The Deal With Becky

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Becky at Trial

I just re-read Becky's trial testimony. I had forgotten she was a defense witness, testifying right before Adnan's father. It seems she was "tasked" with letting the jury know that Adnan was interested in other girls, and there was no animosity between Adnan and Hae.

The Notebook: I always thought that Becky "started writing things down in a notebook," because she suspected Adnan, but that's not what she says in her trial testimony. Becky says that she wanted to get things clear in her mind because she thought Adnan was innocent, and she wanted to organize her thoughts before speaking on his behalf. I had previously thought that Becky's notebook was her response to Hope Schab/O'Shea's list of questions. Maybe it was. But not the way I was thinking about it. It actually looks to be something that Becky used to write down her thoughts first, before officially answering those questions.
Gutierrez explained how Becky's notebook was presented in discovery but the defense could not figure out who wrote it, or when, or how the detectives came to have it. Gutierrez said it took her team quite a while to figure all this out. The notebook was favorable to Adnan, but a mystery to them. Since UD3 has declined to share at least four of the disclosures, it's unclear when Becky's notebook was disclosed to the defense.
At trial, Gutierrez tried to get Becky to say how it was detectives came to have the notebook, since Becky didn't give it to them during her April 9 interview. Seems like Becky would have been happy to answer, but Murphy kept objecting, and Becky never got to answer this question. So, even though it was important to Gutierrez, we still don't know how detectives came to have the notebook, or why that's important, to the defense.
Becky's notebook is a defense exhibit, not a prosecution exhibit, yet we've only seen snippets. You can see what looks like Gutierrez's handwriting just above one of the entries we do have. I wouldn't mind reading the whole thing. And since it's a defense exhibit, it might be something someone could get at the courthouse.
The Ride: Gutierrez never asked Becky about the ride, and Murphy didn't either. Since Krista obviously scored points for the prosecution with her telling of the ride request, it's puzzling that Gutierrez didn't make a stronger effort to get Becky's version ("Hae said no") on the record. It's possible Guiterrez tried, but couldn't, because it was hearsay. And that prosecutors got Krista to say "Adnan told me about the ride" instead of "I overheard them talk about the ride."
To this day, fans of Serial believe that jurors heard that Hae said no, she had something else to do. Jurors never heard this. They heard Krista say he asked, they heard Adcock say "Adnan said he asked," and they heard O'Shea say, "Adnan told me he never asked."
That's all jurors heard about the ride.

Becky didn't testify in the first trial because a mistrial was declared before the defense could present its witnesses. Becky's second trial testimony was a struggle for Gutierrez because Murphy was relentless with objections. And while Becky was on-side for Adnan, she wasn't going to say something she didn't think was true. So, she was there for him, but to a point. You should read it.

Becky Pre-trial

Becky was never interviewed during the missing persons investigation. O'Shea interviewed: Don, Debbie, Aisha, Adnan, Hae's Mom's California boyfriend, Hope Schab, Inez, Cathy Michel, and Coach Russell. All these interviews are on the timelines. Adcock did not interview Becky. O'Shea did not interview Becky.

Becky was in the principal's office with Krista the day after Adnan was arrested, insisting they needed to talk to the police, because the wrong person had just been arrested.

Andrew Davis reached out to Becky specifically on March 22, and spoke to her for two hours. Two hours. On March 30, it looks like Davis had a 30 minute conversation with Becky over the phone. And on March 31, Davis made another 40 minute (or so) drive to see Becky, and pick up the Bail letter she wrote.

Becky's Bail Letter is more caveated than the other Bail Letters (that you can find on the timelines.) Becky wrote that Adnan should be able to be at home while awaiting trial. But Becky doesn't say she is convinced Adnan is innocent.

Homicide Detectives didn't interview Becky until April 9, about two weeks after her two hour conversation with Davis, and a week after she wrote a bail letter for Adnan.

Apart from this interview, I can't find any other evidence of Hae saying she could no longer take Adnan wherever it was he needed to go. Anyone? Where is someone else saying this? We have Krista telling EP that Aisha said she heard this, too. But, sorry if I would need to hear that from Aisha. If that were the case, Aisha would have relayed this to Adcock when she said, "Ask Adnan." I think Becky is the only person to say Hae said no, she couldn't take him. And Becky only said this months later, after significant engagement first with Adnan, and later, with the defense team.

Did Hae really change her mind about the ride?

In Serial Podcast episode 2 called The Breakup, Becky sounds reluctant, and like she doesn't remember hearing Hae decline, and doesn't remember telling detectives that Hae declined. Koenig had to read it back to her. And only then did Becky say, "Okay. If you say I said that then I said that." From the transcript:

Sarah Koenig reading Becky's April 9 police interview: “Hae said she could, there would be no problem. At end of school I saw them. She said ‘Oh no I can’t take you, I have something else to do.’ She didn’t say what else. Approximately 2:20. ... [Adnan] said, ‘Okay I’ll just ask someone else.’ He told her goodbye...Did not see Hae after that.”

Becky's Response to hearing this read back to her: Okay. Yeah that sounds right. It kind of all comes back a little bit.

My response: Becky's telling of "Hae said no" reads like a play. Like something rehearsed.

Is this the only time we have anyone saying Hae changed her mind at the last minute? We have Debbie saying that Hae said she wanted to go see Don, but Debbie didn't hear anything about a ride, or Hae changing her mind about giving one.

It looks to me like Adnan only told Adcock he asked Hae for a ride because that's why Adcock was calling (Krista had just told Aisha she heard Adnan ask Hae for a ride before first period). So, Adnan couldn't call Krista a liar, in that moment. And, ever since then, Adnan has said, "I didn't ask for a ride." In the Serial Podcast, Adnan was adamant, "He did not ask for a ride." Lately, somewhere, Rabia has said, "Adnan does remember asking for a ride, but doesn't want this emphasized to his parents." Does anyone remember this?

So, if Becky has a story about Hae declining, and she said this after speaking with Davis, I'm wondering if there was a time when Adnan knew he was busted, that Krista heard the ride request, and either asked Becky to say Hae declined or said something to Becky like, "Hae declined. Remember?"

And, if so, why is Adnan insisting/not insisting that he never asked for a ride, depending who you ask?

Timelines

On Monday, February 1, Adnan tells O'Shea that he didn't ask for a ride, despite Adcock's report to the contrary.

Hae's disappearance was finally made public a few days later, on Thursday, February 4 via Baltimore Sun and WMAR-TV. This is the first time Hae's disappearance is reported in the media. According to Tanveer, he and his parents did not know Hae was missing until they saw it on the broadcast news.

At 5:24PM the day of the Feb 4 broadcast, Adnan calls Tanveer at work (:31), and at 5:25PM Adnan calls O'Shea. (Does it look like Adnan called Tanveer to ask if he should call back the detective and if Tanveer would do an interview with him, in lieu of their parents? O'Shea did say that Adnan wanted Tanveer to be present, not his parents.)

Adnan and O'Shea speak for twelve minutes. Twelve minutes. I'm curious about this call. This is just three days after Adnan first lying to O'Shea about the ride. Did O'Shea press him on this during the twelve minute call? Probably not. But perhaps it was mentioned? I could be wrong but it seems that this is when Adnan starts letting calls go to voice mail, checking his voice mail, then either calling the person back, or not.

February 4 calls/day of Broadcast:
6:05:03PM: Incoming call goes to voice mail (:42)
6:05:19PM: L651A, Adnan calls his home phone line (:17)
6:19PM: L651C, Incoming call goes to voice mail (:09)
7:45PM: Incoming call goes to voice mail (:34)
8:24PM: Incoming call goes to voice mail (:39)
8:28PM: L651C, Adnan checks his voice mail (1:45)
9:26PM: L651C, Adnan calls Krista (12:41)

Things are heating up and now all of Baltimore knows Hae is missing. The day after the broadcast, Friday, February 5, Adnan is in Psychology class with Aisha, Becky and Irina. He may have also gone to track practice at 4. The calls after that are perhaps noteworthy:

5:13PM: L608C, Adnan calls Yasser Home (:23)
6:28PM: L687C, Adnan calls Becky (:52)
6:30PM: L687C, Adnan calls Irina L. (:04)
6:31PM: L687C, Adnan calls Aisha (:02) - pager?
6:45PM: L684A, Incoming call, answered (:56)
7:07PM: L712C, Adnan calls Becky (:58)
7:28PM: L649B, Incoming call, answered (:30)
7:39PM: L698A, Adnan calls Becky (:22)
8:01PM: L701C, Adnan calls Krista (:11)

We don't really see Becky on Adnan's call log a lot. Do we? Did I miss something? it looks to me like Adnan is calling the girls from Psychology right after he saw them in class. Is he asking about an assignment? Or does he want to make sure he can have separate conversations with each of them, alone?

We also have an appearance by Becky during the days/hours leading to arrest. On Friday, February 26, police were finally able to interview Adnan in person, at 7pm, at his home, in the presence of his Dad. Did they ask about the ride?

The day after being interviewed at home, on Saturday, February 27, at approximately 11PM, Adnan, Becky, Aisha and Sean are at Krista's for a couple of hours, listening to music. (In the Serial Dynasty podcast, Krista says this is the last time she saw Adnan outside of prison walls, and that he left her house at about 1AM.)

Things wrapped up at Krista's and, at about 1AM, Adnan drove Becky home. During the drive, Adnan tells Becky:

He needs to talk to her because other people don't really listen.
He drove to Western Maryland with a Muslim friend the day after Hae's body was found.
He realized it was God's plan for Hae to only live 18 years, and it made him feel better to think of it like that.

Did Hae really change her mind about the ride?

It would have been hard for Hae to say she changed her mind at the last minute, to say she couldn't drive Adnan somewhere that would only take a few minutes, to leave Adnan to scramble to ask other students, as everyone was driving away.

I don't think she did.

I'm pretty late to this party. Many got here first. It looks like Becky is the only person to ever say that Hae declined the ride. And Becky only said this once, on April 9:

Three months after Hae disappeared
After she'd been in consistent contact with Adnan
After significant contact with the defense.

TL/DR: The deal with Becky is that she doesn't remember hearing Hae decline the ride, and doesn't remember what she told police. No one remembers Hae saying anything to Adnan, at the end of the day.

Hae never changed her mind, never said she couldn't take Adnan, and never said she had something else to do. Hae gave Adnan a ride, in her car, and he drove. No one remembers seeing them drive away.

Hae was never seen alive, again.

This post was inspired by this one and the comments of u/AW2B, u/scoutfinch2, and u/Just_a_normal_day_4. Like u/Seamus_Duncan, they figured this out a long time ago.

Posted Sep 21, 2016, 12:07 AM UTC · edited

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