Baltimore-area high school senior named Hae Min Lee, a smart, responsible girl who disappeared one day after school and was found several weeks later, strangled, in a shallow grave.

The boyfriend with whom she recently had called it quits, Adnan Syed, 17, was arrested, tried as an adult and convicted of her murder, based largely on the testimony of a young man, Jay, who claimed to have helped him bury Lee and who was able to lead police to her abandoned car.

The prosecution witness said Syed was furious Lee had broken his heart and told Jay he was going to get her alone in her car and kill her.

But Syed still denies any motive or involvement, and though not unblemished, he was a good kid and people had a hard time believing he was responsible.

No physical evidence linked him to the crime. Friends and acquaintances said he seemed sad about the breakup but had moved on.

His primary accuser told much the same story each time he was questioned, but his details changed enough to drive “Serial” listeners to distraction, creating much of the intrigue that’s sucked so many into the podcast and inspired the most extreme fans to plot out their own investigations.

But there are questions about Syed, as well, and ultimately, it’s unclear what really happened.

Reporter and narrator Sarah Koenig may as well be speaking for her audience when she lays out in the first episode the central conflict: “So either it’s Jay, or it’s Adnan. But someone’s lying, and I really wanted to figure out who.”

Taking her audience along, Koenig examines investigative notes and trial transcripts, spends hours talking by phone with Syed, contacts witnesses and jurors, and ruminates aloud about all of her uncertainties.

Listeners say her success reflects a hunger for unsensationalized, in-depth reporting that isn’t afraid to paint the world in gray.

Santa Rosa attorney Carmen Sinigiani, 35, said being an observer to Koenig’s thought process and shifting opinions is part of what makes it interesting. She concedes an element of guilt looking forward to a podcast based on human suffering, but that’s what makes it so intriguing, along with the interviews that reveal aspects of character and motive.

“My running partner and I, we hash this out all the time as we’re going along on our weekly runs,” Sinigiani said. “We always talk about motive - what would be the motive, and what’s Jay’s motive, and what’s the motive of all these other red herring characters … I could talk about ‘Serial’ all day.”

In a world of expanding media formats and shifting consumer habits, the success of a weekly, all-audio production hearkens to the age of radio.

At the same time, the podcast’s success has been amplified through listeners’ engagement with new media - podcasts on the podcast, online discussion groups, YouTube parodies, dozens of blog posts, Facebook and Twitter.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that “Serial” had reached 5 million downloads and that it was the most popular podcast in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

“Who’d have thought, all this technology and its a radio program that’s got me,” one follower recently observed on Twitter.

“From now on I only want to talk to people who are caught up on @serial,” said another.

The critical thinking, conversation and debate the podcast fosters are all part of what make being a listener so captivating, said Sarah Trejo, a personal financial manager who lives in Santa Rosa.

“It’s been pretty incredible to watch more and more people get drawn in each week,” she said.

Trejo, 34, and her fiancé rise early on Thursdays to listen before launching their days. - Trejo, by running with friend and fellow listener Jenni Klose, an attorney.

Klose said they deliberately run at the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery instead of their usual Spring Lake trails so they can run side-by-side and talk about “Serial.”

“I will say,” Klose said, “that, culturally speaking, the fact that people are really into this, getting into the details of this long story, it makes me feel better about our society’s media consumption.”

The terms people use when they talk about the podcast - “obsession,” “addiction,” “hooked,” even “crack” - suggest devout listeners are in for some tough days ahead. But the producers promise a future podcast on an as yet unspecific subject.

In the meantime, there is curiosity, sorrow and some dread among those who will get their last fix of Season I on Thursday.

Attorney Haws, “furious” when he realized the story likely would end without solid answers, said he’s “actually still upset about it - that I’m listening to a story that has no resolution,” but “I can’t stop.”“